Tribal

When I saw that this month's challenge for the Polymer Clay Smooshers had the subject "Tribal", I felt a little clueless at first. It might have to do with the fact that the word "tribal" used in German usually means a special style of tattoos.

The idea for my first piece came from an online game. Who would dare to say inspiration can't come from about anywhere? Not me for sure. The game was about archeological finds and this is what came out of it.

It would be wrong to say I was inspired only by that game, though. The netting part, done on fangs, even if these are made from polymer clay, practically cries out Delia Stone. Thanks Delia!

"Rulaman" fang polymer clay earrings

The second piece was a mix of inspirations. I wasn't sure what kind of animal I wanted to use, a bear, a polar bear, a wild cat ... so I started to cut the clay and it ended up as an anteater. I love anteaters, so I was quite happy with that, too ;-)

The rope coming with the pendant is crocheted from gunmetal colored wire with seed beads going all around.

Tribal "Anteater" necklace

This challenge took me back to one of my favorite childhood books, "Rulaman".

As you may or may not know I live in Southern Germany, in Swabia. In our area there are a few very cool caves which as children we of course had to visit, with family or on school field trips. In 1878 David Friedrich Weinland, a Swabian zoologist and author, wrote about those caves when they were still inhabited. My godmother gave the book to me and I can't say how often I have read it since then. Cavemen, fights with cave bears and lions, burial rituals (one fight didn't go so well), hunting descriptions, summer trips to the lake to stock up on fish, the first Cromagnon people arriving, all that was described in such vivid language - and on top the fact that it could have happened just like this where now I lived .... wow.

The book is still published today, by the way. Just saying ...