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Mermaid Money

by Esther
(Darwin)

Sand Dollars become Mermaid Money

Darwin artist Esther turns ordinary Sand Dollars into beautiful jewellery, available from Mindil Beach Markets.

The Starfish Sea Urchin is better known as Sand Dollars.
The fragile skeleton of the sea urchin washes up on Australian beaches, predominately in the Top End of Australia, and eventually crumbles into sand.

When the Urchin is alive, the skeleton is soft and covered in short hir-like tentacles with a lot of tiny legs around the perimeter. In shallow water the creature buries in the sand to hide from predators, it has four breathing holes located middle centre front with a mouth centre back & end of digestive tract top back.

There is a distinct pattern of a starfish imprinted on the front of the skeleton.

These delicate white skeletons are are first treated with a special coating and then decorated to become unique, precious jewellery.