My Blue Gene Bracelet was a joy to create. It is a gift to the Global Genes Project and their 7000 bracelets campaign to raise awareness and show my support for kids living with rare disease, disorders or conditions. This bracelet, along with 6999 others, will be distributed to participating families in December 2011. The only real requirement for the bracelet was that it be blue to go with their blue denim ribbon. I thought about the children and adults that get a diagnosis of a rare disease and thoughts that might go through their heads after the news and while seeking treatment.
I took Blue Kyanite beads as a base, because they even look like worn blue jeans with a little sparkle. They are also known to be healing stones and help align all the Chakras. I added vintage Cloisonne floral beads as dangles. At first and maybe even after 2nd and 3rd glances, they all appear to be the same. However one is different. Different yet just as beautiful and most would never notice anything different about them.
After adding some Sterling Silver chain and an easier to handle lobster clasp, I added a dangle of one half of a pair of dice. Knowing that some children and even some adults would blame themselves or others or even unfortunate circumstances for their diagnosis, I wanted to say what I believe: that it's a roll of the dice. There's no one to be angry with. But the access to research and health care should not be a roll of the dice.
I hope the family that receives this bracelet will see and feel the love, support and hope coming from the jewelry community. I know this project made me much more aware as I wrote in an earlier post. I also hope this post brings awareness to others who may not have realized that there are 250 million people, mostly children, that have a Rare Disease diagnosis.
Their slogan? Hope. It's in our Genes. Don't stop here! Over 100 of the participants are also blogging about their participation and you can read their connection to the project and see the bracelet they created for this event by going to this post by Lori Anderson.