From Idea to Product | March Meet the Maker | Day 11

✨How cool would it be to make unique impression molds in a cave???✨

I’ve been formulating this idea for a bit now, & I got to finally bring it to fruition while returning from our Florida Art shows. Let me introduce you to a very special botanical & fossil collection: Cumberland Cavern Impressions.

With help from Cumberland Caverns’ management & wild cave tour guide, I was able to turn this idea into a reality.

🦇 I love caving. There are so many beautiful features underground that you simply don’t understand until you’ve crawled (quite literally) to experience them; Crystalline sparkles, colorful mineral deposits, pristine white formations, crawling & flittering critters. Caves are wonderlands, and I feel like the things I see & experience there are secrets shared only with me 🌈🧀🔦

✨I think seeing such beauty has a similar chemical response for me as taking in a vast, expansive landscape. Of course, the endorphins released through the physical exertion of getting there don’t hurt either. Cumberland Caverns in Mcminnville, Tennessee is absolutely amazing. If you’re passing through the area, it’s worth a stop in to tour the cave on their regular, wild, or lantern cave tours, or enjoy one of their in-cave concerts.

Check out their gift shop while you’re there, because they will be carrying this exclusive line of Deitra Biely made impressions😁 Molds of fossils were made in cave & botanicals were taken onsite to build this collection in bronze, copper, & white copper.

Brachiopods & crinoids, pine needles, conelets, & moss are all among the intricate & detailed textures found on these earrings & pendants.

I’m super excited to share it with you, if it’s not obvious already 😁

Shout out to each of the folks at Cumberland Caverns for their help & inspiration. When folks work at a place like this, I’ve found their passion to be truly sincere & inspiring. Thanks for sharing your natural wonders with me,

I’ve been shouting out various makers and artists I like/love/&follow. Today was a major shout out to Cumberland Caverns as a piece of natural art at its finest, but I also wanted to shout out my favorite musician for well over a decade now, Josh Ritter. If you check out my Instagram reel for today you’ll hear his fantastic tune, Cumberland. He’s an incredible musician, author, and painter. Check out his blog, Book of Jublilations on Tumbler.