The Beauty and Mystery of the Night

Etsy.com handmade and vintage goods
pillarsofcreation

Story by pillarsofcreation

Published on Aug 08, 2012 in Shop

Rachel Jacks writes the blog Transient Expression, where she chronicles her fashion and lifestyle DIY projects and inspiration. She creates space-themed goods for her shop, Pillars of Creation, from wonderful Portland, Oregon. Her basement workspace is shared with her husband, his indie video game studio start-up, and their two cats, Delicious and Adventurous. When she’s not blogging or sewing, she also pins everything on Pinterest, tweets, thrifts, takes photos, eats at food carts, knits, and invents fancy cocktails.

Your favorite TV shows may be on hiatus, but summer is prime time for sky-viewing. The annual Perseid Meteor Shower, generally considered the best in the Northern Hemisphere, peaks on August 11 this year. Watching shooting stars on a warm summer night is a truly wonderful way to spend an evening. To help inspire you to go outside and gaze upward, I’ve compiled this list of Etsy finds inspired by the beauty and mystery of the night.

[1. Silver third eye ring by kellystilesjewelry;  2. Hanging geometric terrarium by  megamyers; 3. Black magic quartz talon tray by TheForeignArchives;  4. Music from the motion picture soundtrack "Clash of the Titans" from DropTheNeedle;  5. Ouroboros etched copper snakeskin necklace by jtopolski.]

Throughout history, humans have looked at the unknown and invented signs, symbols, and stories to explain and attempt to harness mysterious forces. The Perseid meteor shower is named after the constellation Perseus, from which the meteors appear to originate. If you don’t remember your Greek mythology, Perseus is a half-human son of Zeus who cut off the head of the Gorgon Medusa (she was the one with snakes for hair) and saved Andromeda from a sea monster. Sometimes it takes a lot of work to get your own constellation!

[1. Milky Way wee bowls by ZebestPottery; 2. Glow in the dark solar system t-shirt by makeitgoodpdx; 3. Half-moon carina nebula necklace by JessieForged; 4. Galaxy raw cobalt earrings by TheScarlettGypsy; 5. "Stargazing is like time travel" print by AmaMocci; 6. Sterling silver stardust textured ring by AndreaBonelliJewelry; 7. Boulder opal and copper ring by MidwestAlchemy; 8. Zodiac embroidery constellation kit by MiniatureRhino.]

Myths and stories about the stars and constellations are abundant in every culture on Earth (except the mole-people). These days we have high-powered telescopes that can detect stars that are millions of light-years away and determine their elemental composition and even whether they have planets orbiting them. This great wealth of scientific knowledge is amazing, but for me it emphasizes how much we still don’t know about the universe. It sure does look stunningly beautiful in photos, though.

[1. Men's moon t-shirt by blackbirdtees; 2. Moon print by SandraDieckmann; 3. Owl talon crescent necklace by BloodMilk; 4. Vintage celestial globe set from vintagecals; 5. Claire de lune moonlight wall sticker by i3Lab; 6. Moonlight becomes you vintage sequin top from Dronning.]

When the moon is too bright it washes out the stars and makes it difficult to see the meteors. For this year’s Perseid shower, the moon will be a waning crescent. It shouldn’t interfere with views of the shooting stars too much.

[1. Astroid in motion tote by idiopix;  2. Black tektite earrings by LGAjewelry; 3. Meteorite silver earrings by SusanaTeixeiraJewels; 4. Pull-down educational chart by GrittyCityGoods; 5. Asteroid bismuth crystal necklace by Dolorous; 6. Tektite sterling silver ring by masaoms; 7. Hand-printed asteroid poster by AlbrightIllustration;  8. Asteroid souvenir cup and saucer from Arizona from sofralma.]

For years, scientists couldn’t explain why there were many times more gold and platinum on the earth than their models predicted. By studying the elemental make-up of ancient rocks, they recently came to the conclusion that about 3.9 billion years ago, there was a meteor shower that rained precious metals on the planet. If you’re wearing gold or platinum jewelry, some of it may have come from the 20 billion billion (not a typo!) tons of asteroidal material that fell to earth. If you need even more bling from the stars, you can purchase jewelry made from tektites. Tektites are believed to consist of rocks and sediment that were melted and ejected when a meteorite hit the ground. They then re-entered the atmosphere and fell to the Earth, sometimes thousands of miles from the impact site.

For more information about meteor showers and tips about viewing them, check out the meteor shower guides from EarthSky and Stardate. Now get out there and stare at some stars!

Seller's Items

Related Items

3 Featured Comments

Sign in to add your own
  • PopLoveCouture

    Shai Wallach from PopLoveCouture says: Featured

    These are absolutely beautiful collections. After years of living in the city and seeing nothing but blackness in the night sky, the beauty of a starry night sky is that more magical. The subtle colors and play with lights, I've always been fascinated by the stars, it's so much fun to see these patterns coming into fashion!

    315 days ago

  • prchalartstudio

    John and Nacene Prchal from PrchalArtStudio says: Featured

    Fantastic finds and a great story! A group of us usually go out to watch shooting stars. It's a lot of fun and a beautiful experience. Everyone get out there if you can and enjoy!

    315 days ago

  • mazedasastoat

    mazedasastoat from mazedasastoat says: Featured

    It saddens me to hear so many city dwellers say they've never seen a shooting star. Make the effort this year, it's the week end after all, & get away from those city lights... once you've spent time lying on your back gazing into eternity you'll never look at life in quite the same way again!

    314 days ago

80 comments

Sign in to add your own