My
predictions really don’t matter ~ what does matter is the fact that I was
intrigued by the story and couldn’t put the book down. I actually stayed on the
stationary bike at the gym for a full 45 minutes because I didn’t want to stop
reading.
Geek
Love follows the
lives of a carnival family. The father has genetically engineered his own freak
show by giving his wife drugs and other concoctions during pregnancy. Each
child has a different abnormality that makes him/her “special”.
When
I read that Arturo, also known as “Aqua Boy” was born with flippers instead of
limbs. I immediately thought of Cynthia
Thornton’s Green Girl fine pewter pendants. I remembered she had a few sea
turtles so I contacted Cynthia and she put a them aside for me to pick up in
Tucson.
Have
sea turtles – now what?
While
taking an enameling class with Joni Kisro I had a brainstorm.
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| Shapes cut with Potter USA's pancake dies. |
Use an enameled
piece as a focal and hang the turtle from it. I went back to Joni’s the next
day after picking up trade beads at the African Market and put my plan in
motion.
When
I returned home, I dug through my stash for coordinating components, decided on
a design and got to work. I haven’t decided on a closure so for now the
necklace is adjustable - just tie the extra long waxed linen wherever you want.
The glass spacers are from Robbie Daly.
Back to Geek Love…
And “the Reds” – The girls who worked the midway
and ticket booths all had to have red hair, natural or otherwise. I wanted to
play off of that somehow. Strolling through To Bead True Blue, I paused at the Woman Shops World booth. Maybe they had sari silk or ribbons I could use.
Then, there they were ~ tassels!
And I
found little red crystals to match from African Gems.
I had it
in my head that I wanted to crochet a really long wrap around necklace.
(Cynthia Thornton was crocheting necklaces with some sort of fiber while I
chatted with her.)
But, alas, at that point I was back in North Carolina snowed in and had to make do. 30 gauge brown Parawire worked perfectly. (yes, another Tucson purchase!)
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| I am seriously obsessed with this clasp I created! |
Just for fun I put together a few pair of coordinating earrings.
If you haven’t read Geek Love, you should!
You
should also visit the other members of the group and perhaps think about
joining us next time!
Andrew Thornton and Laurel Ross Andrew's blog will give you more info about the group.
