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Ecuadorian Hands' $60 Giveaway for Tagua Beads | Wire Wrapped Necklace Feature

Tagua beads are made from the nuts of ivory palm which grows in Central and South America. These lightweight beads have some of the properties of ivory - the same natural color and a good material for carving.  But unlike real ivory, using tagua beads in art and crafts does not mean the demise of the African elephant. So you could say these beads are humane and eco friendly.


Ecuadorian Hands, a small eco friendly company, in South America processes tagua nuts into beads. They slice, punch out holes, dye the beads and cover them in a protective coating.  I received these flat sliced ones with big holes from them.  Their tagua bead packets like these come in a range of colors. You could use just one but like this past tagua bead necklace design, I decided it would be much more fun to use a number of them in a wire wrapping project. Yup, statement necklace time!


I played around with the beads and picked 5 of them which complimented each other. I love how the irregular slices made the necklace so much more distinctive.  The tutorial for this necklace is here. This wire wrapping project is easy and forgiving.


This necklace is now available in my Etsy store where 100% of the net proceeds from its sale will go to the Air Shepherd Initiative (The Lindbergh Foundation) which uses drones to police large areas and stop the unprecedented killing of elephants and rhinos in Africa. The tusks and horns go to the Far East where owning ivory is a status symbol and where the rhino horns are used as unproven folk medicine.

This initiative works.  They said, "Where we fly, the poaching stops. Completely."  The on board cameras use infra red sensors to catch poachers who kill at night. The outnumbered and ill equipped park rangers in the front line need all the help they can get in this increasingly violent endeavor. That's because killing elephants in Africa also finances terrorism.

Last year alone, 40,000 elephants perished; in the past 3 years 100,000 of them died. They are not merely endangered - they are facing imminent extinction. Back in the 1940's there were 3- 5 million of them in the African grasslands. Today there are less then 500,000. Do the math. The killing is increasing, they may be gone in less than a decade.




Giveaway
If you would like to make tagua bead jewelry and perhaps do your part and raise awareness of the plight of elephants (and rhinos), then have a go at this Ecuadorian Hands giveaway for $60 worth of tagua beads. Please make a comment below. Make sure you leave contact info if you do not have an online shop or blog.

Subscribers need to click on the post title to come to my actual blog. Scroll down and enter your comment. Pick Name/URL. If you don't have a store or blog, leave the URL blank.

This giveaway is international.

Extra entries if you become or are a blog subscriber or follower etc. If you also do shout outs about this giveaway, those will count as additional entries too! Please say so in the comments.

It ends in a week's time at 6 pm EST Monday, September 14, 2015 . I will pick the winner randomly and announce the results as soon as possible after. So be sure to leave a contact email if you don't have an online link or make sure you come back and check! Otherwise I will redraw in a week. Good luck!

Disclosure 

Photography
All the natural light photographs were taken on my iPhone 5 with the help of the camera+ app and the Modahaus Tabletop Studio (TS320) and the tallest Steady Stand (overhead picture).  The model was my mannequin "Bertha"!  I've always preferred photographing tagua beads on black backgrounds. For some reason, it is trickier with white backgrounds. Go figure.

Check this link for more information on my How to Photograph Jewelry Webinar.

Before You Go:
______________________________
Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
Jewelry Making Tips - Jewelry Business Tips 

48 comments:

  1. Hi Pearl, I really love the shape of these beads. Thanks for a chance to win. Pat S

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  2. I would love to have the tagua beads to work with. thank you so much

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  3. Hi, Pearl. First, I love the necklace you made. It is unique and something I have not seen yet which makes it even more special. Second, I have been wanting to try these beads for a while now since I first found out about them. I have just never found shapes that really fit my style of wire work that I do, but these are perfect.
    I am one of those annoying people who will post wherever I can about saving not only elephants but all animals. I do not believe in hunting for ivory or game hunting in general. I despise it and think it is deplorable. It shows no respect to living things in this world.
    Thank you, for the chance to win these beads and having the giveaway for them.
    As always I am going to share on all social media and my blog. Again, thank you Pearl for all your blog posts and just everything you do to inspire not only me but others as well.

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  4. Love these and love what you've done with them Pearl! Be great to win some n give them a shot also... I am a blog follower & subscriber, can be contacted at retro-grrl@hotmail.com :)

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  5. Thanks for the chance to win this prise! I need stock and these are so beautiful.

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  6. jdbabygirl57@yahoo.comSeptember 7, 2015 at 9:52 AM

    I truly enjoy reading your blog.

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  7. love the shape of these tagua slices. I love using tagua nuts esp for summer jewellery as the primary colours are quite intense .I would love to win this giveaway. please pick me (mr random generator.)
    www.mhotistudio.ca

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  8. OOOOoo h I would love to win ! Thank you again Pearl, I am a follower , and will tell about it on my blog , there :

    http://fromgr.blogspot.com

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  9. Happy Labor day Pearl!
    Another in a series of wonderful giveaways.Love your necklace. It is very stylish, modern and unique.
    As always, I am a subscriber, a follower and I pinned your giveaway.
    zanc@att.net

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  10. Totally behind you with the work on saving the elephants. I hadn't realised they used drones. Would love to win this great prize. I do follow all your great designs.
    shw_samuel@sky.com

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  11. What beautiful design incorporating those tagua beads! I can think of a few uses myself....

