May 22nd, 2008
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Black Feather by JoSelle Vanderhooft
15″ (inside) necklace made with bone, onyx, amazonite, glass, howlite, seed beads, hematite, garnet, cloisonne, coral, “quarz” glass, diachroic glass and sterling silver. Click the image for a hi-res version.
Based on “Black Feather” by K Tempest Bradford
When I read a story intending to create jewelry from it, I take very careful note of color - both those mentioned in the story and those which occur to me as I read and after I lay the story aside. This was terrifically easy to do for K. Tempest Bradford’s “Black Feather,” because color is a central theme in this piece, from the red of a mother’s womb to the steel skyscrapers of Manhattan to the white of clean linen shirts to the ever shifting blue of sky. And then, of course, the ubiquitous black feathers of the title, which I have endeavored to represent with onyx.
“Black Feather” is a story, among other things, about accepting death and the soul-transformation that we go through when we stop fearing our mortality. For this reason (and to represent a plot point that is too beautiful to spoil for you here), I have created the necklace’s pendant from the memento mori of a skeleton, a glass egg and a red bead representing the living we who stand between both ends and beginnings.
This was one of the most challenging necklaces I have ever made, and one of my favorites. I hope that I have represented Tempest’s story accurately and skillfully.
JoSelle Vanderhooft
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May 19th, 2008
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The Blemmyae by Joselle Vanderhooft
21″ necklace made with cloisonne beads, bone, Botswana agate, glass, copper findings, and approx. 3″ carnelian pendant. Click the image for a detailed/hi-res look.
Based on “A Dirge for Prester John” by Catherynne M. Valente
Valente’s tale is a complex story about colonialism, religion and an incredible romance between a Blemmyae (the “anthropophagi” to which Othello refers in Act I of Shakespeare’s play) and a befuddled priest. It’s a story of scorching desert sands and madness, of Old World and New World, of love between two very different beings. It is a tale of dichotomies, religious, cultural, emotional.
This piece is made out of copper chain and copper findings, to match the desert sands of her homeland which Prester John “discovers.” Along with the carnelian pendant, she is made from cloisonne beads, bone, Botswana agate (the large black and white beads that look, appropriately, like eyes) and glass (the small black and white beads that look like eyes).
Joselle Vanderhooft
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May 5th, 2008
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19″ necklace with pendant.
Based on “A Dirge for Prester John” by Catherynne M. Valente
Valente’s tale is a complex story about colonialism, religion and an incredible romance between a Blemmyae (the “anthropophagi” to which Othello refers in Act I of Shakespeare’s play) and a befuddled priest. It’s a story of scorching desert sands and madness, of Old World and New World, of love between two very different beings. It is a tale of dichotomies, religious, cultural, emotional.
The presbyter hails from (quite literally) a different world, from comparatively colder and more austere Christian Europe, represented by the silver plate chain and sterling silver findings. Befitting his connection to the sea (and to further contrast the waterless desert in which he finds himself), his colors are blue: pearls, blue glass seed beads, dyed blue agate and blue glass as well as the vintage blue rhinestone in the antiqued silver cross (the little glass box above it reminded me of an ikon, so I used it, too).
Joselle Vanderhooft
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