During the recent visit of Her Majesty the Queen to Virginia, many noticed the Virginia Indian Tribes, in full ceremonial dress, presented a beautiful hand made cameo to the Queen, with great dignity and ceremony. The cameo was a reproduction of the one that was made as a gift to Pocahontas hundreds of years ago, by His Majesty King James, (of the King James Bible fame) when Pocahontas made her historic trip to England. It has been a treasured possession of the Virginian Indian Tribes, and on display at the Jamestown Museum.
The artisan, Gareth Eckley, is a small independent business owner and artist. His specialty is portrait cameos, which he makes for families and others who have special pictures or people that they want remembered and treasured through future generations. Mr. Eckley said that he studied Michelangelo's David when learning sculpture. Such a classical education has made his sculptures into masterful, heirloom quality jewelry. He recently made a Squidoo page and joined the Mall on Squidoo, a group formed to support and promote small business owners and artisans. Through the prominent Google ranking of his page on Squidoo, Mr. Eckley was contacted for this premier, historic commission in time to complete the assignment. Mr. Eckley said, "Squidoo works!" Even Seth Godin, owner and genius behind Squidoo, when contacted by Gareth and myself, was impressed and said "wow! you are both talented and generous. thanks for sharing this, Gareth. Seth."
Contact and commission for the cameo was made in March 2007, and in April Mr. Eckley flew to Jamestown to closely examine the original piece. He sculpted the reproduction out of layered agate, and using natural American seed pearls, created a palladium frame/brooch.
Even though a Squidoo page is free, for artisans, craftspeople and small business owners like Mr. Eckley, the page can be priceless. In this case, Mr. Eckley joins the rare cadre of jewelers and sculptors who have a piece residing in the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace. I recommend that you visit the Mall on Squidoo, begin your own page and participate in our promotions. Who knows what wonderful things can happen for you, too? Margaret Schaut
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Gareth