All of my designs start with my comically bad chicken scratch. I’m certainly my father’s daughter- my Dad would sketch things out that made sense in his head, but were not legible to another human, and they always came together beautifully. For example, he made dozens of bookshelves that weren’t particularly elegant, but wonderfully utilitarian, and he engineered them with a lot of precision, that started with some chicken scratch on a piece of paper. I approach jewelry design similarly.
Click on this comically bad chicken scratch to see what this actually turned into! It made sense in my head, and it just took some small engineering tweaks to get it to work. I realized that the horixontal bars could serve as struts to keep the triangular structures in place, and curtail the chaotic spaghetti effect that fringe is notorious for!
I have an idea in my head of what the final piece will look like, and I sketch out a rough idea, sometimes annotating it so I remember what I wanted to put in a certain spot. But it’s often incoherent to other people. In some cases, it’s a pretty straightforward process from sketch to completed piece, whereas in other cases, physics intervenes. Thankfully, time and experience have helped me go, “Wait a minute- the physics of that won’t work!” And then I mull over how I will adapt it. Will I need to go back to square one, or is a simple design tweak adequate, like in the case of the Hoysala Necklace? I never know.
The Gulbadan Necklace, named for Gulbadan Begum, was inspired by Mughal jewelry. My original chicken scratch (see below) was the result of a jumping off point based on that. The design that inspired the Gulbadan was a beautiful three-tiered necklace with some intricate metalwork. I've always loved reading about gutsy women throughout history, whether in museums, books, or as a youngster, in New Moon magazine!
But first- Gulbadan Begum was a powerful woman. She was the only Mughal woman to write a memoir, the Book of Humayun. She was the daughter of Emperor Babur, and she write a candid take on life in the Mughal court. She discussed the intimate details of family dynamics and ceremonies, rather than just broad brush strokes about politics of the time.
Gulbadan Begum also led a Hajj, a pilgrimage, to Mecca, with 1400 other women and stayed there for several years. She didn’t do this until she was 60 years old- she most assuredly had a bold and adventurous spirit- worthy of having this bold necklace named for her!
I tried building that, and it ended up being a mess, and I realized that physics made my vision impossible. I had a three tiered ladder stitch, and I realized that without carefully placed trusses, the whole thing would collapse and fold hither and yon. Womp womp.
The fustercluck necklace sat on my bead board for a couple weeks, and I revisited it- I liked the three-tier approach, with a “spine” of focal gemstones. I sketched out version B- now we were getting somewhere. Although, without careful contemplation, it was liable to have a mind of its own, with strands of seed beads sticking out hither and yon.
Thankfully, Czech bead makers had developed the invaluable two-hole beads, in oodles of shapes, sizes and styles That ensured that strands stayed where you wanted them to. I paired strands and the paired strands shared a two-hole bead, which ensured that it stayed in place. Take a closer look at this strand- that’s some intricate beadwork. This is one of those necklaces where I can’t remember off the top of my head what numbers of beads go in which stitch, so I have a prototype at hand.
That allowed me to say, “OK- so for this stich, we use the ginkgo bead. For the next one, we use the hexagonal bead…” I go the “body” of the necklace done. Although, a lingering issue was that sometimes the tiers were a little akimbo. Ah- a simple tweak- I just added a focal medallion type stone at the base. Ta da!
Not sure how my full vision will behave- this might turn into something awesome, or it might be a chaotic piece of linguine that requires revisiting the drawing board.
I’m currently working on a new collection of pieces inspired by Sumeria/Mesopotamia. This is the first piece, stemming from this sketch. I’m about halfway there- at this point, I’m not sure if this is going to spark joy on the first dry or if it’ll be a flop that will need some marination time and re-engineering. Either way, it’ll keep me occupied as I work through it as a stress relief project as I start my new job.
Why yes- I forgot to mention- as some of you know, I’m starting a new job next month as a tenure track professor of natural resource management. A little daunted, but I’m excited to start the journey towards tenure.
Don’t worry- Tsuga is a great source of stress relief, and my jewelry is not going anywhere. I have too many design ideas! If you’re near Santa Fe, drop me a line!
Cheers,
Grace