I took March off from participating in the Inspired by Reading Book Club hosted by my friends Andrew and William at Allegory Gallery, but I'm back in action this month!
As usual, I'm pretty terrible about describing a book and the inspiration for my jewelry without giving too much away... so if you plan to read this moving novel, just stick to looking at my creations and skip my rambling, lol.
Set during the years leading up to and during World War II in both France and Germany, All the Light We Cannot See weaves the stories of two young people together along with that of a supposedly cursed diamond, the Sea of Flames. Marie-Laure, a blind girl who begins the book living with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History where he is the principal locksmith... and Werner, a German orphan who has an amazing affinity for making and fixing radios, a skill that eventually makes him useful to the German war effort.
With all the talk of keys and locks, my mind went first in that direction. I have a pair of keyhole connectors from Diana Ptaszynski's Suburban Girl ceramic days that I've been hanging onto for some time. I decided to whip up some simple earrings with black metal key charms.
Next I turned my thoughts to the idea of the model scales of the neighborhoods in which Marie-Laure and her father lived. Beyond being an accomplished locksmith, her father made amazing models and puzzle boxes for his daughter. In particular, a model of her great-uncle's tall house by the sea in Saint-Malo that comes out of the neighborhood model and hides the very valuable diamond the Sea of Flames. Another piece that has long lingered in my bead stash is a little 3D house bead from Green Girl Studios. This seemed like the perfect time to use it! It's got some heft to it, so I struggled a little with how to best incorporate it into a necklace. I knew I wanted to use gemstones as a nod to the diamond and the wider collection of the Natural History Museum. I didn't have anything to approximate the blue of the Sea of Flames, so I had to go with what worked size wise. In the end I decided on an asymmetrical design with LOTS of my hoarded fluorite beads and little Czech glass beads as spacers.. A large fluorite nugget opposite the house helps balance the weight of the design.
I had a few other lock and key pieces that I wanted to play with as well as another Green Girl pendant, but time ran out. Story of my life! This was a fun one to design for! Next month's book isn't available locally so I'll probably sit it out. We'll see when I pop up to participate again. Until then, happy reading and happy creating!
