Also at the launch was a Sarteneja based jewelers group that is doing its part to control the lionfish population. Courtney Weatherburne spoke to the Vice Chair of Be-lioness.
Courtney Weatherburne reporting
These are just a few selections from the Belioness jewelry collection. They are all crafted from the fins or body parts of lionfish. And there is nothing fishy about them because the 14 talented jewelers have perfected the art of transforming these scaly creatures into artistic pieces.
Dianira Enriquez, Vice Chair, Belioness
"We started in 2015 and from then we have been doing this together as a group."
Courtney Weatherburne, reporter
"So start from the beginning you have to catch the lionfish and then what happened from there, how is it done?"
Dianira Enriquez, Vice Chair, Belioness
"It takes a procedure of a couple days. We have to cut the fins. Well, first we catch the fins, we cut the fins, we have to dry and make sure it is in good condition for us to be able to work with it and we have to treat it so it doesn't smell and rot and we have different procedures we have to go through to do a piece."
Courtney Weatherburne:
"And how do you come up with the different designs and styles?"
Dianira Enriquez, Vice Chair, Belioness
"Well we like to play around with it, we don't want to use hard chemicals on it so for coloring we use food coloring with water and the fish once it is put in the sun it fades so when it fades we can add a color to it."
"We do everything, we also started last year we did Christmas ornaments so we do that as well. We do everything we can possibly think of. Everybody comes up with something different. We do with coconut, just the lionfish fins we do necklaces, bracelets, anklets hair clips, key chains."
Courtney Weatherburne:
"What inspired you guys to start this group?"
Dianira Enriquez, Vice Chair, Belioness
"Well we all live off the Caribbean which is the reef that gives us the benefit of our livelihood so the purpose we decided to do this is because we want to help keep the reef alive for all of us and generations to come and everybody else that lives here."
If you would like to purchase their jewelry you can send them a facebook message at Belize Lionfish Jewelry or call at 632-4375. We will have more on the lionfish tomorrow.
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