Hi, its important to declare that our earrings are not real butterfly wings. That means, no butterflies were harmed in the making of our wings. In fact, we are butterfly nerds when it comes the Monarch Butterfly. Let me go back in time a bit for you to fully understand our beginning. 

We grew up in a small town tucked in the mountains of northern Ca. Our mom homeschooled us. She took many different, and new approaches to teaching us. One of my favorite things she taught, was the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly. We had a patch of Common Milkweed in our yard and the Monarchs would visit every spring. The Monarch would seamlessly float in the air, gracefully land on the Milkweed, unroll her tong to sip nectar and lay a few eggs. Everyday, during the spring we would go out looking for eggs hiding just under the fat leaf of the Milkweed. If we found one, we took the whole stock inside to await the emerging life of a tiny caterpillar. We found out how import it was to make sure the caterpillars had enough plant to eat. Those little guys quickly gabble up the leaves, grew big and fat. Once fully grown they hang upside down in the shape of the letter J, wiggle a bit, shed their outer layer of skin and formed a chrysalis. Oh, and the chrysalis looks like an ornate piece of jewelry. After about ten days or so, the seafoam pendant with gold inlay, would turn completely transparent, as if to say, the shows about to start. At this point, we couldn't take our eyes off the chrysalis, worried we would miss the main event. At last, the Monarch butterfly cracks the shell and climbs out. At first, the wings are all wrinkled and the body if really plump. Slowly the wings stretch out and begin to open and close. This is when we were able to let the butterfly crawl around on our hands. We each took turns releasing the butterflies. They would climb to the tip of our finger and faithfully take their first flight. 

Lets fast-forward a decade and a half. On a brake from one of our tours, a story we can get into another time. Mom came to visit us in Aptos, a seaside town south of Santa Cruz, ca. We had a relaxing day after taking her to Natural Bridges, a place where the Monarchs rest in the eucalyptus trees. Mom was out on the patio flapping a piece of fabric in the air. She did this for some time, we knew she had a head full of ideas and couldn't wait to hear what she was thinking up. When she finally came inside, we asked, "what where you doing out there mom?" She said, "I think you could paint butterfly wings on here (holding the fabric) and make earrings." She made a pair, they were beautiful, and more whimsical than realistic. We loved the idea and created a few more pairs for us to wear while we painted live. After all, we are artists, it felt right, and fitting. 

We continued to wear the wings while we painted live, and noticed people could not help themselves from coming up to us to ask about the earrings. The first question was, " are those real?" We would say, "we make them, they are painted...No butterflies harmed in the making of our wings" Soon people insisted on buying them right off our ears. This was unusual, but we saw how much they wanted the wings, how much they loved the wings. We couldn't say no. Plus, the cash was helpful, sometimes even being just the amount we needed for lunch. We quikly realized we needed to make more and have them avalible as part of our merchandise.

Now, what we refer to as the Migration is the most amazing communities we are a part of. A growing group of people, of all ages, coming together in unity all because of a piece of fabric Mom waved in the ocean air, and a desire to create something never done before. More to come on the Migration. 

Thank you for reading 

Anna & Elizabeth

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