Like all good ideas this one began from a need or something I saw that was missing.
I began noticing people wearing these discs and rings around their necks with their children’s names on them. They looked a little (a lot) like dog tags to me but they planted the seed of an idea.
You often hear women say their children are their greatest achievement and the singular thing that changed their lives more than any other thing or event.
I began to think of a way of celebrating this connection in a subtle and elegant way.
So Motherlove began to take take form . . .
I was becoming more and more aware of the joy of crystals. I like the idea of a stone that could be passed from mother to child that would hold the mother’s energy and be a reminder of their connection.
It then developed into the idea that the mother would wear two stones and keep one of them as a beautiful symbol of the child and gift the other to her child when they had begun to explore the world on their own.
The concept of birthstones is a lovely extension on this as each one has a different meaning; and we are nothing if not all different.
I also felt it was important that the stones would be as unique as each child and mother are.
I spend days each time I go to India gemstones and continue to marvel at how different each one is.
I love the variety of cuts, shapes, colours and beauty of each one. There are a lot of ‘WOWS’ as I hold them up to the light and examine them.
It’s like each one contains a whole world of stories just like the people who will wear them.
No two are ever the same (look at this small selection of aquamarines).
Then of course there’s the scale and the practical aspects of wearing jewellery, how would multiple stones look and fall when worn together for say a woman with 3 or four children (my Mum has five) and how would the colours work together, and the list goes on . . .
The design process is of course another world. There you are busy scribbling, sketching and working it all out but you have no idea how it will be received when you release it into the world.
It is like birthing your own baby
Thus far, I have had people clutch their heart and cry when they hear about the Motherlove concept or received their necklace.
Many tell me how they find themselves touching the stones throughout the day reminding them of their precious family and how their children keep asking
‘Which one is me?’
One lady recounted how it popped into her mind a moment before she was about to yell at her kids; and (that time) she didn’t. She said she realized she was frustrated because they were just ambling along (as kids do 🙂 when she was in a hurry to get something else done. She said it made her stop and think ‘Do I really need to hurry just now?’
What has surprised me most are the creative versions people keep asking for.
One wanted to include the grandparents because her daughter asked why they weren’t there, one for a baby who had died. Another to celebrate her connection with Mother Earth, which of course it is as we all have an Earth day (birthday). Duh!
The most requested has been a stone for each member of the family. It seems it’s not just Motherlove but family love.
Fathers keep asking me what about one for men.
Watch this space. I’ve begun to think about that . . .
I wonder what the spirits have in mind for them . . .
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