The Luxurious Elegance of Capiz Shells

A fine material in Filipino jewelry-making, Capiz shells have a pearly luminescence that makes them divine. I love Capiz shells for they are always elegant and easy to match with outfits- casual or formal. 

A large pair of Capiz Shell Earrings, a gift from my sister from Davao City. 

Photo by The Malacological Society of London

Capiz materials are one of the Philippines top-most exports and are used to embellish almost anything from lamps, curtains, plates and home decors. They are commonly found in Philippine homes, as decorative parts in windows.

They are made from dried bivalve shells of the Placuna placenta akin to the Panay Group of Islands particularly in thr province of Capiz. They are very productive and easy to propagate in aquafarms.

My other really fave Capiz earrings:

My 2 inch Capiz earrings with leopard spots

My divine green Capiz earrings with animal prints

These earrings make great conversation pieces in parties, as long as you don't mind having people stare at your ears all night.

Bead Styling

The weather was good so Ligaya (HotBeads) and I decided to do an impromptu photo shoot of her latest creations. I just think her turquoise necklace and sheer 3-tier luminescent pearl necklace are just fab!

Ligaya is my dear friend, an eclectic visual artist and a documentary producer. She has also worked as a stylist and a production designer for films. She's a strict vegetarian. You'll always find her devoting time to her yoga matwork. Unfortunately, I have too much meat in the freezer and not much veggies ready for her visits.

Making jewelry together calms our anxious little minds. We usually zone out in such sessions, blocking out the rest of the world while our hands go deep into the rhythm of stringing beads. Considering Ligaya is very chatty, she really goes mum on me during these sessions.



Ligaya has more of that earthy and organic color palette in her beads stash while I have more affinity to darker hues and cohesive colors. Craft-wise and since childhood, my first hobby has always been sewing, I often like to incorporate found fabric pieces and appliques to jewelry. Joy with her mixed media background, likes working with malleable wires, working them around precious stones and making her own web-like connectors.

Anyway, in terms of style, we both love and agree on "ugly beautiful", the "elegance in the mess" kind of thing. And yes, we can really leave a mess of metal, copper, nylon after working on pieces.

Ligaya has just started her blog today. I think I gave her enough push to show off her work haha. We just love beading and perhaps blogging makes our enthusiasm go up a notch.