Materials:
• 925 Sterling Silver Cones
• Yukon Caribou Antler Cut, sanded and polished
•  925 Sterling Silver findings / hoop huggers
• Amber fox fur pompom
Tis the season to harvest, not only medicines, food, wood for winter, yet also berries to adorn ourselves. 
These beautifully striped beads are made from Kaip’ine, known as Wolfwillow’s silverberries. A plant only forgotten for a short amount of time amongst our peoples! Now embracing our traditional ways, these berries have been made into beads for over centuries; adorning our Athabaskan creations of clothing, adornments, necklaces, etc. This process has become a yearly practice, giving my family and I time to sit quietly and attentively processing these berries, together. A living prayer, a tradition, a remembering of the connection to the ways of our ancestors through working with the lands’ gifts, in a good way. 
This series is part 1: Focusing on earrings. I decided to work with 925 sterling silver to reflect the silver leafs and berries. The amber is a reflection of the wet berries colours, as they dry. The grey is to remember all the mush in the hands when taking off the outter layers off of the berries and the whites to remeber the shine on the leafs when harvesting during the days brightness. 
We peiced together the earring’s with materials from the land and sea. The Yukon Caribou antlers are cut and processed by my loving husband Curtis Ladue, who also helped me harvest, and clean the beads for stringing. The home-tanned moosehide is a reflection of where this beautiful plant likes to grow, near water - Often where the moose are indulging on green plant materials, such as willow! The dentaliums are a reflection of the intertribal trade routes and distinctions of a full circle of sharing, as many other first nations have worked with these sacred beads aswell, giving a sense of unity throughout the lands, as being a peoples who flourish in the sacred gifts all the lands have shared with the tribal relations abound. 
All peoples throughout the world have worked with seeds, berries, nuts, etc, to adorn themselves, giving and sharing stories from creation. Healing beads to pray for the betterment of the future for the next generations.  
Stay tuned for launch of Series #2 of Kaip’ine, which is more of a necklace collection! 
I am thankful for all the support from Curtis in making these beads this year! Thanks hunny! I have processed way more than 1,000 berries into beads, over exceeding the amount I did last year and we are still processing more! Even K’ài K’í and Nónda helped process some of the berries! Looking forward to all the bigger projects becoming a reality, with the loving support of my husband.
This amazing medicinal plant has so many uses and I am looking forward to sharing more over the next weeks, in chance you may be interested in getting to know this incredible natures gift, in similar light as I have been getting to know it more and more, over the years.