Gaia's Song Jewelry
I’m Denise Hershey, creative force behind Gaia’s Song Jewelry. My Passion is making one-of-a-kind nature-inspired jewelry that looks and feels harmonious. I make Fine Silver and Sterling Silver Pendants, Earrings, and Toggles for necklaces made with unique and interesting semiprecious beads that I find in my wanderings.
My silverwork is done using silver clay, as opposed to traditional silversmithing. Silver clay allows more flexibility when designing textures and creating images. Silver clay consists of tiny particles of silver in an organic “clay” similar to fondant used in a bakery.
In the wet clay state, I can roll out, mold, texture, and cut out desired shapes. I let it dry and I can continue to add wet or dry clay elements to continue the design. I can add a bail (connector for pendants), or bezel wire used to set stones later in the process. After many cycles of wet and dry design, I smooth and contour and otherwise clean up the piece.
When it is ready, it goes into a kiln. During this cycle, the organic clay burns off and the piece shrinks a bit and it becomes .999 pure silver. After it comes out of the kiln, I tumble it in a magnetic tumbler to brighten it up. Then I might use my Jooltool to do the finish polishing. If I am setting a semiprecious stone, I will set it at this point. Then I do some final cleanup and polish and the piece is ready to be incorporated into jewelry.
Much of my work uses nature and the outdoors as my inspiration. I take special care to balance the colors, textures, shapes and beads into pleasant combinations that feel natural to wear.
I have two new custom lines of fine silver: Zodiac symbols and Tarot cards:
The rectangular Tarot cards have a looping bail to hang on a cord or chain. It can also come as a thin silver bar without the bail. You can collect all 22 Major Arcana cards!
The circular Zodiac symbols come in a large and small size. I custom make them with the sign(s) of your choice.
- The small size is used for earrings, a small one- or two-sided pendant, or as a two-sided coin.
- The large size is for one- and two-sided pendants or a two-sided coin.
I have shown my work at the Village Gallery in Cedar Hills and The Blue Pine Gallery and Gifts in Gresham. I am now showing at The Perfect Piece Gallery and Gifts in Lake Oswego.
Gaia’s Song Jewelry has the spirit of Mother Earth - Gaia embodied in a rhythmic vibrational song and captured in jewelry made from semiprecious stones from the earth or in the image of earth’s life forms, such as animals and plants.
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Gaia is the personification of Earth. Gaia’s Song Jewelry helps you stay grounded and connected to the earth and your deeper divine self, which has the energy and stability to fill you with the joy of living on this beautiful planet.
Touch the stone, leaf, or flower, and all the everyday chatter subsides. Just for a moment you are transported to your favorite place in nature. Even though you may not be able to physically escape as often as you need, this tranquility is open to you any time you want—if you stop what you are doing for a moment, take a deep breath, touch the outline of the piece, and let your mind travel to places of beauty. When you go back to your regular routine, you will have new energy to deal with whatever life tosses at you.
The name I’ve chosen for my jewelry brand contains many overlaying meanings that describe how you feel as you wear my jewelry.
Gaia is an old Greek word meaning the Earth. Gaia is the personification of Mother Earth, and has come to symbolize the beauty and awesomeness of nature. She is associated with the Gaia’s Hypothesis, which asserts that the biological elements on the earth work in concert with one another. What we as humans do affects our environment and our well being.
A song is a poem set to music. The music is comprised of harmonious chords from one or more instruments. It is sung to a melody and is often created by harmonizing voices. Harmony is a combination of separate but related parts in a way that uses similarities to bring unity to something (e.g. a painting, drawing, or other artwork, or also a collaboration or other action). Our heartbeat is the rhythm of our bodies, and rhythm is the heartbeat of a song.
Taken together, Gaia’s Song Jewelry has the spirit of Gaia embodied in a rhythmic vibrational song and captured in jewelry made from semiprecious stones from the earth or in the image of earth’s life forms, such as animals and plants.
(Denise Hershey)
Owner / Designer of Gaia's Song Jewelry
My Passion is making jewelry that looks and feels harmonious. I use quality techniques to ensure each piece is sturdy and will stand up to normal use. I believe in my work so much that I will buy back any piece with no questions asked in the first 30 days you own it. If the color is wrong, if it doesn’t lay right, I hope to fix the problem so you love the piece. However, if the issue can’t be worked out, I’ll buy it back
My one-of-a-kind nature-inspired jewelry results from my childhood love of the outdoors. I use beads that have an image of a plant or animal, or they are pretty semi-precious stones that Mother Nature created. I love combining colors and textures into beautiful nature-inspired jewelry.
In my studio in Tigard, Oregon, I design and create all of my unique jewelry pieces in pleasing combinations of stone, metal, glass, or wooden beads. My pieces are elegant, yet natural, arrangements that feel comfortable to wear and make the wearer look beautiful, whether for dress-up or casual.
Fun fact, I rarely sketch out my next piece. It’s all about intuitively holding the stones in my hands and matching them by color, texture, and shape until it looks and feels just right.
I’m on a quest for self-mastery with my jewelry. I want my work to be timeless, beautiful, and sturdy. I have reworked pieces multiple times, or even recycled the parts rather than having a piece that doesn’t sing for me.
I am pledging my business to have a low as possible carbon footprint and a high as possible social benefit. Already, my studio and household uses power generated from biomass and other renewable power sources.
I use recyclable packaging and office supplies where possible, including bubble and foam wrap left over from my move. It has been difficult to get good answers, but I have begun checking whether my beads have been ethically sourced. I’ll be sure to identify beads that I can establish they have been ethically sourced. For instance, my Precious Metal Silver and Sterling Silver pieces use recycled silver from old photo negatives.
You can help, too, by buying my nature-inspired jewelry. Follow me on this journey on my blog, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest.
My one-of-a-kind designs radiate your love of nature or ancient times.