Hop to it! (Just a wee pun for our hostess, Leah of Beady Eyed Bunny…)
The brief – select a period of History – which in and of itself was a HUGE challenge for me. I liked and was inspired by so many… and create a piece inspired by that time, those people, their materials, their style…The choices:
I had to choose Middle Ages/Medievel. In my minds eye I was seeing enameled pieces from Sutton Hoo, golden torcs, spirals, amber, pearls…My Celtic heritage was not going to be passed over. But gold – not going to happen.
My Celtic heritage has been a great influence on my work since I studied abroad while in college, living and traveling on the soil of my ancestors. I designed and created Celtic penannular brooches in my final semesters studying metals in college. I wanted this piece to be informed by and inspired by – yet be modern, and reflect my current tastes in mixing materials and making pieces with meaning and intention.
The Celts wore amber. and quite a bit of gold. They enameled, and created intricate knotwork designs, both geometric and zoomorphic. Knotwork seemed too obvious. Amber… My parents had given me a tiny bag of sand and raw amber chunks they collected on the beaches of Skagen, Denmark. I became intrigued with the idea of encapsulating the amber, so it moved freely within an amulet.
But thinking on Celtic art, I was also thinking of runes and ogham script. In my associations, runes are more Scandinavian while Ogham is more Irish/Welsh. I usually include text in my pieces – so ogham was a must. I perused books in my personal library – La Tene period, Hallstadt…
The plan was to inset a plastic lens into faux bone thus creating a niche for the amber. I started that – last Wednesday. Not going to happen in the time I had remaining. Plan B – polymer. I have recently been reintroduced to polymer by the multi talented Christine Damm. I knew it would do exactly what I envisioned.
Top: working. Ivory polymer.
Bottom: Ogham writing around pendant. Copper overlay to be sawed. Amber and lens in place.
Here is the finished pendant! Three chunks of amber for the Goddess of the Celts – in her three forms of maiden, mother, and wise crone. The Triquetra – a three lobed symbol, also representing trilogies – body, mind, spirit; earth, water, sky; youth, maturity, age…… The ogham translates as “Goddess guide me”. The back – a subtle pattern of knotwork and a central triskele motif.
I had intended to pair this with amber beads. I am not sure. I have taken pix with a few different gemstone combinations. What do you think?
1. Amber 2. Howlite & emeralds
3. Green aquamarines & emeralds 4. Labradorite, howlite, emeralds…
Please tell me what you think… I am thrilled with how this turned out, and thank Leah for initiating this challenge. I think I have a few more pieces rolling around in my head still! Please check out my fellow participants and their historical inspirations. (I may be late to the hopping, everyone! Teaching all day today. Monday over coffee at the latest, but I will jump in my Time Machine and meet you there. )
Jenny Davies-Reazor 
Jennie this is just fantastic. Love your process and your knowledge. Your piece is gorgeous. I am going to visit the others as well. Thanks so much for letting us know about this hop.
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Thank you Mary! I am looking forward to more pieces like this in the future. It came together so easily and really satisfied! Enjoy the hop.
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Wow! You really took your inspiration and flew with it. I love your encased pendant. The carving and painting is beautiful. The labradorite really pops for me because of the flow. I would go with one of the greener options to match your pendant. Thank you for taking part!
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Thank you Leah! While I already think in terms of Art History – thank you for the hop that had me putting it all together. Wouldnt have happened with out your impetus! I cant hop til Monday – but am looking forward to it!Labradorite! Duly noted.
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What a beautiful Inspiration, The finish pendant is absolutely gorgeous. I would pair it with Howlite & emeralds or Green aquamarines & emeralds.
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Thank you! You know how it is sometimes on a piece – when you just cant “see” it anymore? I was there yesterday – so I am glad to get ideas for the gems from everyone!
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I’m thinking #4. I like how it turned out also!
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That is beautiful! I want it! I prefer the howlite & emeralds, it continues the pendent’s wild, rustic feel. Thank you for sharing. ^.^
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I had never seen natural howlite before… arent those nuggets just archaic earthy goodness!? Thanks !
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I like #2 and #4. I think both of those combinations show off the copper more. I love hearing the process behind your piece. It intrigued me and kept me reading to the end. I’ve not heard of that script before, so learning something new was a plus. 🙂
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Glad you liked the post! I try not to get to teacher-y , but I AM a teacher… My pieces tend to be involved and symbolic so I do enjoy writing up the behind the scenes aspects… Thanks for commenting!
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Love your work, and the meaning behind it! How about mixing the amber and howlite? Just a thought!
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Very nice piece – I just love your thought process. And I like #2 the best.
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Lovely piece you have on your hands! I like your process – and how you shared it with us, always interesting to hear people’s thoughts.
In the picture #4 brings up the copper on the pendat very well. However, as a structure, I like #3 the best – your focal is very precisely shaped, and very symmetrical, and I feel #3 matches that the best. I would find more teal/blue well-shaped (not baroque) stones (labradorite / emeralds), along with some nice shaped howlite.
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i love how your pieces turned out! i also really love how personal this project was for you. i think it makes all the difference 🙂
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#2!!! Love what you created!
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… I am embracing the polymer. Here it did exaclty what I needed… Thanks!
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What a beautiful piece you have created, Jenny! Thanks for sharing with us the history as well. I always love learning something new, as well as seeing the jewelry!
I really like your idea of showing your pendant with various combinations of beads! What a great idea! My personal favorites are #2–I like the “rugged,” ancient look of the howlite– and #4–which combines the howlite with the mystical look of the labradorite! I’m always drawn to Celtic-inspired items too, and these feel so right!
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Oh I am glad you liked it – I do tend to ramble on sometimes… The options at the end was necessitated by my having run out of time – but I think it was rather fun and engaging!
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WOW! I haven’t done a history blog hop before, and yours is fabulous, I am late to the party and am getting ready to post mine today, but thought I would catch up on how everyone else has written theirs and yours is fab! I love the piece, very Celtic, very modern and beautifully medival. Thanks for sharing. Laney
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