Feathers, jewelry, mardi gras indians

Here in the Deep South, Mardi Gras season goes on and on in many of our hearts.  I've taken so many pics of all the aspects of our Mardi Gras season, from the flashy parades and Mardi Gras Indians of New Orleans, to the Cajun country Mardi Gras runs (what we call the Courir de Mardi Gras).  Today, I will share some of my photos from the Mardi Gras Indians of New Orleans.  Their history is fascinating: what was once a tradition of violence is now a ritual full of appreciation of craftmanship, dancing, and strutting in a friendly-competitive parade.  The African American Mardi Gras Indians of NOLA take the name 'Indian' out of respect to the native American Indians who assisted slaves during the period of slavery here in the South.  Read the link below for the full history.
http://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/mardigrasindians.html
The last picture below is a house I passed as we biked away from the Indians celebrations; reminding us still of the perseverance of ritual, celebration and the pursuit of joy through adversity, suffering, and le bon temps too.

 Above: Close up of one of my favorite shields; the parades and costumes are often political.  Check the cops outrageously blond hair!

                                             The Dream...

Inspired by all the feathers, I've made some earrings, shown below:

Thanks for looking!

http://www.laceydu.com/

Salut!
V-Day is upon us!
"V-Day is a global activist movement  that raises funds and awareness to end violence against women and girls. In 2010, over 5400 V-Day benefit events took place in the U.S. and around the world. To date, the V-Day movement has raised over $75 million and educated millions about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it. "

Well, sounds good to me!

The colors of V-Day are red and pink, so following suit, I made a set of earrings and a necklace for my local V-Day Benefit Concert and Art Auction; money raised from these events will benefit local survivors of domestic and sexual assault.

Check it out: http://www.vday.org/home

Revelry and beads!
Mardi Gras 2011 is over and I've taken much inspiration from the celebrating that took place in one of my favorite cities in the world: New Orleans.
I'll share a few photos from a few parades, but what is most in my mind is the earthquake and tsumani that has devasted Japan.  May what went wrong in The Big Easy not commence again.  Maybe there is much to learn about ourselves after a disaster, but I'll simply share a bit of the slow, and yes, unfair recovery (in the form of one of NOLA's best jubilee's: Mardi Gras) that has come upon New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. 

Vintage mardi gras bead necklaces!

Yesterday I heard the Chanson de Mardi Gras (mardi gras song) by the Balfa Brothers.  Such a delicious, haunting melody.  I've done up some necklaces using vintage, Pre-1955 mardi gras beads!  The beads are glass, from the former Czechoslovakia and it's astounding that they're still around, because most of these 'throws' were just that: tossed from floats to the crowd below, and many shattered.  These have survived to be re-adapted into modern jewelry!  So, happy Mardi Gras to everyone!!  -laceyDU.com

laceyDU now has a blog!

Salut!
laceyDU.com now has a blog!
Here I will post new jewelry collections and interesting finds and happenings.

merci bien!