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Mushroom Necklace - Natural History Illustrated Jewelry

Mushroom Necklace - Natural History Illustrated Jewelry

Description

This brightly colored and spotted mushroom, known as the fly agaric, is a very familiar fungus! In Europe, it is associated with the winter holidays as well as being an expression of good luck. This species is the quintessential "toadstool", a word that doesn't have any taxonomic meaning but usually refers to a poisonous mushroom. The fly agaric is poisonous, but not deadly -- this species has regularly been ingested by people living in various parts of Europe, sometimes as part of religious rites, because of the hallucinogenic properties of the toxin contained in its flesh.
Did you know that the mushroom we're all familiar with is really just a small portion of the entire organism? The above-ground mushroom, called a fruiting body, only lives for a few days to a few weeks, but the bulk of the creature is made up of long root-like strands that may stretch for hundreds of feet underground. This part of the fungus may live for decades.

The drawings contained in each of these pendants are reductions of my own original pen, ink and watercolor illustrations, inspired by the etchings of Victorian naturalists. Every piece comes with a keepsake information card that tells you more about each animal, and is signed and numbered. The pendant you will receive is not the piece pictured in this photograph, but one just like it, made to order.

The pendants are sterling silver and glass, with resin-coated silver leaf on the back of the stone. I hand assemble every piece. They are approximately .8 inches wide and 1.5 inches tall, and come with an 18" oxidized sterling silver chain.

Added on Nov 19, 2009