Meet Mary V from True Colours

1. Please introduce us to who you are.

My name is Mary. My registered business name is 'True Colours’. My first love is to help people recognise their gifts and live life more fully. This interest came together with colour for me when I studied the Aura-Soma® Colour Care System® - which I also teach. The Aura-Soma® system has been aptly described as a ‘non-intrusive, self-selective soul development system’. In my picture, you can see some of the gorgeous dual-coloured, jewel-coloured Aura-Soma® Equilibrium bottles.

Working with this system helped me to recognise that I had an unsuspected gift of creativity which I eventually began to explore. Mainly self-taught, I learned the rudiments of silk painting, painted scarves for friends and facilitated workshops for others to have fun making their own scarves, then some years ago I began to hand-paint silk ties for men to bring their true colours into everyday wear; my label was, of course, ‘True Colours’.















My love of semi-precious stones and crystals ('solidified light'), which awoke about the same time I discovered Aura-Soma back in 1992, eventually brought me to jewellery-making, and in the past few years I have begun to concentrate on that aspect of working with colour.

At present I major in freshwater pearls and semi-precious stones; all are energetically cleared of residual trauma-memory, then enhanced with the energies for peace and harmony. I use sterling silver, 14k gold filled, vermeil and natural brass, and handknot my pearls on silk. I am especially fond of interlocking 'C-clasps' or 'ring-ring' clasps as in the pearl necklace below. I make my jewellery with much love and with a clear intention of enhancing the energies of the wearer.












I also make designer rosary beads in semi-precious stones chained with silver or natural brass. If people are going to pray and praise the Divine, why not do it as beautifully as they can?



















2. Where in the world are you and what is the best thing about where you live?

I live in Dublin, Ireland. The best thing about where I live is having a view of, and access to, both sea and hills, so I can be deep in the countryside within ten minutes drive of my house, and yet I have access to the best bookshops and cultural facilities in the country. Having grown up just outside a small town where everyone knew everyone’s business, I also value the relative anonymity and privacy a city can offer!


3. Tell us a little about your craft and why you love it.
I love the visual aspect of the materials I use as well as the texture and cool, solid, smooth feel of pearls and natural semi-precious stones, they carry beautiful reflections of light and very pure colours. I am having colour therapy while I work! I had the same experience while painting on silk, that the pure colours were doing me so much good. I especially love to tune in to my clients and make something that really suits their energy. Having felt uncreative for so much of my life, the act of creation fills me with great joy.

Pearl knotting and rosary chaining are restful, meditative activities. Best of all is doing bespoke work, where clients select from a wide range of strands the stones or pearls that call to them the most; because clients select on that unconscious basis of ‘sympathetic resonance’, the stones or pearls when placed on their skin work so well with their subtle energies, it makes my hair stand on end and sends shivers down my body. And they look so right, so wonderful, the clients get tons of compliments.

4. What is the most expensive supply you have purchased for your craft?
A strand of good quality rhodochrosite large beads, the 16” strand cost a little under $200!

5. Could you please tell us about a person in your life that has inspired you?
My greatest inspiration to be myself and overcome my shyness is my husband, who helped me build my confidence and self-belief. He helped me to move, from being too shy to say anything at a meeting of colleagues, to the point where I am relaxed and confident addressing an audience of five hundred. Likewise, he has encouraged me in following my creative dreams...

6. If there was only 24 hours left before the world ended what would you be doing?
I would have gathered my family and loved ones and their loved ones around me, and would spend the time enjoying the company of people who felt so close to my heart, making sure that they knew how precious we were to each other. We would probably have a few wonderful home-cooked meals in the course of the day…

7. What is your favourite meal?
Well, this is hard. I love good quality food in great variety. As a child I loved my mother's cooking and baking, from homemade steak-and-kidney pie to her delicious light and fruity Christmas puddings. Today my family and I especially enjoy lamb cooked according to a recipe from the now departed Theodora Fitzgibbon, who mingled and modelled in artistic circles in Paris in her earlier life: leg of lamb cooked in white wine with tarragon. Succulent, moist, with a delicious sauce, and SO easy to prepare! We like it so much that my (now adult) children insist we have that for our Christmas lunch rather than the traditional turkey. Simply yummy, very more-ish!

Links
Artfire shop
Etsy shop
True Colours blog
Flickr photos