Living in Arizona with such a strong Mexican cultural influence, it’s hard not to be drawn to things relating to the culture. I’ve always been fascinated by the holiday Día de los Muertos (with it being almost October and Halloween coming up, despite the holiday being in early November, it seems fitting) and when I stumbled upon VivaGailBeads’ Etsy shop, I knew I had to share the spook of their jewelry with you all, my wonderful readers.
VivaGailBeads is an Etsy store that comes to us from San Antonio, Texas. The store has many different types of jewelry, including, earrings, bracelets, and necklaces, as well as key chains and lanyards. What makes VivaGailBeads unqiue and stand out to me from most of the jewelry found on Etsy is the Día de los Muertos theme in almost all of the pieces. The artist uses skull and flower beads in a variety of colors, which are symbols of the Mexican tradition. To me, the skulls are probably the coolest part of her jewelry- each piece has different color skulls and you can pick and choose depending on your own tastes. She also uses regular beads in colors that are found throughout Día de los Muertos altars and symbols, such as turquoise, pink, black, red, purple, yellow, orange, and white. She also uses cross beads in many different colors to represent Catholicism as the holiday is Catholic.
The owner of VivaGailBeads has another shop on Etsy called WakaWakaBeads, where she sells her supply of beads. If you’re interested in purchasing some beads and making your own Día de los Muertos-themed jewelry, this would be the place to check!
Definitely check out VivaGailBeads! The jewelry here is quite affordable to most people, with pieces ranging from about $3 (if something is on sale) to $45.
If you have any suggestions of other Etsy shops to profile, please e-mail me at fbreisbl@asu.edu. I always look forward to hearing what you think!
