May 9th, 2008
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Willow Pattern by Elise Matthesen
Wirework pendant on an approx. 18″ rubber cord.
Based on “Willow Pattern” by Jon Singer
The piece of broken china is indeed Willow Pattern, and I found the piece years ago in a hedgerow in Ireland in the Wicklow Hills, outside the home of Diane Duane and Peter Morwood. The various beads came to me from unlikely sources: broken jewelry, leftovers from friends, or in the case of the little dangling pendant piece, something found run over in the street. I thought that was particularly appropriate for this piece, given the story’s exploration of deterioration and change. The chain that dangles from the pendant’s sterling silver wirework is a corroded chain from a box of old jewelry.
Please be aware that this chain may leave marks if worn on light-colored clothing. This, too, is in keeping with the theme of the story: it may mark you to wear this piece. Be aware of that, please. I do not know if the corrosion will rub off. I do not know if the story will do to you what it has done to me: disquiet me, delight me, frighten me, fascinate me. I have saved that bit of Willow Pattern china for years, waiting for the right thing to do with the broken bit. I think this necklace is it. I put the whole thing on a cord of black rubber, because I like the contrast between the scientifictional rubber tubing and the fantastical silver wirework.
Elise Matthesen
Tags: Elise Matthesen, Jon Singer, Willow Pattern
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You can see more photos - including close-ups - of this breathtaking piece here:
http://lioness.net/L/auction%20pieces/WillowPatternIAF/
Absolutely gorgeous, and along with the chain, the perfect compliment to Jon Singer’s evocative story, which is as much an opened invitation to storymake as his story with a plot itself. This necklace is also a tangle of histories and accumulable myth, and Elise, your commentary, especially your saving of the fragment for the right t. and p., makes this tangled 3D talethatyoucanwear all the more special.
err, that should read something not quite ‘compliment’ but yet not ‘complement’. Something unclassifiable but juuuust right.