AJE December Component of the Month - Design Reveal

Welcome to the final AJE Component of the Month design reveal of 2012. The December component was gifted by the lovely Jenny Davies- Reazor - mixed media artist and font of all knowledge for all things mythical and folkloric - if that's a word. The pieces Jenny chose were these lovely ceramic pendant featuring a classical Labyrinth motif...

I have to confess to being pretty ignorant on the subject of Labyrinths but fortunately Jenny gave us some insight in her original post which you can find here. Found in many cultures she explained how historically they were seen as a symbolic path to God and often served as a substitute to a religious pilgrimage. Labyrinths have only one clear path from the edge to the centre and out again and today they have become popular as a walking meditation that can help to inspire and help to centre oneself. Jenny felt that this was an appropriate symbol with New Year's being a time where we all feel resolved to start afresh and I couldn't agree more.

Edinburgh Labyrinth - United Kingdom

I'm not a religious person but I do find that if I am troubled or have decisions to make, walking will often help me to gain clarity. It's as if the physical process of walking somehow helps me to recognise issues and ideas and organise them so that I can see what I need to do to achieve my goal. So I decided that I would use this idea of a journey as the theme for my design.

This is the pendant I received from Jenny - a lovely weathered copper colour.

 
I'm very much into layered or tiered pendants at the moment and as I was given a set of letter punches for Christmas I thought this would be a good opportunity to try them out - this is the finished design I came up with...

I chose copper to work with the verdigris glaze and cut a little bar which I stamped with the legend 'follow your own path' because I sometimes need reminding to aim for the things I want rather than those others want for me. I hammered and oxidised the bar to give it some depth and age and then attached it to the pendant.

I found a bronze charm in my stash that featured a motif that almost looked like an old decaying labyrinth so I used a little verdigris and copper patina to pull the ensemble together and added it to the bottom of the pendant.

At this point I wanted to keep the design simple and uncluttered to capture the contemplative element of the labyrinth so I decided to hang the pendant from a simple copper chain. I made a spiral wire clasp to echo the motif and added a simple ceramic bead to give balance and that was it - job done.

I need a bit more practise at the stamping but I'm pretty pleased with my first attempt. This has opened up a new design style for me and I love it when that happens so thank you Jenny for providing me with the opportunity.

I'm off to see how my AJE team mates and our guests where inspired by Jenny's components and you can join me using the links below. Happy New Year and good fortune for 2013!

This months guests of honour:

Emma Todd

Lee Koopman

Jess Green

And participating AJE team members: 

Jen Cameron 

Kristi Bowman

Diana Ptaszynski

Kristen Stevens

Melissa Meman

Jo Tinley

Linda Landig

Sue Kennedy

Jenny Davies-Reazor, your hostess 

Enjoy!

Lesley