The Story of MIMOSA's Gar fish Jewelry

Last year, my friend Gene Seneca was showing us his swamp-found treasures and creations. Lying on the floor off to the side was a preserved gar fish body.

You know that moment when you see a thing and it lights up something deep inside of you? That was me with this gar fish. It hit a profoundly primal, aesthetic-gatekeeping nerve that said, "Yes, this, we LOVE."

Even though I was born on Bayou Lafourche, raised in south Louisiana, and have a kinship with the land and its creatures more than most, the gar fish had eluded me.

I was holding the preserved body of a prehistoric fish swimming in our waters for over 180 MILLION years. The stories it could tell.

Instantly I knew I was about to dive deep into this rabbit hole. And deep I went.

I learned its history, how it sustained itself over time, and how it sustained us. And, somewhere along the way, we turned on it and decided it was a “trash fish” to kill for sport.

After interviewing an expert, I learned garfish are surprisingly docile, despite their intimidating size and fierce look.

I took breaks from hours of carving only to spend hours staring at detailed pictures of their heads and eye sockets. I studied how their jaws connect with their teeth closed inside them, how their gills lie, and how their fins nestle against their body.

A close-up view of Alligator Gar scales.

I didn’t find that garfish as much as it found me. An ancient knowing emanates from a life force that’s been around for so long. It was a gift to be immersed in the deep with it for a while.

The gar fish is a survivor unscathed by extinction. It was unbothered while lands shifted, mountains rose, humans moved in, took over, called it names, and tried to eliminate it.

A survivor who, despite all its ancient wisdom, grins ever so slightly like the most unlikely Buddha.

MIMOSA's Gar fish Jewelry

There was a meditative spirit in the tediousness of hand-carving each scale and I developed a deep appreciation for a creature I only knew from scary bayou water monster stories.

To date, this fish is my most challenging carve, but it deserves the effort.

It’s a gar fish. Not a monster or a threat, but a wise old waterway wanderer born of millions of years of survival. This piece is my way of honoring it.

*This design was inspired specifically by the Alligator Gar.

"This piece and the process of creating it captures what I LOVE so much about our work and how YOU embrace it. It's a garfish, a "trash fish," but we went deep and found history, culture, and its story worth sharing. We turned it into a tangible way to wear that story and share it.

"I wasn't sure how it would be received, but it quickly (and unexpectedly) became a favorite. So many of you shared your own garfish stories with us, and I had no idea just how woven into our lives they were. That's when I realized that this journey of discovering the beauty and rich stories in even the most unlikely places is one I'm on in the best possible company!" — Madeline

Shop the Gar fish Cuff

The MIMOSA Handcrafted Garfish Ring in Bronze and Sterling Silver

Shop the Gar fish Ring

The MIMOSA Handcrafted Squirrel and Garfish Bracelets with Turquoise Eyes

Shop the Gar fish Cuff with Stone Eyes — Pictured here with Turquoise

Fun Facts about Gar Fish

Madeline spoke with Fisheries Biologist, Kayla Kimmel, to learn a little bit about gars. Here are just a few fun garfish facts Madeline took away from their time together.

Gar have been around since the Cretaceous period.
Gar live in both salt and freshwater.
They spawn in very shallow fresh water. They return at the same time each year to spawn in the same location as before.
Gar usually travel in groups.
Archeologists have discovered their scales in ancient burials.

Gar Expert Dr. Solomon David

Our friend Dr. Solomon David, an aquatic ecologist and assistant professor interested in fish biodiversity, conservation, and science communication at the University of Minnesota, joined the Ologies podcast to discuss all things gar-related. Listen to their episode and learn a little bit about one of our favorite fish.

You can also follow him on Instagram and online at GarLab to learn more about garfish...and for some GAR-eat puns!

Gar Expert Dr. Solomon David Gifts Madeline of MIMOSA a Garfish Skull

Dr. Solomon David gifted Madeline a Garf ish skull that's now on display at the MIMOSA Shoppe in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Garfish Skull on Display at the MIMOSA Shoppe in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Garfish skull at the MIMOSA Shoppe — Photo by Jason Cohen

Wooden Garfish Sculpture for Christmas Eve Bonfires in Louisiana

This wooden garfish structure was part of 2023's Christmas Eve Bonfires on the Levee tradition along the Mississippi River.

MIMOSA Handcrafted Garfish Sticker that Says Have a Gar-reat Day

Lost-Wax Casting: Making Gar fish Jewelry

Carving the gar's scales was an extremely intricate process, and Madeline did it by hand! MIMOSA uses the ancient art of lost-wax casting to create all of our pieces of gar fish jewelry. See below for more behind the scenes of the Gar fish Cuff in the hand-carving process.