Oriel Pendant Challenge -- Week 4: Serpent Eagle Custom

Custom Philippine Serpent Eagle (Front)

Last week I was finishing up on a custom oriel that a friend asked me to make as a gift for her brother's girlfriend. She owns one of my oriels, a custom Golden Eagle, given to her by a group of friends. Her brother's girlfriend fell in love with it, so Bonnie wanted me to create something similar for her. Since this woman was born in the Philippines I went online to look at birds that are indigenous to the islands. I was struck by the fierce beauty of the Serpent Eagle. What a gorgeous bird with its golden eye, raised crown of feathers, and the white dots that decorate its neck, "underpants," and wings. As this is a custom animal totem oriel, eagle energy represents strength, ferocity, vision, and endurance. This is power that needs to be handled with respect, and I saw the bird wheeling in blue skies surrounded by the light of blue crystals, which call forth the clarity of higher knowledge.

Custom Philippine Serpent Eagle (Back)

A Busy December for Kentucky Girl Oriels

This past Christmas season I had the pleasure of creating quite a few custom oriel pendants. I so enjoy making custom oriels for people. It is an opportunity to create a beautiful piece of jewelry that showcases something they love or treasure. People have told me that their pendants hang close to their heart and whenever they touch them the oriel reminds them of a specific love, feeling, or memory.

I will first scan the photos or take the jpegs and reduce them to an appropriate size, print them, and cut them out and place them on my work table. I often sit with the images for a while and let them "speak" to me. This is such an interesting process, often filled with playful humor. What bubbles up is often surprising -- colors, collage materials, background images, beads, crystals, charms, even words -- just seem to appear from out of my stash and fall together to form a collage that once completed, resonates not only with me, the artist, but with the person who is receiving the pendant.

People send me images of their animal companions, near or gone:

Flash

Butch

Angel

Milly

Sammy

Rudy

They'll send me photos of their loved ones:

Josh

Billy and Aubrey

...the memory of a special place they've visited:

Venice

Paris

...even favorite movie stars:
How lucky am I?

Custom Oriel: Harry and Scruff

This custom Earth Angels oriel is a Christmas present for a customer's best friend, featuring her friend's retired show horse, Harry, and her dog companion, Scruff. Once I decided on which photos to use, the oriel came together easily. The animals are just so happy with what they are doing and who they belong to, and they are just so darn personable that they needed very little ornamentation. I used beveled glass on both the front and the back of the oriel. Happiness is beauty and these two Earth Angels just shine with both!

Custom Oriel Earth Angels: Spencer and Monty, and Princess

Here are two more of my custom Earth Angel Oriels, which I love creating for people. The first necklace combined two animal companions of a friend, all three of which I love deeply. Spencer, a brave, strong Tabby, is shown on the front of the oriel with miniature dried yellow flowers over his head, almost like a halo. Why? Because in spite of Spencer's sometimes gruff behavior, he is a sweetheart of a kitten. Spencer tolerates me kissing him on the head as long as no one is looking.

On the reverse side is a picture of Monty -- who has departed this realm, although his energy is very much around. Monty was very jaguar-like, yet somehow, he also required a flower -- this one red to match his collar.

The second oriel I made as a birthday present for a friend. It shows her late, great, Abyssinian cat, Princess. And yes, she was a princess from the tip of her toes to the tip of her tail. And probably the most alert, present, and daintily affectionate cat I have ever known. I have shown her on a piece of vintage lace that I bought at a London flea market. I dangled beneath her Beth Hemmila's Flaming Heart Milagro Charm (visit her Hint Jewelry blog for more info on Beth's charms). The Flaming Heart milagro speaks to compassion for the human condition, and I always felt that Princess had great compassion for us silly human beings.

Custom Oriel: Golden Eagle Totem

Custom Golden Eagle Animal Totem (Front)

I am excited to announce that I will soon be launching a new series of oriels that features animals as shamanic totems. There is no doubt in my mind that animals reflect to us basic truths about our relationship to nature, our inner nature, and our hopes and dreams. Our cultural myths and symbolism through the centuries describe and support these associated traits and energies.

