New Kraken ear plugs in time for Octopus Awareness Day!

Even the octopus has an awareness day!  We have three styles of octopod themed ear plugs for gauged ears to choose from.  Our new style, Kraken, comes in sizes 2g through 1 inch.  It is rare to find a double flared tunnel with this fine of detail in the smaller gauges, but our artisans were up for the task.  Check out all of our amazing hand carved, organic jewelry at www.avaiaartisticjewelry.com.

Do you know some famous octopods?  Scientific American has come out with of a list of 8 well known cephalopods from fact and folklore shown below.

8. Billye: Who is a giant pacific octopus and is capable of opening childproof jars in lightning speed to get at treats.
7. Puget Sound GPO: A giant Pacific octopus that ended up in a clash with a diver in Seattle, Washington. The octopus lost the fight and its life but local attention was drawn to the plight of the octopod and whether or not it should be legal to hunt and serve them up as tablefare!
6. Tellaro Octopus: A fameous Italian octopus that supposedly kept pirates at bay and saved a town some 350 years ago. 
5. Ozy: Another talented jar opener at the Island Bay Marine Education centre in New Zealand.
4. Kraken: Yep, you know the legend.  The Kraken loves to swallow up ships, and although it might have been a giant squid, folklore and images paint it more like an octopus
3. Shark Killer: This sneaky night stalker was ripping up the sharks that shared its tank at the Seattle Aquarium.
2. Camouflage Master: This one has gone viral on youtube. You know you want to watch it again.
1. Paul: Paul was given the number one spot for his amazing psychic abilities.  He has a knack at predicting the outcomes of soccer matches.  He resides in a German aquarium and predicted the winner of all 7 matches in the 2010 World Cup for Germany and the winner of the final match between Spain and the Netherlands.  Quite an amazing feet for an invertebrate!

(List and abbreviated content Courtesy of Scientific American Website)

Halloween is coming! Let's look at some gauge styles befitting this holiday.

Whether Halloween comes once a year to you or if it is your style all year long, Avaia Artistic Jewelry will have a style of gauges to match your personality or party.  Check out some of our favourites below.

Our HOWL style is hand carved out of organic water buffalo horn with bone dust inlay.

Appropriately named "Hellbent" these were designed to be scary

The above style was name "Tempest" and could pair wonderfully with Halloween.

This dragon style is called "Scatha"

And another dragon style called "Parthos"

And what about some OWLS?

The above owl is called "labyrinth" after the barn owl in the movie.

The SAGARIS style has a medevil feel to it. We also have this style in bone, red sabo wood and black areng wood.

And DIABLOS named after the devil himself.

Also possibly an urge to Howl at the Moon.

But what ever you plan for Halloween or thereafter, check out the selection of gauges at Avaia Artistic Jewelry and let us make your day or every day awesome.

One of a Kind, Custom, Original Ear Gauges

Not everyone wants the next fad design in jewelry.  Avaia Artistic Jewelry commissions original work, rare and detailed work, as well as custom designs for our customers.

Occasionally we get requests for custom designs.  Although we at Avaia Artistic Jewelry do not carve ourselves, our artisans in Indonesia are happy to help out with custom orders.   These orders typically take some time to complete, but they can be worth the wait!

We had a request for a tiger design in a hanging ear gauge.  Check out what our artisans could do for our customer!

We have also hosted a design contest for the last two years that lets our facebook fans choose the winner.  The winner receives a nice prize package in exchange for the use of his or her design.  Below you will see the design winners over the last three years.

2013 Design Winner

Calla Lilly in Horn

2012 Design Winner

Hanging Cat in Sabo Wood (not oiled in photograph)

Sometimes we, at Avaia Artistic Jewelry ,have a vision for a design that our carvers exquisitely capture.

Whale Song - an original design at Avaia

We can also commission work other than body jewelry.  These cute, little havanese dog pendants were the work of our artisans as a special commissioned project.

 

Keep Current with the happenings at Avaia Artistic Jewelry by liking our Facebook Page.

Visit us at www.avaiaartisticjewelry.com

Tribal Ear Weights - The ancient practice of ear lobe stretching

Buy Tribal Borneo Ear Weights Here

Ear stretching is not a fad.  Throughout history, many cultures have practiced earlobe stretching as a sign of beauty and status.  King Tut himself had stretched ear lobes as visualized in his burial mask.



Ear weights are associated with many African and Asian Tribal cultures.  Borneo tribes, including the Dayak and Iban, adorned their ears with brass and metal weights.
The woman in the photograph below is a Native Iban woman showing the tribal tattooing and ear lobe stretching that is becoming less common today among the native tribes, but has exploded as a trend (to a lesser extreme) among the Western world..

The photo above is of a young Dayak girl from Borneo stretching her ear lobes.   In times past, villages would have ceremonies and give title to the most beautiful woman of the village.  A major requirement to having this prized title bestowed on a woman would be having the most extremely stretched ear lobes.
Many ear weights were artistic and beautiful, often representing creatures of their spiritual beliefs.

Mythical Asos

Fertility God

If you like the look of stretched piercings, whether it be a small 12g, or a large 2 inch stretching, Avaia Artistic Jewelry has hand crafted ear gauges to suit your wants and needs.  If you like the look of Borneo ear weights, we have those too.  Visit us at www.avaiaartisticjewelry.com

Indonesian carvers are deep in the history of ear stretching

A 14th Century, Gold, Ear plug  from Indonesia.  This exquisite ear plug is set with a ruby.  It was designed to be worn by women of the upper class of society.

There is a long history of stretching in most of Southeast Asia.  The intricate work of artisans was revelled by the upper crust of society.  Materials such as gold and precious stones served as status symbols.

Today, skilled artisans continue to produce amazing items from materials provided by mother nature.  Avaia Artistic Jewelry has a large selection of hand crafted, organic, ear plugs, spacers, tapers, and hanging gauges for those that like the finer things in life.