I bought these delicate little fibre works in Chile several years ago, each is approx 3″ x 3″.  I had often seen them at the airport when passing through Santiago, but I found these  at a market in southern Chile, Puerto Montt probably, I don’t fully remember.  I’ve given a few away, and although I have been meaning to wear one sometime, perhaps because I knew nothing about them I felt hesitant about wearing one. 

Well this morning several things came together.  I have no idea where it started, but at one point I found myself exploring the work of ricardo pulgar whose mission is to combine traditional crafts from his region with other materials in a contemporary way, his focus being sculpture and jewellery.  In the gallery sections (especially horsehair)  on this particular site scroll down and you will come across several pieces of jewellery incorporating crin plus silver and other materials.

I thik it is fascinating how modern makers are linking materials and techniques to each other that a decade or two ago would never been put anywhere near each other.  Just as in cuisine, so in artesanias/handcrafts  – even quilted textiles – and quite often somewhere in all that is some ‘art’.