Winged Phallus

Phallic amulets were often hung in doorways of Roman houses and shops to protect against evil spirits; the amulets often had bells attached to them, the sounds of which was also believed to ward off evil. Amulets of bronze, brass, coral, bone or gold in the shape of a phallus were often worn as rings or pendants by both children and adults as protection. As well as offering protection against evil, the phallus was also used as a symbol of prosperity and fertility.

The phallic symbol is linked with the god Priapus, who was always depicted with an exaggerated erect penis. Images of him were popular in wall-painting and as bronze statuettes. As well as being considered a protector of property Priapus was the god of the fertility of gardens and farms.

It was after a trip to Naples and visiting the National Archaeological Museum; I was inspired after going into the Gabinetto Segretto (Secret Room) where all the 'adult' sculptures, mosaics and winged phallus' were kept, including the well known Pan and Goat sculpture.
This phallus was hand sculpted, cast in resin and painted with a glass paint; the wings were silvertone and were attached so that they hung loosely and had some movement to the piece. I had seen these mother-of-pearl beads that I thought would look quite good to attach the winged phallus to the memory wire choker.

A Bloody Accident

‘The chief enemy of creativity is good taste’ Picasso

Often the case with me is I like to incorporate ideas that go against the convention, which is why I made this pendant.
The idea of wearing a shard of cracked glass that has blood through it appealed to my sensibilities. I like the idea of ‘beautifying’ or hyper-stylising what conventionally would be dangerous, mundane or abject.

I remember being quite impressed with the Gaultier designed dress for Almodovar’s film, Kika.

For her 1995 Vive La Cocotte autumn/winter collection, Vivienne Westwood designed this beaded dress and jackets; the jacket detail had beaded 'blood' dripping from a slash on the jacket, unfortunately the side where the slash is, is cut off from the photo.

The idea for the necklace had originally started off as a broken mirror, but I was having difficulty creating a cracked, reflective surface to embed in the resin.
The 'blood' is a crimson glass paint that I let seep into a cured resin shape that was cracked- I covered the piece with masking tape to make sure that all the broken pieces stayed relatively close to each other before breaking, as I didn't want to spend time on a resin 'jigsaw'!
I then let colour dry before embedding the shape into the original mould with more resin. The pendant was then attached to a nylon coated wire with red bead 'blood drops' threaded on to it.

On the subject of the abject, during a hot day, I remember seeing a dog crap that was absolutely covered in green bottles; quite a disgusting sight but at the same time it was also quite pretty!
I tried to recreate it to for a photograph, parodying a home shopping channel’s jewelery segment.
NB It wasn’t real crap, it was a mixture of cat food and chocolate and I only got a couple of fly visitors-they obviously prefer the real stuff!

Mojo

Mojo
1. A magic charm or spell.
2. An amulet, often a small flannel bag containing one or more magic items,
worn by adherents of hoodoo or voodoo.
3. Personal magnetism; charm.

Mojo is a term used in the African-American folk magic called hoodoo. Mojo is traditionally a magic charm in the form of a flannel cloth containing botanical, zoological, and/or mineral curios, talismans and such like; the contents of a Mojo always numbered 3, 5,7 or 9. Once the mojo had been prepared it was ‘fed’ regularly with an appropriate anointing oil to keep the magic working. Mojos or mojo hands were then carried about the person to bring luck, avert the evil eye, gambling or love success.

This Mojo necklace was inspired by the symbolism that is often associated with hoodoo and voodoo (voodoo is a religion and a different practice from hoodoo). It was one of the first pieces that I made and I wanted it too have an old rustic and worn look about it. I couldn't guarantee that the magic will work but at least it’ll look good to wear!

Moon Rabbit

I'm a huge fan of rabbits; I used to have one named BunBun, I'd had him since he was just 10 weeks old. Unfortunately there came the time came for him to cross the Rainbow Bridge, I really was so heartbroken.
I ended up getting a tattoo as a memento because he was a such a special pet to me.




It's no surprise that I like the Buddhist story of how the rabbit shape came to appear in the moon, it’s such a poignant tale, and inspired me to make this pendant of a rabbit in front of the moon.
The rabbit was hand sculpted, cast and set in resin; against a moon made from an iridescent craft cellophane (the type they use on gift wrap bows) The moon craters were created by painting a thin layer of glass paint behind the cellophane moon, then dripping water droplets onto the paint while wet.

The 'Rabbit in the Moon' tale tells of a monkey, an otter, a jackal, and a rabbit who were friends. Together they resolved to practise charity on the Uposatha day (the day of fast), that was to occur on the following day. In the tradition it was believed that one who stood fast in moral practice and alms-giving on that day would earn a great reward.
When an old man begged for food, the monkey was able to gather fruits from the trees, the otter was able to gather dead fish from the river bank, the jackal wrongfully pilfered a lizard and a pot of milk-curd from somebody’s house. The rabbit, wanting to offer something acceptable to the man, was only able to gather grass, and therefore offered its own body instead, and threw itself into a fire that the man built.
The rabbit however did not get burned. The old man then revealed himself to be Śakra, and being touched by the rabbit's virtue, drew a picture of the rabbit on the moon to be visible to all. It is said that the smoke-like substance surrounding the lunar image is the smoke that rose when the rabbit cast itself into the fire.

(Adapted from Wikipedia )

This was another rabbit pendant that I had made, I gave it the title A Drop of Happiness (a bit schmaltzy, I know!) It was yet another fiddly exercise-gluing tiny handmade cherry blossoms on to a small twig!