Costa Rican Art, and Handcrafted Jewelry.

Tropical art and Cowrie Necklaces

If you visit Costa Rica, you will notice that every where you go, there are venders selling jewelry made from sea shells, coconut wood, palm nuts, oyster shells, volcanic stone and corral. You will also notice many items made from hard tropical wood. Costa Rica and Central America are also filled with artists painting with water colors, acrylic and oils. Some artists such as Gilberto Ramirez are very accomplished, (see gilbertoramirez.com) but the range of skills is very wide. One popular medium in Central America has been acrylic paint on feathers. This was very popular because the painting was on the colorful macaw feather and the designs were very tropical and included all the birds, animals and frogs of Costa Rica. You can still buy the painted macaw feathers in Costa Rican and the United States, but the feathers cannot be transported between countries, and all the feathers now are gathered from domisticated birds when they naturally drop their feathers. I think, but am not sure, that fmany environmentalists do not like the idea of using macaw feathers for fear the exploitation the threaten the macaw before strict regulation when into effect. The same is true of jewelry made of sea turtle shells. This site features the jewelry of Meybol as well as the art of Jeannette Ramirez and Saray Ramirez (my wife). The are many pictures and a link to the eBay store in case you are interested in purchasing. There is also a link to the artist store in San Jose Costa Rica where you can purchase all these items and more. The are www.mercadoartesania.com and ticoartisanias.com (official site of the market). Most of the jewelry and art pictures on this site are stuctured as links to the same picture with more detail. This helps the page load, but gives you the chance to see a larger picture. If you see a photo you like, follow it to a larger image. If you see any jewerly you like, contact me though my eBay Store. Meybol is a creative jewerly maker. Each piece has its own uniqueness. That is something you cant get with some larger volume artisan jewelers. She does not have to "replicate" a set of designs like large volume wholesalers. This makes selling on the internet much more difficult because there are no names for the designs and each item comes in a quanity of one. That is good for the person who wants something unique. Meybol uses shells, coconut wood, resin, oyster shell, glass beads and hemp. Cowrie jewelry is jewelry made from shells. Meybol sells in her store in Lemon Costa Rica, where tourists arrive on cruse ships. Jeannette specialises in mixed media art. She creates decorative wall hangings. Jeannette also creates decorated Vases. These can be ordered in any size. Jeannette paints landscapes on feathers. These paintings include beautiful mountain landscapes, tropical birds, flowers and butterflies. Saray paints on feathers. Please visit these pages for a sample of Costa Rican Art and jewelry. Visit Costa Rica for a much larger sample. There is a wide variety. Anything you see can be placed on eBay for your purchase. Also look for the eBay logo indicating items already available.