Exotic Ivory beads: The sky is the limit for Tagua Beading!

Back in July I was contacted by a lady from Miami, asking if  we can manufacture a heart locket with tagua nuts. She attached these images to her email. I must be frank, at that point we had not manufactured such an artwork before. But as tagua is very ductile, and almost everything can be done with it, I replied “YES , we can do it!” Immediately, our artisans were working of this project. I thought we only would work on the tagua heart, but to my surprised she wanted the silver artwork too, the whole jewelry beads.

Well, this was completely new to us, as we did not have a clue how to do that. However, as we like new challenges, we starting to search what artisan could make the silver artwork and work with our ecofriendly beads (tagua). Along the years we’ve met a lot of handcrafters here in Ecuador, but we hadn’t known by then they could make this kind of work. I learned it is called “bisagrado” in spanish. It is something related to hinges 

After a lot of searching we found one option, which it seemed at the time as the best one. Nevertheless, the final work was not all good. The finishing was not what we expected.

By that time, we were kind of disappointed. Luckily, I ran into an old email, and found out the name of an old friend from Cuenca, Ecuador. She was a real master in  working bead jewellry. We really love her work. After this, the work was easy, and she even elaborated 2 different designs to choose. Thank you Maria Fernanda, you are a lifesaver.

This is the final work of the tagua beaded exotic ivory locket. I hope you enjoy it!

Should we offer this locket as a item in EcuadorianHands.com – Suggest retail price $89? What do you think?

Thanks for your comments 

Keep it green! Bead with ecofriendly beads!

By: Fabrizio Vera