JEWELRY BY DIANNE SOPHIA * GREEK KEY BRACELET

I remember hearing the term Greek Key and asking my grandmother what it was. She replied by drawing it for me, and ever since then I've been hooked. I love this design.... to see it, to doodle it, to sew with it, to wear it, to decorate with it. My favorite every day ring is a greek key cutout ring that I bought on the street on Crete. My favorite Greek key is a simple border pattern. One continuous line shaped and tamed into pattern.

This bracelet features a clasp that I had made using a sterling silver Greek key earring. The clasp artist used small sterling silver dots and pebbles to set off the symmetry of the circular Greek key design. Two rows of colorful Freshwater Pearls in earthy tones are like the pebbles or rocks that are the terrain of much of Greece. Greens, grays, purples, golds, blues. In spite of the sunshine and blue sea, Greece is not rainbow colors. It's a subtle blend of earth and mountain and sky and olive tree and farmland and dirt road in the village. These are the things that these pearls evoke. Two Bali Sterling Silver beads, one on each strand of pearls are the civilization of Greece, for although it seems untamed, people have lived and created lives and art there for thousands of years.