Over Memorial Day we went to the beautiful Lake Michigan beach town of South Haven. I wore my water bird cuff (I previously posted it in the bird thread). I know it is considered a peyote bird, but the very knowledgeable trading post owner I purchased it from told me they were based on Anhingas, which are related to cormorants. We travel a lot around the Great Lakes, and cormorants are everywhere, so I always wear this cuff. It is probably a Tommy Singer, but not signed. The store owner was pretty sure, because of info from the previous owner (it was pawned), and I did further research. Here I photographed it on the South Haven lighthouse pier - it’s blurry because I was focused on the light and the cool ship
I will probably add more pictures as we go to more places on the lakes! Anybody else have particular pieces of jewelry they travel with? Post pics please!
What made me think of this was @fernwood’s false fingernail post, and how people commented on her jewelry when she did her nails. I very often get comments when I wear this cuff.
Beautiful cuff Ziacat I love trade beads and have collected probably too many but someone made this necklace and bracelet (purchased a year apart) and I found them at an old jewelry store not far from me. It’s in a barn and she has the most amazing pieces. So I love the mix of different influences and I wear these layered together often. I have been alternating these two cuffs most of the time but I like the one that reminds me of a spider the most of the two. Not all native but this is what I like to wear. I probably shouldn’t touch the chevron bead as much as I do but I don’t even know I’m doing most of the time lol.
Edited to add: I wear these when traveling most of the time casually. I have a few gold pieces I wear for more formal travel.
Beautiful!! The turquoise in the second cuff reminds me of a ring I have. The Kewa artist thought it was a NV stone, but mine looks like some Kingman (of course ) I have seen; Jason also thought it might be Kingman. Do you know what mine yours is from?
I’m out of town for work this weekend, but not at the Great Lakes, so I wore different cuffs
Thanks Ziacat I agree with you. I have a large ring with Birds Eye kingman turquoise and that stone looks a lot like it. I haven’t been switching jewelry up as much as I used to. I’m still in this boot from my ankle surgery in February. Stress fractures unfortunately, so I haven’t been in my jewelry box much lately. Hopefully, I’m out of it in the next few weeks
@Ziacat what is this lighthouse? I swear I think I’ve been to the one that you pictured and I might even have pictures to prove it, but we’ve definitely been to that area.
I love the beautiful pieces you made They are really nice, I would definitely wear those. I really like the flow of your pieces. I may make something out of some of mine after seeing your pieces. I have a necklace with chevrons but it’s really heavy. I thought about taking it apart and make a lighter weight necklace but I think it’s best to leave it. But I am definitely going to see what I can come up with the lose beads that I have now
Thanks so much Xtina It’s definitely taking longer than I expected. But hopefully not much longer because I purchased some new roller skates and I’m ready to get rolling lol.
Your pics appear to be of two different lighthouses. I think the first one is the Manistee North Pierhead Light, and the second one looks like the Holland Lighthouse. The ones I have pictured are south of those two, but all along the same shoreline. We go to South Haven numerous times throughout the year, because it’s only about two and a half hours from us (my first pic).
All right y’all, not a great picture, but since I’m out of town at an ice skating competition, thought I’d snap a quick pic of the traveling cuffs I wore today Forgot to take one inside in front of the ice rink And in a few weeks I get to come right back down here for the Eiteljorg Indian Art Market, yay!
Awww Thank you so much Ziacat. I really appreciate you. It’s been tough but I’m determined to get quite a bit of skating in this summer. I tried ice skating and my old bones can’t handle the falls
Your cuffs are gorgeous. One like the one on the left is on my bucket list. It’s been hard to find one that fits me comfortably but I will keep searching. You always have such pretty pieces
@Ziacat yes, they are two different lighthouses; sorry if I did not make it clear that it was different places. My husband says he thinks the first one is Grand Haven, and I do believe Holland sounds familiar for the other, He is from Michigan but the Detroit area; they never traveled when he was growing up so all those places on the Great Lakes are sorta new to him, too. Cold, cold water there for sure!!
My sister used to live in Detroit area, and one of my brother-in-laws lives in the suburbs of Livonia now. I have gone up there many times for skating competitions so I know Detroit pretty well.
I wondered if the first light was Grand Haven, but it has 2 lights on one pier; kind of like the second one I posted. But maybe your picture is only showing part? Is it red or is it white? If it’s red it’s Grand Haven, and the other part isn’t in the picture. Then it would be Grand Haven. MI has more lighthouses than other state in the US, but if you look at it on the map, you will see MI is almost completely surrounded by the Great Lakes, and Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake that is entirely within the US (IN even has 5 lighthouses on Lake MI!) Another crazy fact is that 21% of the world’s freshwater is in the Great Lakes, with about half of that being in Lake Superior.
Sorry to go on so long, but I love the Great Lakes as much as I do the desert southwest. I put them on a level with Grand Canyon, because there’s absolutely nothing else like them in the world. And traveling around the Great Lakes is where I first got my taste of Native American art from the things my parents purchased.
I love trade beads and have collected probably too many but someone made this necklace and bracelet (purchased a year apart) and I found them at an old jewelry store not far from me. It’s in a barn and she has the most amazing pieces. So I love the mix of different influences and I wear these layered together often. I have been alternating these two cuffs most of the time but I like the one that reminds me of a spider the most of the two. Not all native but this is what I like to wear. I probably shouldn’t touch the chevron bead as much as I do but I don’t even know I’m doing most of the time lol.
I agree with you. I have a large ring with Birds Eye kingman turquoise and that stone looks a lot like it. I haven’t been switching jewelry up as much as I used to. I’m still in this boot from my ankle surgery in February. Stress fractures unfortunately, so I haven’t been in my jewelry box much lately. Hopefully, I’m out of it in the next few weeks 
Thank you so much Ziacat. I really appreciate you. It’s been tough but I’m determined to get quite a bit of skating in this summer. I tried ice skating and my old bones can’t handle the falls 