My Hatchetfishery, and other fishy things...

 Of course all things start with eyes. ( Except for the ones that don't , but it makes such a good way to start a post, isn't it?)  I am a connoisseur of exotic eyes, always looking for something special.

That's how I found my fellow Etsian, Natalie Monkivitch. She seems to be in love with eyes as much as eye am. This was a match made in heaven, so I could not wait to get my paws on her eyes. I snapped a picture of the bunch I was lucky enough to purchase from her. As you see, all these eyes are a bit different. I like how they are not matching pairs, but they all do their own thing!

 Recently I have found some pictures of Hatchetfish.  They are such creatures that only a mother could love. And me, lover of all things beautiful,beautiful in not the most common ways.

I decided to make a set of bracelets with them. The first version uses a taxidermy fish eye, a variety I use a lot. Then I used Nat's orange eye, a zombie like eye, which has a dreamy look if you ask me.My aim with these two was to create a more realistic, but yet still fairy tale like look with striking ,
 contrasting backgrounds.

The first piece has a turquoise background with a black swirl.

The second piece has an orange pearl crusted back ground to match the eye.

I am not sure which one I like better. Probably the orange one because of the art glass eye, which in many ways is a lot more like the real Hatchetfish's eye.

Since we are talking about a bioluminescent critter, I used some super shiny Swarovski bicones on the fish tummies that catch the sun light like nothing else. These bracelets sparkle more then diamonds.

Diamonds are over rated. Fishies are under rated.

 Here is a set of sardines that made a wonderful earring for a friend and returning customer. These earrings also utilize Nat's glass eyes. They have such a nice look to them, a lot less  predictable then the taxidermy eyes. Good thing I have a handful of them left. 

To get your handful , click HERE. A listing for a lovely batch.

And to prove that not all things have to be big and complicated. Just a simple barrette for the same friend who got the fishie earrings.