Text and Styling by Brooke Atwood · Photography by Chia Chong
Driving along the many pastures on the long country road that lead to my childhood home in Mississippi, I learned early on to recognize certain flowers that preceded the onset of summer. There was one spot (right by that heavy metal gate that I dreaded having to get off my three-wheeler to open) where I knew to watch for the annual sea of dandelion blooms. I would look forward to watching my mother lovingly place these flowers around the house after I had delivered to her a disorganized bouquet of all the dandelions I could grab with my two hands. I also anticipated that those “wishing flowers” that were next in line to bloom in the same spot by the road; and it wasn’t until this week that I realized that the puff balls were actually the next stop in the dandelion’s life cycle. These little downy flowers were ‘supposed’ to make wishes come true but were actually just the prop in a harmless joke to play on my friends. You know, the ol’ “hold the stem in your mouth” trick where you yank the stem through the sorry participant’s teeth leaving a mouth full puff ball and a face masked in disgust and frustration. Thanks Salted & Styled for educating my lack of knowledge to where those little furry flowers came from! Love the yellow, green and grays representing the lifespan of the dandelion in all of these hand crafted bracelets. I would stack and mix several of these at one time on both arms for one bright and dandy arm party!
Yellow and gray laser cut cuffs by Rahya Blackwell, $30 ; Hand cut sterling silver cuffs with oxidized metal by GOGO, $335 all from shopSCAD
