Ravenclaw pendant. Wayland's feather
3/27/2014
Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure.
Rowena Ravenclaw
Handmade silver pendant inspired by Ravenclaw - one of the four houses of Hogwarts from J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter". The shape and texture of the feather refers both to the eagle- symbol of the house, and to the raven- patronus of its founder. The pendant is adorned with a small blue sapphire and hand formed Celtic triskel symbol.
Triskelion, through the position of its three spiral branches, imitate the constant forward motion and symbolizes the progress, process of learning and self-improvement. In the context of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the three spirals can be seen as symbolical representations of intelligence, wisdom and creativity - main traits valued by Rowena Ravenclaw and prized in her house.
In the future, I'm going to make a similar pendant in bronze, to reflect Ravenclaw's official colours - bronze and blue - more appropriately. However, silver colour of the feather is also meaningful. My main inspiration for this exact pendant was "The Ravenclaw's Skylark" fanfiction series written by Bastet- one of the very first fanfic I have ever read and - thanks to the unique, truly magical atmosphere and wonderful character creations - the only one that permanently influenced my personal vision of Hogwarts. I can't imagine Aurora Sinistra any other way ;) I love Bastet's conception of Ravenclaw common room's windows scattered with painted ravens. One of them is white... and in fact, he is more than just a painting. His feather refers to one of my favourite chapters in the story, which tells about the secrets of magical pictures, portraits and above all - one special gobelin.
In omnia paratus...
As far as I know, Bastet's fanfiction is not translated and is available only in Polish:
The little flame
3/27/2014Very small and delicate pendant inspired by fire element. Handmade out of fine silver, sterling silver and red zirconia.
Gates of Doriath
3/27/2014
Necklace made by hand out of fine silver, sterling silver and labradorites, inspired by the forests of Doriath from J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Silmarillion" and "The Children of Hurin". Doriath was the realm of Sindar - Grey Elves - ruled by Elu Thingol and Melian the Maia.
The necklace is adorned with two trees, which branches and roots are interlacing into Celtic triquetra knots. At some angles, the dark green stone you can see in the center flashes light, warm shades of green. Thanks to its unusual inclusion, sometimes you can see also a line of light blue colour on its left side. Is this Luthien dancing...?
Mallorn leaves earrings
3/27/2014
Small earrings handmade out of fine and sterling silver, inspired by Lothlorien forest from J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings".
Dandelions
3/26/2014
Very delicate silver pendant inspired by blossoming dandelions. Made by hand of fine silver, sterling silver and citrine. Oxidized and polished.
Total length, including the bail, is 3cm. The biggest flower measures 3mm :)
Halls of Thranduil
3/16/2014
Inspiration for this necklace came from J.R.R. Tolkien's prose. The beautiful, green stone you can see in the center reminded me of Eryn Galen - Greenwood the Great - known later as Mirkwood or Taur-nu-Fuin. The pendant is adorned with two pleached trees - a common motif in elven architecture. Maybe these are the columns in one of the halls of Lord Thranduil's palace, maybe they form the gate to Silvan Elves' kingdom, or perhaps these are just the trees, growing freely in the mighty ancient forest.
This piece was totally hand formed out of fine silver, labradorite and lots of little moss agates and peridots. Oxidized and partially polished.
Sculpting practice: tentacles
3/11/2014
As I gather
tons of new jewellery ideas, I am seeing that I need some drawing and sculpting
practice to eventually make them real. Some time ago I started to search for sculpting
inspirations and tutorials and I finally found a motivation to try something different
than anything I made so far. Tentacles!
These two tiny tentacles on the right are unfinished, but I really learnt a lot thanks to them. They allowed me to experiment with different techniques and to find out which suit me best while working on something so small. Soon I am going to make similar ones - this time in silver, as a part of “the Watcher in the Water” project with lapis lazuli :)