Along the same lines, I was asked to create a custom oriel pendant of an eagle for a friend's birthday. Thinking about this person, I felt that the golden eagle was a good choice: powerful, perceptive, clear of vision. The golden eagle has the ability to see things clearly and it soars joyfully and powerfully through the skies inspiring those around it. It also reflects the sun's light, giving it a magical appearance. Yes, that pretty much describes my friend Bonnie.

I found two powerful images of golden eagles and placed them each on golden embroidered brown ribbons. On one of the photos I added Swavorski crystal rhinestones as a "halo" for the profile photo. The dangle below consists of a silver bird charm, Swavorski crystal beads in complementary colors, and to top it off, a beautiful Hint charm, "Eagle Spirit". The artist Beth Himmila of says of her charm: "Wear an eagle’s feather to empower and support your vision for the future...(the) feathers of an eagle represent your soul’s light and shadow. As a messenger to the Great Spirit, eagle offers healing medicine from the Creator. Eagle gives you permission to love both darkness and light, opening a door to unconditional love and an opportunity to reclaim your personal power." I was happy with the result: a beautiful, powerful pendant for a beautiful, powerful woman.

Custom Golden Eagle Animal Totem (Back)

Chrissy's Custom: Pendant Challenge -- Week 7

My blogger friend Chrissy asked me to make a custom oriel pendant of her 4-footed companion, Kalei, and her 2-legged, long-distance love, Eric. I started out with a photo Chris had taken of her beautiful cat, Kalei. I saw her in Chris's Southern California garden. Chris's photos of her garden's blooms are breath taking, so I took a few of her blog photos and miniaturized them in my creativity software program. I also added these cool miniature dried flowers I found in Mexico (they are used by nail manicurists!). I made this oriel 3D, so that it seemed as if Kalei was looking through the flowers. The more I worked with this oriel, the more it seemed that Chris's boyfriend Eric needed his own oriel. So I used hand-dyed ribbon and more dried flowers on the back of Kalei's garden pendant. I added a sterling silver flower charm and Swavorski crystal beads as a dangle.
I also made this oriel 3D. Eric lives in Hawaii, so I placed him in front of a crashing sea and sprinkled a few stars around him just for fun. On the back I put a picture of Chris and Eric -- when they first met. I added Swavorski crystals in sea colors and a sea turtle charm by my friend Beth of Hint Jewelry (by all means check her Etsy store and blog out!). The oriel is almost charm sized, but I liked the intimacy of that.

This is another one of my personal art challenges: to create a minimum of one oriel pendant per week. You can learn more about my oriel pendants by visiting my Kentucky Girl Etsy Shop. I find personal and communal art challenges an inspiring disciplinary approach to fostering creativity. My personal art challenges ensure that I do not put my art on the back burner -- wonderful new directions emerge as a result of stepping over my ambivalence and tendency towards self-criticism. Community art challenges have been a wonderful means of discovering creative friends and positive feedback. Another wonderful benefit of the internet!

Custom Oriel: Monty the Magnificent

I was commissioned to do an oriel pendant for a woman whose cat companion had passed on. This beautiful animal actually belong to three people who had homes on the same property, and he would go from home to home as it suit his mood. But this woman had had a very deep bond with him, so her neighbor and friend had asked me to do a necklace of him for her. I knew Monty -- he was very sexy and slinky, but had a powerful, sage-like personality as well. I remember being over at one of the houses, and Monty came wafting into the room, like Errol Flynn or Cary Grant, throwing himself down by my feet and batting at them. Shameless! One day, I happened to have my camera and snapped a quick photo of him lounging on a bed pillow (his pillow). I didn't mean to make this custom oriel shrine-like, but that's how it evolved. I placed Monty's image on a pink red tapestry ribbon, topped with a piece of vintage gold lace that I purchased in London this spring. The back of the oriel shows a red ribbon rosette from a fantastic piece of ribbon yardage I found in my travels; the rosette is pressed flat by the weight of the glass -- it almost appears as a relic. To top off the oriel I chose a silver charm engraved with a lotus blossom, which speaks of Monty's wise persona. I think Monty would have approved!

