Tribal Loot

Every now and again, one needs a little adventure and a little exotic sustenance to keep the creative juices flowing. I have a friend who was intrigued by my tale of a local Afghan merchant, whose shop is overflowing with beautiful and enticing things. Happily, his shop is also located in a nexus of Asian restaurants, and my friend is as game as I to try some new, inexpensive Asian food. I invited another friend, to whom I had taught beading, to come along. The three of us set out on a hot, steamy day to begin our adventure.

It had been a while since I'd been at the Tribal Rugs and Jewelry shop in Annandale, Virginia. But, rather than the having-packed-the-tents-and-fled scenario that I feared finding, I found that the shop had overflowed its banks and spilled into several more rooms in the little antiques mall that houses it. The experience begins at the entrance, where there are displayed numerous ready-made necklaces, with huge coral and silver beads, delicate mother-of-pearl, and all manner of jewels designed to draw one in.

The quantity of ready-made necklaces had expanded enormously since my last visit. Many of them are "tribal" necklaces from the mountains of Afghanistan, Tibet, Nepal, and India, featuring large, beautifully fashioned silver beads. Others are more modern, with facetted briolettes gleaming in the cases. There are huge silver bracelets and breastplates and items of jewelry for which one can't quite imagine the appropriate body part. In between are beautiful antique vases and robes and wall hangings. The center of the main room is piled high with carpets from Afghanistan and Iran, providing a plush surface on which to recline should one feel overwhelmed by the bounty on the walls of the room.

And then there was what I had come for: display case after display case of beads. An entire case of coral, another of sponge coral. There was onyx in every shape and size imaginable, chalcedony in more colors than nature had dreamed of, piles of freshwater pearls, turquoise, agate, jaspar, labradorite, buckets of hilltribe silver, acres of pewter and vermeil findings... And, in the "inner sanctum", lies the real treaure: beautifully facetted tourmaline, rubies, emeralds, jade, lemon quartz, all shining and gleaming and leaving one feeling wistful. The photo above is the "loot" I happily left with, featuring chalcedony the color of a warm, shallow sea, beautifully facetted onyx ovals, gorgeous turquoise rondelles, and two kinds of hilltribe silver spacer beads. I couldn't wait to get them home to my studio!

To recover from this surfeit of beauty, we drove a half mile to a Korean restaurant and indulged our appetites for spicy and tasty and filling foods. Seafood pancake, kimchi, barbecued pork belly, vegetables, soy sprouts, bean starch.... We left in a downpour, replete in all senses.

If you find yourself in the wilds of Annandale (if you pronounce it the way my Latino acquaintances do, it sounds quite exotic!), Tribal Rugs and Jewelry is located at 7120 Little River Turnpike. If you have a hankering for good Korean food, the Gom Ba Woo restaurant is a mere half mile away.