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  12. Every little bit counts towards stopping the eradication of these beautiful creatures!

    And - what a great design Pearl! How imaginative!!

    And one last thing - it's the season for giveaways apparently!! :0)

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  13. Been thinking about using Tagua beads with wire knitting/crochet for a while. Even more so, now that I know they are for a good cause. Would be great to be the lucky one!

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  14. Fantastic design idea and wonderful give away. Great project to help Stop Poaching too, wasn't aware of that use but it is a great idea. Still large areas to cover... :-(

    Subscriber, follower, pinning giveaway here https://www.pinterest.com/pin/402227810448040173/
    Tweeting here https://twitter.com/mbrentp/status/640931390612185088

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  15. Hi Pearl,
    You are such an inspiration to all of us not only through your designs, but also too, by connecting the use of renewable materials with saving our planet.
    Working with Tagua beads would satisfy my love of nature and the love of making wire wrapped jewelry.
    Thank you,
    Kind regards,
    Aurore
    1stAurore@gmail.com

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  16. Love the shape, thanks for the chance to win : )
    Doinwire at gmail dot com

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  17. I would love to try such beads !

    Thank you,

    voltzia@gmail.com

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  18. Great giveaway. I love the look of these beads and the colors are amazing!

    Rileypark2@gmail.com

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  19. Love the beads. It is a shame that so many magnificent animals are lost each year to terrorists and poachers.

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  20. I love their beads and this shape is great. Would love to win them.

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  21. Jus tweeted about the beads and giveaway.
    https://twitter.com/kayzkreationz/status/640993270986752001

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  22. What a nice giveaway. I really like your finished necklace. I am a blog subscriber.
    joeymoma93@yahoo.com

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  23. What a great giveaway. I subscribe via Blog Lovin'
    icbnett (at) gmail (dot) com

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  24. I'm a blog follower and facebook subscriber. Thanks
    Alikat2004 on Ravelry.com

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  25. I just LOVE your initiative to help save the magnificent animals. Of course I love the beads too!!
    magicbymac.etsy.com
    magicbymacdotcom.wordpress.com

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  26. Beautiful! Can't wait to see the tutorial! I'm a blog subscriber and FB and Pinterest follower. Thanks!
    Katrina@katrinapeebles.com

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  27. Great giveaway!! I comment long ago that being in Ecuador I was lucky to learn about these sedes which resemble ivory almost to perfection, people should learn more about them, in this way elephant would be safe. Never son anything, happy anyway.

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  28. I'm a blog follower, iheartjoe0712@gmail.com. I have always wanted to work with tagua nuts.

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  29. This is a great giveaway. Very pretty necklaces.

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  30. I would love to give this a try I'm always looking for new and exciting things to make and sell so count me in :)

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  31. I have wanted some of these beautiful beads for a long time now and with any luck, I will win this one. I'm sure that whoever wins will love them. Thanks for the opportunity.

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  32. I would love to win these beads. I love tagua nut, they are so lightweight. Your necklaces are beautiful. I shared on facebook.

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  33. Love the necklace you made! The wirework just makes it I think - the beads really work well with the silver wire...really nice! I have been to their site a few times and I would love to win the beads!! I am headed there now and see what's new!!

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  34. The Ecuadorian tagua beads are beautiful. Having lived in Quito Ecuador for 5 years, I know that its people are very artistic and are masters of many crafts.
    I applaud your donating the proceeds of the sale of this lovely necklace to such a worthy cause. the demise of great creatures such as elephants and rhinoceros is heartbreaking. It is unbelievable what human greed can do.

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  35. Thanks for the chance to win these beads, it's sad to hear of the plight of the elephants and rhinos. Only wish I could do more to help!

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  36. Greta gdmar@comcast.netSeptember 10, 2015 at 3:19 PM

    It is wonderful that you spread information about the need of Gods beautiful creatures. I am a blog subscriber.

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  37. Very pretty beads all for a good cause. Thanks for sharing, would love to win those.
    andree.caron@yahoo.ca

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  38. What a wonderful necklace and for a great cause. Please enter me as a chance to win this special offering. Your thoughtfulness and generosity is inspiring.
    mckinneynorah@yahoo.com

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  39. The elephants need everyone's support against the poachers. There is nothing cuter than a newborn elephant.

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  40. Love what you did with the necklace. Would love to win the giveaway. Have wanted to work with these beads.

    Carolyn
    Carolynscreations@live.com

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  41. Pearl, I love the organic shape of these beads. Such an inspiration and something I would love to win. Thanks for offering!

    Ginny
    ginhuntoon@comcast.net

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You're AWESOME! Thanks for the comment and feedback. You do make a difference on my blog!

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