The Namesake

Tselane, Palace Queen

After much trial and many errors, I've finally uploaded some new items to my Etsy shop.  I'm calling my new collection of wax print necklaces with copper pendants and lace/brass earrings The Namesake.  With Etsy's new "relevancy" search criteria, sellers have to be more descriptive with items to ensure that customers will find exactly what their looking for.  So, that means I can't give my items clever titles (like the names of my female friends and relatives) for fear they will get lost in the shuffle.  But, I manage to add my preferred titles in my descriptions.  Case in point: if you click on the link below the photo, you'll discovered that these are "Chandelier Earrings - Purple Lace and Copper Beads", but I call them "Tselane, Palace Queen".  Tselane is my middle name, hence, The Namesake.  There are three pairs of chandelier earrings and five wax print necklaces in the collection.  Following, is a brief preview.

Tselane's Indian Summer

 Tselane, Princess Bride

Full disclosure, I hated my middle name growing up.  There's the weird spelling with the silent "T".  It sounds weird when pronounced, which caused a lot of my classmates to resort to calling me "salami" ( I made the mistake of telling my niece about this).  It's African in origin, but no one really knows what it means (I was born in the 70s in the Midwest).  It wasn't until I got to college and met a girl from Kenya who could pronounce "ts" together so melodically that I began to appreciate my exotic middle name.  A few years after my husband and I moved to NYC, I found an old book (published in 1961) called "Tselane" in which the title character is a South African princess (and I'm pretty sure the inspiration behind my middle name; from one of my mother's coworkers at the time - I think).  Although I use my maiden name as my middle name since getting married, "Tselane" is still The Namesake.