These little armor-covered roly-poly rodents are as southern as it gets. Unfortunately, my earliest memory of armadillos was spotting them littered along highway shoulders from the Mississippi River to the Sabine. Even as a kid, they seemed like bowling ball remnants from a prehistoric time.
A First Encounter: Armadillos in the Wild
It wasn’t till a few years ago that I had my first real-life encounter with one in the wild. My daughter and I went out to see what the Louisiana woods had for us that Thanksgiving day. We sat quiet as can be and told the forest we were safe, not here to hurt or take, just to see and soak it in.
A few minutes in, two armadillos started clumsily shuffling towards us. We were immediately in love.
They’re like derpy little squirrels in not-so-shiny armor, stumbling around smelling the air and rooting for bugs. We covered our mouths with our hands so we didn’t let out a peep, watching them just feet away with no notion of us.
Growing Affection
There’d be more encounters like this one over the years. They’d mosey over, and we’d be grabbing each other’s arms with the “they are so freaking cute” look in our eyes.
When we Southerners close our eyes and think of creatures that capture us from the start, the armadillo is one. In a world where we feel further away than ever from those magical forest floor encounters, this piece is a reminder to get quiet and find it whenever you can ♥️
The Armadillo: A Southern Symbol of Home
The armadillo literally toed the state line for me regarding this Texas collection. Either way, it feels like a symbol of home.
Lost Wax Carved Jewelry
For our armadillo jewelry Madeline hand carved its original in wax. MIMOSA uses the ancient art of Lost Wax casting to create all of our pieces of armadillo jewelry. See below for more behind the scenes of the armadillo cuff in the hand carving process.
SHOP ARMADILLO JEWELRY
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