Famous Feathers
When Sarah Poe’s friend’s chicken dies, it may be a bad day for the bird, but it means she will get a mother lode of feathers for her burgeoning local jewelry business, Dreaming Tree Designs.
About a month ago, her feather jewelry had a serious Hollywood debut on American Idol when her friend and top ten finalist Elise Testone not only wore her earrings during a performance show, but gave Sarah’s business a shout out. Elise proceeded to boldly give Steven Tyler an earring on-air, causing even more clamor for Poe’s designs.
Sarah doesn’t own a TV so when her phone started racking up messages from national media like TMZ and Inside Edition, who she had no interest in talking to, she laughed, because she had never even heard of these shows and it sounded “silly.”
It’s not that the attention hasn’t helped business–it has. But her 11-year-old daughter, Monet, wants to know when her Mom has time to help her with her own feather accessory web business (this wunderkid bought her iPad using profits from feather headband sales) – and that takes precedence.
Sarah only uses hand-gathered feathers that are naturally dyed, so this limits her sourcing options. That and the fact that many of her favorite feathers (owl and kingfisher) are illegal for use in making and selling jewelry. Peacock, chicken, and the slender rooster feathers she likes are the easiest to come by, and legal to use in jewelry. Pesky laws.
Her designs stem from both her Cherokee roots and her free spirited let-your-hair-down approach to life. Chain metal, bundles of carefully grouped feathers, and other unique embellishments are used to create headpieces for the most bohemian of brides.
Sarah’s now-iconic dangling feather earring designs are equally suitable for a rock star, an earth mother doused in glitter, or you. If you’re plucky.
SarahPoeDesigns.com
Find Sarah Poe’s designs locally at her shop, One
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Story by: Dee Dee Arthur
Photos by: Chrys Rynearson
