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Goddess of the Wheel;
silver, copper, turquoise, sodalite,
aventurine, obsidian.
This pendant was inspired by
the fantastic jewelry artist Byron K.
McCurtain. Byron is a master of the inlay,
and I highly encourage you to Google his
name and check out his works. He also is
found as *Silverhairedwolf* on MySpace.
The title of this piece was originally
inspired by the wheel of the flat lap in
which I use to grind and polish my stones.
It is a machine that spins similar to an old
LP record machine. Except, mine spins way
faster than 45 rpms to grind down, shape and
polish my rocks. This was my first channel
inlay of this type. Byron has graciously and
patiently worked with me via emails in
educating me on this style of inlay, which
is very dependant on micro measuring the cut
of each rotation of the lap wheel. Even one
too many turns on a 1200 diamond disk lap
can greatly alter the measurements of the
stone to the extent that it may not fit into
its metal sleeve to have the metal gently
pushed down around the gently sloping rocks.
However, the title has a deeper mean for me,
as I suggest with the symbols within. The
goddesses figure is carved out from the
copper along the edge of the hole.
Underneath are layers of gears carved out of
silver alloys of various grades, with one
large wheel on top, just below the main
level. I wanted to get the effect of a
spinning wheel worked into the background of
the goddess. Within my blogs on
[link]
I have written about the many folk tales in
which alchemical secrets have been imbedded
over generations, tales of making gold from
base metals and tales of inner vision. The
wheels here refer to the tales that involve
a spinning wheel that serves magical
purposes. Whether it is spinning straw into
gold or putting beautiful princesses to
sleep, spinning wheels were machines of
women's crafts (traditionally) that hold
mysterious powers to those of us that have
never used one or seen one used.
My selection of stones was based mainly on
their blue quality. But, within the stone
and mineral lore, their tales also hold
significance. Sodalite is also known as
*Princess Blue*, and is recognized by some
to hold the power of truth and endurance. It
is also associated with Sagittarians.
Turquoise is known by many to be associated
with love, courage, healing, and luck.
Aventurine is the shamrock of minerals. I
mined this one out of a North Carolina
claim, just south of Grandfather Mountain. I
collected a small bucket full of these
aventurine stones thinking they were
emeralds to discover later that they were
just aventurines. I guess I was lucky to
find them, despite their lack of any
material value. The Alabama black obsidian
is flush inlayed on the left side. See
detailed image.
Obsidian is
thought to protect the gentle from abuse. I
hid it off to the side to allow the blue
stones to remain the most prevalent.
The copper was patina'd with a combination
Baldwin's patina and rokusho, which dulled
the copper down to a drab color that pushed
the color of the copper back, bringing the
blues of the stones and silver forward. The
patinas also affected the colorations on the
silver alloys, bringing out sparks of
various colors within the inside of this
piece. |
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