Recently, I was having a discussion with a friend on how to represent sericulture as jewelry. After a while, we were stumped. The only option that I could come up with was creating silk beads by winding silk fabric over wire. However, the very next day, I got a message from another crafter friend saying that she had silk cocoons with her. She wanted to know if I could create experimental Cocoon Jewelry. It was a delightful coincidence indeed and I spent the next 10 days playing with them.
A cocoon is a protective shell of fibrous material spun by a silkworm in the larvae stage. It is soft for a shell but with a surprisingly firm structure. The fibres from the cocoons are spund and wound to create filaments of silk yarn. But before I show you some of my experiments, I must state that if you are someone who hates sericulture and silk, I suggest that you skip this post
Theme of the month – Nests
The good folks over at Art Elements now host “Theme of the month challenges” instead of the “COM” – Component of the month challenge. This they believe would expand the challenge to all art forms without restricting it to jewelry. This month is all about Nests. In her challenge post encouraged us to work with different materials and concepts without restricting ourselves to birds nests. One of the materials that she suggested was fibre. Also, I have made numerous versions of birds nests before and I wanted to try something new. Putting two and two together, I felt that this would be a great opportunity to showcase my Cocoon jewelry.
Cocoon Experiments
I started out with offwhite cocoons and experimented with dyes and inks to colours them. Adding metallic pigments came next. In the days that followed I tried many different designs by curing and sealing the cocoons and checking for bleeding. Adding rhinestones, findings to convert them into jewelry came next. Out of my several experiments, two designs seen in this post emerged as winners.
Cocoon Jewelry
While I was experimenting with Cocoon Jewelry, I came across several designs by Napoleonka. I was fascinated for her designs and decided to create a variation of one of her necklaces. Her Etsy store no longer seems to stock these cocoon pretties. However, there are many of her designs on Pinterest that will thoroughly inspire you. Another Etsy store to check out for Cocoon necklaces is Batikelene.
Cocoon Necklace
My childhood home was a tiny corner house with a big garden. We shared a fence and a wall our neighbour whose yard had a pomegranate tree. That tree was home to tailor and weaver birds who would create beautiful hanging nests. When they fly away, the nests would eventually droop down, losing its shape at the bottom almost resembling these cut cocoons on the necklaces.
Out of the six cocoons in this necklace four are professionally dyed and the other two are colored with metallic paints. They are all knotted to a silk cord with embroidery thread. Since this was an experiment, I made mistakes. Now, I do have solutions and corrections for some of them. As I like how the cocoons fall from the cord I would be making another piece for myself soon – probably blue mixed with black. Will this piece remain as a necklace or morph into something else, only time will tell.
Cocoon Earrings
During my dyeing experiments, I came up with a bright cocoon casing. They looked perfect as toppers for some buttons I bought in 2014 in the markets of Ahmedabad. I bought them as they reminded me of the gorgeous interior domes of the Dhilwara temples at Mount Abu. However, they were large shank buttons they did not work well with clothes or my usual jewelry. But with cocoons they proved to be perfect. The buttons already had some pearl embellishments so I added some rhinestone chain to enhance the effect. A pair of ear wires later, viola! Accessories fit for Indian wear!
This design turned out to be exactly as I envisioned during my conceptualisation stage. I will share a tutorial on how to make it soon.
Guest Participants
Alysen
Anita
Divya (ME)
Kathy
Kym
Mona
Rosantia
Sarajo
Tammy
AE team members
Caroline
Cathy
Claire
Jenny
Laney
Leslie
Lindsay
Marsha
Niky
49 responses to “Cocoon Jewelry”
The purple cocoons are fabulous! You must have a good reason to decide to not keep this necklace as is, it’s gorgeous! I have always wondered if the cocoons are heavy enough to lay beautifully. The cocoon and shank button were made for each other, what a great idea! I must explore this construction!
I plan to wear the necklace first before I dismantle or add to it. I am thinking it might look better in black. I will be posting a tutorial for the earrings. It took me a long time to figure it out but once I figured it, it was ” Duh! its so simple moment”
Nice trials Divya. I like such light weight necklaces as they look unique. Do Try more designs.
your childhood garden sounds like a paradise! I have some of those cocoon ‘thingiemebobs’ but I would never have been as creative as you have been, I love how they sparkle! Mine still languish at the bottom of the bead box you have inspired me to look at them again 😀
I found Cocoons to be versatile. I think I would be making more experiments with them soon. I hope you would join me and try out your stash of cocoons too
I love your earrings. The buttons that you had are perfect for them. I love the little jewels on the earrings. So pretty!
Oh yes, the rhinestones makes them really sparkle
Oh MY! I love how you’ve created jewelry with these cocoons. I have a stash of them that I have never really used. Thanks for the inspiration.
I love the necklace-the colors of the cocoons with that irridescent paint are fabulous BUT those earrings are my absolute favorite. The addition of the buttons with the rhinestones are just perfect!
Thanks for playing along this month.
Thank you Cathy for this prompt. It was a big coincidence where all the elements of the pieces (and the post) came together beautifully
Gorgeous color combinations. The vividness really woke me up this morning. 🙂
Thanks Tammy. I must state that the cocoons are more vivid in the photograph than in real life. This is one of those rare times that the piece look better in the picture than in reality
I love these, Divya! The purple cocoons remind me of peacocks, and I love the organic look of the necklace. And the fiery orange earrings, they remind me of the hot summer we’re experiencing right now in Bangalore. 🙂 The rhinestone chain complements the fibre and metal really well.
I didn’t realize The Craft Shop sells these. Thank you for the pointer, I’ll now need to figure out what else is new there!
Hi Anita, its nice to get to know a fellow jewelry blogger from India. Yes, it does look like an abstract version of peacock feathers. Chennai is pretty hot now so the red earrings are apt for the weather. The cocoons are not yet listed on the store. Priya is in the process of acquiring and testing them
Beautiful! Love the colors and your thought processes…
Thanks Alysen. Do drop by one again in a few weeks to see the tutorial too
Beautiful designs, I love the results of your experiments and those earrings are simply stunning!
Thanks Caroline
I love how you died and painted the cocoons! The blue with the metallic highlights look so rich and like taken from a fantasy! And I love the shape, colour and texture of the earrings, they are gorgeous! 🙂 I can’t wait to see what else you may create with the cocoons.
Thanks Claire. I did various types of dyeing with the cocoons. I used silk paints, fabric colours, and several inks to dye and paint them. Dip dyeing was fun too but I couldn’t finish that piece
Your necklace is stunning, but those earrings! Wow! I have wanted to try working with the cocoons and your pieces inspire me to give it a try.
Sure, you should go for it. working with Cocoons needs a lot of patience but they are worth it in the end
Your designs were really amazing and innovative. I really loved your design and work.
Thanks for sharing with us. Keep up the good work.
Thank you so much for dropping in and leaving a comment
Oh my gosh! They are just stunning, I love the colours and the opulence of the necklace (blue, green and purple are my all time fave colour combo) and those earrings are just perfect and so unique!
Thanks Niky. Your compliments just made my day 🙂
the necklace is so beautiful. stunning. how innovative to use cocoons
Thank you Nayantara
Wow! I plan to go look up tailor and Weaver birds, I am intrigued. Your description brought back a fond childhood memory of watching the barn swallows nest on my grandmothers porch…. The cocoons are lovely- and especially brilliant for earrings! So light weight and great intense color. I like the necklace but you really got me with the earrings! Thanks for joining us this month!
Both tailor birds and weaver birds create beautiful nests by sewing or weaving twigs, leaves and fibres together. They are true marvels
Amazing textures and colors.
Thanks Catherine
Thank you for playing along with us! Your pieces are gorgeous, and I am so inspired to play with my own stash of silk cocoons. I might start with my own rendition of the earrings you made. My ears don’t like to wear much anymore, but these could be so light weight and bright!
Cocoons are incredible. They can make lightweight earrings but they be strong enough to make very heavy pieces too
Wow! I love your necklace and your use of the cocoons. I’ve had some for quite a while and never managed to use them.
I do hope that you find it interesting enough to pursue it Karin
Snap! I think you might start a trend for cocoon jewellery with you lovely designs.
I really hope that happens. That was the exact intention
The jewelry looks beautiful. Never seen something like that.
Thank you so very much.
Oh my goodness!! That necklace is STUNNING. I love the vivid purple-blue you dyed them. And, the simplicity of it is really breathtaking. As well, I totally dig that you didn’t do a standard nest idea and instead went down a little different path.
Thanks Hope. Dyes and pigments react differently on silk fibres. But if you are experimental and patient enough then you can get fantastic results
These are super cool! I really like the colors and metallic textures you achieved for the necklace… and those earrings are Wowza! Show stopping color.
Thank you Sarajo. Yes the cocoons work very well as both light weight and heavy earrings
I love how you weave your personal stories to your jewellery work posts. And I read your posts to know more about those personal stories,
That is precisely my intention Gayathri 🙂 I want my readers to appreciate the emotions behind each piece that I make
Divya – I always enjoy reading your posts and your stories behind what you make! This post is no exception, wonderful work!
Thank you Susan
what a wonderful way to play with cocoons. I especially like the earrings – my they are so beautiful!
Thank you. Next week I am planning to post a tutorial for the same