My nebula pendants began as simple black domes as described in my last article. I felt that they represented nebulae the best I could imagine at the time - and I still think some of these simpler pendants do best represent the photos I have seen, sent back from Hubble and other space telescopes.
One pendant I created was based on a panoramic view of the infra red sky showing all the galaxies outside of the Milky Way. This really wasn't one for carefully placing a few micro beads as the image was full of stars and galaxies and nebulae. Again, it was a dome of black clay with a white streak of clay and Adirondack Ice Cap alcohol ink and many micro beads and was quite startling to look at.
I also did a smaller pendant around the same time called 'Black Hole' because it was my representation of what I imagined a black hole to be like - except I suppose it should really swallow up the pendant if it was anything like realistic.
Another one which was a bit more 3d than just a dome was one I called 'Starburst' as it was how I imagined a star to come to birth - emerging from the dark, gaseous mass of a nebula - again very far from reality, I have no doubt.
A final one which was just a bit more 3D was a photo I saw called 'The Gates of Heaven'. They were apparently huge pillars of gas. After some research, it would seem that the photo is a fake using some clever graphics, but the idea inspired me and so I did my own take on 'The Gates of Heaven'.
I did two pendants loosely based on actual nebulae. The first was the 'Crab Nebula'. I knew this was going to be a tough one to do and for once I wasn't wrong. It is a spectacular nebula, but extremely difficult to even approximate in polymer clay - despite using translucent clay and liquid clay to try and capture the ethereal quality of the centre of the nebula.
The second based on a real nebula was the 'Tarantula Nebula' pendant. With this one, I was more interested in trying to capture the beautiful colours.
A follower from Australia challenged me to try and do something representing eternity. Now eternity is such a mind-blowing concept that it is hard enough to get your head around, let alone to even begin to represent it in some form of art jewellery. I decided I would do a set, but rather than being domed, it would be concave and I would try and represent stars and nebulae being sucked, whirlpool-like, into total blackness. I did the pendant by making an open-fronted hollow cabochon and inside were two circles of clay as I wanted stars to show at different levels within the piece. On the whole I was very happy with the pendant, if not quite as satisfied with the accompanying earrings, but then it is very rare that I am fully satisfied with anything I do. Such is the burden of being a perfectionist when one is anything but perfect.
The final nebula piece I made which was more three dimensional I called the 'Warp Nebula'. My vision was to attempt the cloud like nature of nebulae, but with a large star appearing to be floating in the middle of the said nebula. The pendant was pretty tricky to make and, as it turns out, even more tricky to photograph in order to show the curving depth of the piece - and to prevent it from looking reminiscent of a cat's face - which it looked nothing like in reality.
It has been almost a year since I have made a nebula pendant or set. No doubt I will revisit them again as the subject, this kind of jewellery and the technique fascinate me. There is so much potential with this jewellery - not only with colours and patterns, but with the 3D possibilities and I love that aspect.
My Nebula Pieces on Etsy
https://www.alancordiner.com
No comments:
Post a Comment