—The Druid—
She is the mediator between humanity and the divine, the philosopher, and the guardian of nature.
Her gnarled oak staff is planted amid a bed of Scottish thistles. Nestled in its head sits an illuminated Heliodor giving off an Aquamarine aura. Growing things are represented in the lush emeralds surrounding her staff. As the matriarch for the alchemical element Earth, the Druid is depicted on the back holding a young thistle sapling.
As with all of the pieces in this series, I borrowed inspiration from many sources and tied them all together to create a representation for a fictional character. However, the engraving on the back was highly inspired by Maria Franz of Heilung whose experimental folk music is inspired by runic inscriptions and poems from the Viking age. Their music was highly inspirational to me as I worked on this pendant.

This is the second piece of my new Arcane Series. The root inspiration for this series was traditional Scottish clan badges, a symbol of heraldry wrapped in a belt that signifies the deeds of values of it’s family. I took this symbol as my starting point for each piece, creating a representation for the societal role each piece represents. My fascination with modern fantasy and obsession with symbolism fueled my imagination. I began crafting a compilation of symbols borrowed from Ancient Greece, the Celtic Druids, Norse Shamanism, Arthurian legends, the Rider Waite tarot of the 1900s, and entirely fictional representations of my own making.
As for the actual construction of each piece, I set the goal for myself to step outside of my usual scrolling comfort zone and sculpt and/or engrave representational 3D objects; the human figure, gnarled wood grains, thistles, medieval weaponry, and other new hurdles. Each piece also included a stone setting challenge for me, to set a new shape or try a new style of setting I had never done before (outside of practice of course). Each of these pieces was 100% cut and sculpted from silver sheet and wire, with no casting or computer related design help. Certainly this is far from the quickest method of bringing these pieces to life, but it gave me ample time to ponder each piece’s meaning and enjoy the slow process of creating.