Mysterious Amazon - EBW June Challenge

 

 It's time for another Etsy Beadweavers Challenge!  This month the theme is "Mystery".  I love to read audiobooks while I bead and I read plenty of mysteries, but I wasn't feeling any inspiration from any one in particular.  Then I came upon Ann Patchett's lastest book "State of Wonder"; a mystery of sorts that takes place in the Amazon rainforest.  The storyline revolves around studying indigenous tribes and the potential to use what they eat and medicate themselves with to develop pharmaceuticals.  

 

The rain forest covering the vast Amazon River basin looks from the air like a uniform green carpet cut here and there by water. The "carpet" is actually the forest's canopy formed by the broad leaves of many different kinds of giant trees. This canopy is only the topmost layer of an ecosystem supporting more species than any other region on earth. The rain forest is home to an estimated 80,000 plant species and possibly 30 million animal species (most of them insects), many of these with no other known related species. Pharmaceutical companies send researchers to find new sources for medicine. The cure for our worst known diseases could possibly be as yet undiscovered among the plant life of the Amazon rain forest. Scientists from all fields explore the Amazon to solve the mystery of how such a wide range of life came to be in such a short period of time, and in such a specific area. The bright green of the impression jasper stones imitate an aerial view of the tropical rainforest, and the rich corals represent the brilliant plant and animal species found there.  

 

Necklace details: At the heart of this piece is a set of 5 lovely dyed impression jasper stones. The middle teardrop is captured in a peyote bezel and all the stones are surrounded by a variety of beautiful coral rounds, lightest green glass pearls and seed beads. A rich fringe ending in a forest of Czech glass leaves give the piece life and movement. The center piece is about 9" wide and has a 6" drop including the fringe. It is backed with tan ultrasuede for comfort and is suspended from a spiral rope necklace with a silver leaf and hook closure. The necklace measures about 25" around and is meant to fall well below the collar line, but can be adjusted to your specifications.

Stop by the EBW Team's blog http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com/ on May 9-15 to vote for your favorite Mystery entry. And search Etsy for EBWC to see more entries.