I just realised I haven't shared photos of my butterfly collection that were on display during Opal Festival week this year. These were, and still are on display in Kelly's shop Enlightning Ridge.
I was so grateful to Kel for allowing me to share my work & my vision in her space..
I know I've mentioned it before but just incase you are new here, this is the back story to my butterfly collection.
It all started about 5 years ago when a butterfly landed in our car, we'd had a massive day of digging and was up on the surface and found her. It was in that moment that memories of my grandmother came flooding in, as kids she would tell us stories about butterflies on the opal fields and if you followed them they would lead you to the beautiful stones...
So this was the original inspiration, then an idea came to me about making a collection of butterflies pendants to represent some incredible women in Lightning Ridge. I reached out to a few women, told them about my idea (the idea that wouldn't leave me alone) and asked if they wanted to be apart of it..
The deal was they would give me an opal or stone that is precious to them and I would create a pendant with it and then after our opal festival week the pendant would be theirs to proudly wear.
So here they are & not only did each woman share their stones they also shared a personal story that connected them to the stone, our town or a moment in time.
I feel honoured that I had this opportunity to share their stories & also share my work and a story that belongs to my family.
If you'd like to read each of the women's stories please go to my insta accounts wildrosesfor_mae or thesilversmithandheropalminer and find the pictures of the butterflies.
Underneath each one is the connecting story xx
