My Mother and Me
by Tamara Summers.
(Pink Pearls by Tamara)
My mother, Julia Tilson, passed on fourteen years ago, just after my son’s thirteenth birthday. He’s now twenty-seven.
The necklace I made for this challenge is a combination of her charm bracelet and a collection of fuschia hearts I have wanted to combine into a piece. What triggered that decision was the round Mother charm. It has three ruby stones in it, and I realized that this would be a beautiful combination of elements. And it would be a combination of her and me.
I decided that rather than just use her charms, I would incorporate her bracelet into the piece as well. For the rest of the necklace I used pink glass pearls and fuschia swarovski crystals.
The charms on this bracelet/necklace have a lot of meaning for me. There is a hula dancer from a trip they took to Hawaii. I didn’t go with them, but while they were gone I got the chicken pox. My poor sister, who was babysitting me and had a young baby, remembers that too! There is a Florida charm, where they went every winter for a while, and I have memories of visiting them there with my young son. There is also a Cedar Point horseshoe charm, and I remember my parents taking me and my friend there more than once when I was young. I also remember pushing my mother down the slide into the pool, and ruining her hair!
The rest of the charms are mine. The small heart with the pink stones contains pink sapphires, and this was a gift from my husband. The large heart with the pink glass sparkles and the fuschia crystal heart are treasures I couldn’t resist picking up.
The two angels were a pair of earrings I made for myself, but decided I would like to include them here – one angel for my mom, and one for me! I finished with two little flowers at each end. Both my mom and I have worked in the floral industry, and it’s something we both love.
I decided to make a simple pair of earrings with the pink pearls and crystals as well, because a lot of the ones on the necklace are on the back and sides, and I wanted a few more of them visible.
Fuschia was my mom’s favourite colour, and always was mine as well (we both have dark hair and light skin) so it’s the perfect colour for this necklace. And another meaningful element was the two large pink glass pearls making up the angels’ bodies. These were the pearls, that when being used in another necklace, started the process that resulted in me naming my business Pink Pearls by Tamara. The name has a lot of symbolism in it, and is dear to my heart. Although I wasn’t designing jewellery when my mom was here, this is like bringing her close to it.
I have included a couple of pictures of my mom. The first is a picture of a picture of a picture. It is my favourite photo of my mother. She died shortly before I remarried, and we brought this picture and placed it at the front of the church. And the picture was taken because a few years earlier I had given my parents a gift certificate to get photography of themselves done. Notice that she has a dark pink top on!
Thank you, Rena, for putting this challenge out, because it caused me to put aside what I was working on for my business and create this very meaningful piece for myself today, the day before Mother’s Day. It was like spending time with my mother. I think she would like this necklace.
Tamara Summers
Pink Pearls by Tamara
