my daily walks are meditative, a time when I focus on nature, my breath, the scents and sounds around me. these inspiring miles spent with my dog by my side allow me time to consider what my next subject will be. Clover is quite familiar with the command “turnaround, we need to see this”. and around she goes as we backtrack to the flower, leaf, bud, branch, or blade of grass that caught my eye. as I inspect further, she sits guard, allowing me this time to capture the bit of nature which captured me.

colors, shapes and shadows form vignettes in my mind and serve as markers of seasons ebbing and flowing into each other. they surface in my sketchbook and in the materials I source and gather around me during the planning phase of my collections. looking back at these sketches, I recall the weather, or perhaps, the angle of the sun which allowed me to see what drew me in. in the case of silene latifolia though, it was a shape I saw in the sunlight of early morning, fresh with dew, these heart shaped petals sparkled before fading in the heat of the day.

as common soapwort is, well, common in this area, it took me a while to identify the name of this similar looking flower. with a more swollen calyx than soapwort and heart shaped petals, they stand well on their own. as I have been collecting books to identify wildflowers for over twenty years, some of them were outdated. I first recognized them as evening lychnis/campion but more research led me to discover they are silene latifolia/alba with the common names of grave flower, death flower, or flower of the dead as they were often found in cemeteries. what is sweeter than a flower composed of five heart shaped petals is known as a grave flower, this is when I knew I needed to translate these simple beauties into metal and stone.

(random fun fact: one similarity to soapwort is both of their roots can be used to make soap!)

from about July through November I greeted these flowers almost every morning. at home I studied them and their anatomy. admiring how they bloom at night and are pollinated by moths, attracting them with a sweet smell. I began to translate this flower into sheets of silver, stone and glass beads, and silver wire. its parts became earrings and necklaces. first, I released the flower in its bolting phase, as it turned to seed. now I am releasing it in its flowering stage, long after the freeze has halted its growth above ground.

This necklace has a 16.5” chain between the calyx and petal. the petal is shaped out of wire, like a line drawing, and formed to add depth. the jump ring which attaches it to the chain isn’t fixed, allowing it to move, like that of a petal in wind, or under the weight of dewdrops. the calyx is hand-cut from sheet and serves as clasp of sort, as you put the calyx through the wire petal to secure the necklace around your neck. this lariat is made of .925 sterling silver, the petal is 1” square, the calyx is about 1/2”, both have a matte finish.

thanks for looking. if you have any questions please contact me and read my shop policies before making a purchase. xo, Kim