Mermaid Crown – A Creative Journey

This is a bit of a departure from my usual blog posts, but it is very much linked to my travels. It is also a journey in its own right , both a journey of a very special piece of jewellery from an initial idea to the finished piece and a longer journey of self-discovery.  

The wider journey started around 2005 or 2006. At the time, I had a serious obsession with a natural cosmetic brand and was active on their UK and North America customer forums. On the North America forum, there was a subforum called Other Brands We Like. This covered mainly small independent cosmetics brands and some small businesses selling candles and wax melts. There was also something called Wearable Sculpture. I was drawn in by the name. I have to admit, if I had known that this was jewellery, I probably would have just passed by. At the time, the only jewellery I wore consistently was my wedding ring. If I felt a little flash, I had two go to pendants that I would alternate. How things change!

Anyway, the name drew me in and people on this thread were sharing their treasures. I really loved what I was seeing. The jewellery consisted of sculpted wire with various semiprecious stones. I kept being drawn back to this wondering what further treasures may have appeared. I also checked out the website periodically and over time, a few pendants joined my collection. I learned that I really liked glass as a medium and that I am drawn to flawed pieces and specifically glass with cracks in it. My tastes were starting to get more unique and sooner or later, I was drawn to larger pieces. With my growing collection, I started to wear a pendant on a necklace every day.

The real departure came when we booked our first cruise. I bought my first cocktail dress in late 2007. This needed a special piece of jewellery to go with it. At the time, Kythryne would run regular instant gratification sessions. The instant gratification sessions were aimed at being able to get simple custom work done at an affordable price. There were two caveats: it could only include materials that she had in stock and the price range was between $10 and $50. I asked for pendant to go with my cocktail dress, which was beige and black. I got a lovely onyx pendant with gold fire polished glass beads as accents. I absolutely loved this, and a seed was sown. Before I ever made it to that first cruise, I got my first evening gown and this of course needed some jewellery to go with it. This required some custom work. I got a gorgeous set consisting of hematite stars and pink and clear fire polished glass. This for some reason was returned to sender without any attempt to deliver it. We were both hoping that eventually would make it back, which it did. In the meantime, Kythryne made another set with blue fire polished glass instead of the pink. This gave me an excuse to acquire another gown to match the new set. Ultimately the original set made it back and was sent out again. 

This was the start of a beautiful tradition. Anything of significance happening in my life? There is some Wyrding Studios jewellery that I wore for the event. From our vow renewal to my citizenship ceremony; from my 40th birthday, our silver wedding to award galas, there is a special piece of jewellery. I am still in the habit of sending photos of my gowns to Kythryne to get matching pieces of jewellery. Fortunately, the same piece of jewellery tends to be a good fit for multiple gowns. Sometimes I just wanted jewellery for a specific theme. Over the years there have been Christmas themed jewellery, a steampunk necklace to go with a Halloween costume, a Pirates of the Caribbean inspired necklace for pirate night on Disney Cruise Line to a 50s inspired necklace for 50s night on Royal Caribbean ships. One of my crazier ideas was commission a jewellery set inspired by the design of one of my favourite Dooney and Bourke handbags.

Although a lot of my special pieces of jewellery are custom pieces, every now and again a piece turns up on the Wyrding Studios website that are so me that they may as well be custom pieces. 

This is kind of where this particular creative journey started. Back in autumn last year, I saw a beautiful piece of jewellery on the Wyrding Studios website called Mermaid Crown. This just felt like it was made for me. I have a deep affinity with anything relating to the ocean and this particular piece was just beautiful. Fortunately, I switched on the brain before I let the heart take over. This beautiful necklace contains vintage coral. Any type of coral needs specialised import permits to be brought into the UK. Not only did that sound like a pain anyway, but this also meant that I could not travel with this, and this was definitely something that was destined to be worn for formal night on cruises. As much as I loved it, this was not going to work.