Custom Oriel: A Heart for My Sister

A friend of mine asked me to make a custom oriel for one of her sisters, the one who lives in North Carolina. Her last trip there had been one of those life-affirming joyful moments, all three sisters were together, enjoying the air, the beaches, their husbands, and the time together. One day, while walking the beach, my friend found this little broken piece of shell, shaped like a heart:

She brought it back with her and asked me if I could make a necklace out of it, something that her sister could wear to remember their visit together. At first I wasn't sure what I could do, but I trusted that something would come to me. She suggested that I might make a shadow box for it. I picked a piece of pink, faded, vintage velvet ribbon for the heart shell to rest upon. I searched the net and found a picture of a pink sunrise over a North Carolina beach. I looked in my old Thesaurus and found words to form this phrase: "All the sisters forever love", then cut the phrases up and glued them over the beach picture. I liked how the pink of the ribbon and the pink of the sunrise seemed to cradle the heart and the sentiment. At first I thought I would build a shadow box for it, but I just took two pieces of glass, made a sandwich of the shell and images, and carefully wrapped it in copper foil, trying to keep even pressure on all of the sides. Soldered it, added decorative solder beading, added a dangle of a filigree heart charm and Swavorski beads, and a pewter star charm. This is what my friend said: "My sister loved her necklace and just as I suspected it made her cry! You did an awesome job. Picking the right photo, the right phrase, the right colors! Awesome and beautiful. You have an amazing talent! Thank you!" And thank you D. -- for giving me the opportunity to create something beautiful!

Three Earth Angels -- Pendant Challenge Week 2

I finished a custom oriel for a friend, which she is planning to give to her boss. It features her boss's three beautiful Burmese or Siamese cats. These three earth angels were a picture in themselves -- I really didn't need to do much to bring out their special qualities. My friend had asked for a green background, but I kept feeling that a light color -- sunshiney -- was needed. I kept being drawn to the center cat's gaze -- so openly bold, so wise, so centered. I was flipping through some images and found this photo of the interior of an Asian temple. It sparkled with light and you could see the face of the Buddha hanging on the wall. Somehow it seemed to be a fitting background for these Burmese companions. Were the other cats winking? I usually add sparkles or gems to my pendants, but they just didn't seem right. Instead I found a pewter mandala for the dangle and crafted an alter-style attachment for the necklace to attach to. Because one of the kitties has passed on -- I added a silver swallow to indicate the soul's release. Once completed, I pulled my hands to gether in a prayer shape and bowed to the enshrined meowsers. Purrrfect!

If you would like to learn more about my custom oriel pendants, please visit my Kentucky Girl Etsy Shop!

Custom Oriel Pendants

My friend and dance instructor Doree Clark (check out Stage Dor) commissioned me to make a custom oriel pendant with her poodle companion Jo Jo on the front, and a jazz dancer on the back. This was difficult only in that Jo Jo is all black, including her eyes, so it is the rare photo in which you can see Jo Jo's eyes and especially her pink tongue! This was a picture of her as a puppy when Doree's husband Paul surprised her with this little bundle of joy. And that is exactly what Jo Jo is to Doree -- JOY. Pink is Doree's favorite color, and so I included the pink flower background and the little dried one. The back is a photo from the film Chicago! featuring Rene Zellweger in a quintessential jazz lift, with a touch of burlesque thrown in to boot; lace ribbon, miniature pink stars, pale rose German glass glitter, and a dangle of pale pink freshwater pearls and Swavorski crystal beads finished the piece.

If you want a custom oriel pendant, just visit my Etsy Kentucky Girl Shop or email me!