Marquise Series: Pendant 8 (2010)
Sterling silver, fine silver, tourmaline
Constructed, cold-joined, woven
L 5.0 cm x W 2.25 cm x D 1.0 cm
(Update: SOLD June 2013)
One of my new year’s resolutions was to start using a Job Jar. My family and friends, who know me very well, know that I’m hopeless about housework. I think it was Erma Bombeck who said “Nature can’t abhor a vacuum as much as I do.” That kind of sums up my attitude nicely.
However, I do live with three other (messy) people, so some token effort to maintain order must be made. So… enter the Job Jar. I wrote all the various chores on the little slips of paper, and included some fun things, and every day I pick one out of the jar. The choice is completely random, although I like to think of it as leaving it up to God/the Universe to pick the task that is right for me on any particular day. Some days I have more energy than others, and interestingly enough, each task so far has been perfect for the day it was chosen. I do my Job Jar job early in the day, and then the rest of the day is mine to do as I please.
The net result of doing my housework this way is that I’m being much more productive with my jewellery making as well. So, I feel good because my house is slowly getting cleaner, and I’m getting to work guilt-free on something I love every day. Bonus!
The studio gremlins paid a me a visit this week and stole this piece for a few hours. I noticed it was missing after my husband had done a sweep through the house collecting detritus to put out in the garbage on Monday night. He tends to be somewhat brisk and indiscriminate when he does this. A frantic search turned up nothing, and I was resigned to it having disappeared into the mass of trash. On Tuesday, my job from the Jar was “Clean the livingroom.” It was like a bunch of angels were standing around saying “We want to help you”. LOL
So, I set to work, cleaning, sweeping and reorganizing the room. When I picked up and moved one of the toy boxes, lo and behold, there was the pendant! With a quick prayer of thanks, I put it in a safe location, where I knew I’d find it again.
Like the previous pieces in the series, the pendant is formed using a marquise shape. When I was first shaped the wire, I thought the pendant looked like a moth. The form evoked a very strong Art Nouveau influence. As I added the weaving and the beads, the moth form persisted, and I noticed that the pendant was starting to look like Rainbow Wrapping.
Originally, I was going to hang the pendant the other way around, from the point. It reminded me of the Star Trek logo. I didn’t like how the tourmaline drop looked hanging from the long tail though – it threw off the balance. So the drop was moved to the point, and the tail became the hanging point.
While photographing the piece today, I started seeing the form of an elephant face. How cool! I don’t remember ever seeing so many different influences in one piece.
What do you see? Let me know!
More photos:
