New Work Wednesday

Ahhhh, a day without a mega post. Hip Hip Hurrah. I kind of figure you’re about read out. While I was working on my BSBP necklace and talismans I decided to try a few more of a different kind. Working in clay has been an inspiring change for me.

The talisman necklace makes a pleasant sound as it moves around while you walk. That thought stuck with me and I moved to making spirit beads. These beads, as of yet unfired, are full of ceramic balls that will “sound off” as needed. They make me smile and remind me to listen to my inner spirit.

Symbols and Meanings - Good and Bad

A talisman (from Arabic طلسم Tilasm, ultimately from Greek telesma or from the Greek word "telein" which means "to initiate into the mysteries") is an amulet or other object considered to possess supernatural or magical powers that are placed on the object by an outside force. It's an inanimate object that one makes animate. In magic a talisman is endowed with magical properties or magical force with a specific nature. It could be a sentimental object or souvenir of some kind that when looked at years later evokes a certain emotional response. (from Wikipedia).



I’ve always been interested in symbols. It’s been a way of communication forever and you can’t look at art for very long and not run into symbolism. It’s in the earliest of work all the way through to the latest. I’d nearly forgotten how interesting I had found it all until I started to work with delinquents for the State of Michigan. I was a novice, to say the least that anyone could say, but an observant one.



There were forty youth split into groups of ten who were not in general to have conversations with one another. Yet, while observing them in close proximity you could see they were having conversations –non verbal and hand signals full of meanings and so much more – with their forbidden peers, without much interference from our rules.



The reason was simple to me. Unless I could recognize the hand signals, tattoos, position of the clothing the kids were wearing it would be like the staff could easily be caught up in something potentially dangerous, let alone embarrassing. We wanted to make sure who was running the funny farm so we quickly moved to split up into groups where we could cull from them what ‘this and that meant”.



Take as an example the first picture. Neptune's trident, absolutlely. But in the hands of the kids and gangs it's called a fork. You are either forks up or forks down. You have to think of it as akin to the Lions or Rotary. Difficult jump right? Needs an chart but here is an easy way - Think Baseball. All baseball is the same (gangs), divided into leagues American/National, (forks up/ down - folks/people, and other modifiers), then divided further by names (Bloods/Crips/ and so on, and then further by symbols and so on. Makes sense now? Trust me, it's hard to follow.

The three pronged pitchfork portion on top of the Neptune symbol represents a trident, commonly thought to represent Neptune, the god of the waters (Poseidon in Greek if you prefer).

Not so commonly known is the trident of the Neptune symbol also represents the threefold essences of nature. Empirically speaking this threefold essence is comprised of: Becoming, Being, Passing away.



The kids wear their gang symbols as protection (talimans) from other gangs - as identifiers of who and what they are. There are thousands of them. There are millions of symbols historically. I've attached some drawings so you can see the differences. See the tridents.

Trust me, it was not unlike taking a long study course on Religion at a local college – it felt the very same way. Churches also make their territory known by things they leave out or mark. And most of the symbolism is meant to confer some of the same rules.



Symbolism as a study is a very interesting. It can be used in your paintings and on your work. And in some neighborhoods it might even help to keep you from being hassled by certain gangs – or not. I'm not sure if it's the imagery you want for your work but you have to agree it is interesting. I mean who doesn't like a crystal or look at the pryamid on their dollar bill?



If you want to check some symbolism that might work in what you are creating I’ve included some links This is not a comprehensive look by any means, I have book after book on this topic But, here are a few on-line resources You might want to check out for yourself so you can get a start in this incredible field you can incorporate into your work. And, if you want to look up more I find that Googling “meaning of symbolism” it brings up a ton of possible sites to find your answers. Here are a few good ones I found:

Crossroads

Runes

Ancient Meanings

Religious Symbols

Gangs r Us

Gangs and their Origins



Tomorrow I will show you some talismans I am working on. They’re not quite as grand as my Sirevaag Tailsman but they are going to look great. They are in the component stage and I hope to have a few of them listed on Etsy in a week or two. Then you designers can figure what would make these new ones complete.



Now this - Well, it's a tattoo. Cracks me up - - - the first time I saw it I told all the kids I didn't know why anyone but my husband would want my initials carved on their arm. I thought the poor child would puke as he screamed at me in protest. He yelled and finally screams "You dumb Bi*$ch, it stands for Satan's Diciples". I told him with sly grin on my face, "Yes, I know!"