I gave Kythryne a heads up about this in case another international customer was interested. A while later, she reached out to me wondering if artificial coral would cause any issues. I told her that it would not. She had some artificial coral in various shades of blue. She mentioned that she could do something like the Mermaid Crown for me. She offered that she could try to source different colours. Blue is my favourite colour, and I was fine with this. Around this time, I was getting ready to apply for a promotion at work. I told Kythryne that if I got the promotion, I definitely wanted to talk custom Mermaid Crown.

I hit a roadblock with the promotion, but in February this finally came through for me. After reality had sunk in, I reached out to Kythryne to make concrete plans. Since we had last discussed this, she had looked out for other types of artificial coral including flower shapes. I fell in love with some beads that were a traditional coral colour. Suddenly I realised that I have gown that had been waiting for this necklace. I have a beautiful coral gown that I love. However, whatever necklaces I tried with this, it never seemed to be quite right. I figured this gown as finally getting its necklace.

We were discussing whether we would stick to the shape of the original or if a flat necklace that sits lower above the collar bones would be a better fit. I sent Kythryne a photo of the gown in question and it was decided that it would work better with the second option. Kythryne ordered some of the beads that I had chosen. In the meantime, she raided her supplies and put together a selection of materials that would possibly be included in the necklace.

We were discussing some of the design elements. I chose a mix of silver and rose gold wires. I said yes to a raku octopus, and I picked one from a selection. I said no to Howlite skulls. I could not decide between a medal disk with rhinestones that feature in two of my favourite necklaces and a smaller crackle chandelier crystal. I asked Kythryne to pick for me.

When the beads that Kythryne had ordered arrived, we hit a snag. The peony that Kythryne had ordered had a slight crack where it was drilled on one side. Not only was I worried that this could break, but seeing it next to the other materials, I realised that it was much bigger than I had thought, and I was concerned that it would overpower the whole necklace. Kythryne said she would see if she could get a refund on this. In the end, she actually used this for a different piece that is now on her website.

The next major step was Kythryne finishing the outer frame for the necklace. She added the major elements to this so that I could get an idea what it would look like. There was a green piece of sea glass that was just meant to be placeholder. However, this just felt right. She sent me another photo with different pieces of sea glass that she though would work better, but I had fallen in love with the original piece.

This had a kind of hidden symbolism for me. I never would have thought to include something like this, but at this stage I felt I should have thought of this all along. The main reason for commissioning this particular necklace was to celebrate my permanent contract and promotion with Emirates. One thing that has always fascinated me on my numerous trips to the Middle East is that every piece of art has an obvious “flaw” in it. A lot of the art consists of ornate geometrical patterns that repeat, but suddenly there is a disruption to the pattern. It can be a small area with a different pattern, a plain area in amongst the ornate pattern or a contrasting colour from the rest of the artwork. I thought that adding this piece of sea glass that did not match the overall colour scheme would kind of be like this. It is a deliberate flaw that shows how perfect the necklace is. I felt a little guilty as it felt a little that I was interfering  with Kythryne’s art. However, she was all on board with this. I am so glad that we included this.

I only had one further decision to make, and this is where this piece of sea glass would go. Kythryne sent me a number of photos, but I loved it precisely where it had been on the original photo. With this out of the way, I got a number of progress photos. I loved what I was seeing. The finished piece exceeded my wildest dreams. This had evolved a number of times, but the resulting necklace was just perfect.

Seeing the photos that Kythryne posted on her Facebook page inspired somebody else who decided to commission a cuff bracelet in this style. I was glad that this inspired somebody else. I just love the “family photo” of the original Mermaid Crown and the two pieces that it had inspired.

On my recent cruise, I got to wear this with the coral gown that I had wanted this for. I think it is safe to say that this gown has finally found its necklace. This necklace has really got under my skin. It has been calling out to me ever since we got back. In the end I decided that this necklace is too special to just be worn two or three times a year. I find that it works very nicely with some of the plainer outfits I wear to work.

 

If you want to see more of Kythryne’s amazing jewellery, you can see this on http://www.wyrdingstudios.com