The Road Opener

how I came to create a custom piece for an Elegua priest

While I have been creating with my hands for most of my life, beading is the one medium that I have practiced the longest.

Hand beaded using Charlotte-cut beads, cowrie shells, rubies, black diamonds and herkimer diamonds mounted on a crocheted background using mixed fiber thread, leather and cowrie shells.

I remember the day that I brought home a beading kit. Like most things, I was drawn to the aesthetically pleasing way the beads were packaged. They were all in little glass vials with cork tops and were in rainbow order.

Sidebar - If you know me, you’d know that anything packaged this way is bound to get my attention). My inner child really loves rainbows, for as long as I can remember.

courtesy of BillWorbFurs

Needless to say, the kit had to come home with me. It was back in 1998 and I remember like it was yesterday. I was taking Khamitiks 101 with Baaba Heru back at the Heal Thyself Center on Kingston Avenue in Brooklyn. This is important to mention because when I got to my weekly class, I was sharing with another sister that I had just unexpectedly purchased the beading kit even though I wasn’t a beader. The sister (unfortunately, I’ve forgotten her name 🫣) immediately asked me to make her a necklace. I reminded her that I didn’t know how and she politely said, “you’ll figure it out.” I’m not sure she knows how much her words really motivated me.

Soon, I was beading like crazy. I purchased a loom so that I could learn to weave beads in a new way. Over time, I began making necklaces with symbols. As I mentioned, I was learning about Ancient Egyptian culture and eventually took Sacred Woman taught by Queen Afua which only served to inspire my creativity. I began to incorporate crystals, numerology, astrology and color therapy into how I created my designs. Before long, I had friends requesting that I make necklaces for them. I had so much fun using their birth charts, numerology and more to decide what materials to use. I started incorporating consultations and listening with my inner ear to what was being said to get a clue for what symbols to use for each person. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that was when I really began tapping into the field and using my intuition. People started coming back to me to tell me how much they loved their necklaces and that they felt the energy in them every time they wore them.

When I made my solopreneur venture official in 2021, I focused more on making things that were colorful and pretty. Though I still worked in color therapy and crystals when I could, these creations didn’t really showcase the depth of work that I really loved to create. Only my custom work lights me all the way up.

I’ve made custom pieces in the interim but then you get the request that stands above the rest. Kartina, my dope sistar friend (you may know her from Elegua House Healing) and Priest of Elegua, commissioned a piece for herself. When I tell you that this lit me up???!!

It meant so much to me to be asked AND for what she was asking for - a custom piece for Elegua.

In very simplified form, Elegua/Eleggua/Elegba is the orisha of the crossroads, the one who opens (or closes) paths/doors to opportunities, the one who acts as messenger between the spirit world and humans. The resulting necklace was everything!!!

This piece pushed me in all the best ways. If you watch the video above, it showcases the progress along the way. I am sooo proud of it and not because it has gotten the most traction of anything that I have ever posted (cuz baybee it sure has) but, because of the blessing of being able to create such a powerful piece for another powerful and beautiful human being. ❤️‍🔥

Fast forward to today, about 28 years later (I said 26 years in the note I posted but that wasn’t right). I am still beading. Shoutout to that sister who gave me the invitation to begin. I hope she gets to see all that she inspired.

Interested in seeing more of my custom work?