Still Bead Soup Blog Hopping...

Bead Soup is great stuff! The copper leaf is what immediately struck my fancy and since I know how to fold form I decided to put a little twist to it. It spoke to me of a natural theme and so it grew. First with the ceramic quote I made from William Blake, “Art is the tree of life…”

Once those two pieces were together it began to have a talisman kind of look – and sound. As you walk or move the ceramic and copper make a gentle sound as they move against one another. That is why I began working on a “Natural Talisman” – something that speaks to me softly but succinctly. An initial drawing was made and I kept it rough so it wouldn’t confine any further ideas.


We had large copper mines in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan – copper made sense as a metal to use thoughout.
Second, I have a bit of Sari silk here (another natural product) so I pulled that out. That is where I hit my first design snag. I had pulled out pearls to go with the beautiful bits and goodies and the icy blue of the cat’s eyes that Rebecca had sent. My stash contained not one blue strand of silk in the correct color range….crap! I pulled the blue from the soup and will save it for another piece. In went green and gold. Out came the color wheel. Best color choices according to that – Gold is a tint of yellow orange, so it seems logical we could use kind of a triadic color scheme (add greens/bluish greens and possible touches of reddish purple/purple). Yikes, not much natural coloring there but what the heck. I didn’t want to do all browns.You remember the soup - what my bead soup partner – Rebecca Sirevaag sent me (It’s pictured in the last post and was full of this wonderful icy blue).

So on to the talismans. I had the natural earthy browns - plus silk, copper, pearls, earthenware clay, and glass. That’s when the search began in earnest between design and spiritual meaning. Who knew I wanted back on this designing bike so much….


What to hang the possible talisman from came next and it came easily. I’m Irish and Russian, what a combo. Irish waxed linen. What I have seemed thin and not complicated enough to hold a large talisman so I braided several strands right on to the lovely toggle clasp in my soup.

From there I continued the theme. If it was going to be red or reddish purple it needed to be natural and have meaning. Ah ha, I have some felting wool tucked away and a red wool strand would work. The Kabbalah says a thin red wool string will ward off misfortune brought about by the evil eye. The Chinese belief is that a there is an invisible red thread that connects each of us to those who have been, are currently, or will be in the future important in our lives. I had mixed wool roving and worked up a strand of mixed red and purple.

Tomorrow I will post more about this necklace and some photos of other pieces that were inspired by the soup mix. I hope you’ll join me again.

Back to my blog hopping….the link yesterday’s post is interactive and contains a link to all of the BSBP participants. Enjoy the eye candy and be sure to say Hello and leave a comment. I know everyone will enjoy hearing from you too.

It's Finally Here! - Bead Soup Blog Hop.

Welcome to the Fifth Bead Soup Blog Hop and what I’m turning into “Bead Soup Week”. I decided as I created these pieces that there were many things to talk about while creating them. Everything from a tutorial on how to make those earrings without having your discs slop around to using the symbolism of various objects to your designing advantage. It will be a full week so I hope you’ll hop back here again.

Besides posting all of these photos of what I created I’d also like to introduce my partner in this challenge Rebecca Sirevaag . She sent me some wonderful pieces to work with. I so loved the colors she sent but when I couldn’t find matching additions in my stash I had to drop one of the colors (that beautiful ice blue) and find a different route. (You can hop on over to Becca's blog to see what she made with the stash I sent her.)

From Rebecca’s soup I had plenty to work with despite dropping the blue from the palette. I used the copper stamped leaf, the butterflies went into the earrings, almost all of the brown beads and spacers, all three of the copper beads (two in the smaller necklace, which is meant to wear alone or as a duel piece with the longer necklace and a different one in the large necklace), plus the toggle, and the gold aventurine discs.

To Rebecca’s stash I added a ton of miscellaneous items and went wild. It was her copper leaf that sent me on this earthy combination full of symbolism. You can see the silk, the linen thread, feathers, pearls, seed beads, and several ceramic pieces I made for this piece, my lampwork bird, and many others.

I’m not going to go into what possessed me to go in this direction or what it all means. I’ll save all of that and several close-ups of how I put it together for tomorrow. For now, enjoy the hopping around this list from the Fifth Blog Hop and don’t forget to leave a note or two along the way. Just click below and it will take you to the list. Have Fun.

Lori Anderson's Fifth Bead Soup Blog Hop