Mythology

For me the first myth when I got to meet mythology was why the "Reader's Digest Book of Fairy Tales and Myths" started on page 732 and didn't contain any fairy tales. Well, forgive me, after all I was just a small child. I never found out if my godmother also owned the other volume.

I didn't mind because I loved this book. Prometheus and the Cyclops, Aeneas and Mucius Scaevola, Baldur and Loki, Siegfried und Kriemhild, they were all there. I read it again and again.

So when the poll closed for the Polymer Clay Smooshers' challenge with the result "Mythology", I was really excited. The only problem was it was so hard to decide what to choose.

I stuck with the Greeks for my entries.

One of my favorite stories ever was the one of Philemon and Baucis, the old couple who showed hospitality to the Gods when none of the rich people in their town did. The rich people got a flood and Philemon and Baucis got their home changed to a temple whose custodians they were until their time came. One of their wishes had been that none of them should survive the other, so when it was time, they were transformed into a pair of intertwining trees.

To honor that beautiful end I made a pendant showing the intertwining trees with the plate being from polymer clay and the bezel from wire crochet.

For my second piece I chose another one of my favorite characters - Medusa. The gorgon lady had been a beauty, but after flirting (and more) with the wrong man, Pallas Athene changed her into a hideous creature just like her sisters were. She was the only mortal gorgon, but she had a valuable weapon. One look at her hair made of snakes, her sharp eyeteeth, her long tongue and her glowing eyes turned people into stone.

Perseus finally defeated and beheaded her, being protected by a mirrored shield.

My Medusa is made from a polymer clay face cab which I caught in a wire crochet bezel onto which I added little wire snakes with their tongues sticking out. I attached the head to a barrette blank, something new for me. I can imagine wearing that very well - I might have to make one for myself ;-)

Both pieces are in my ArtFire studio now.
By the way, there is still my sale going on, 20 % off everything!