The ABS blog inspiration for the
April challenge was this self-portrait by Frida Kahlo, painted after her
divorce from Diego Rivera and the end of her affair with photographer Nickolas
Muray. The painting depicts Kahlo wearing a white dress with a monkey on her
right shoulder and a cat on her left, wearing a necklace made of thorns and a
dead hummingbird. The thorns dig into Kahlo's skin, making her bleed.
 |
Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird,
1940
|
By Frida Kahlo
Oil on Canvas, 61.25 cm × 47 cm (24.11 in × 18.5
in)
Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin |
I was fascinated by the many
symbolic images in this painting. I was drawn to the brightness of the leaves
in the background, but also to the imagery of the thorns.
At the end of March my bid was the
winning bid for several auctions of ceramic spike beads made by Joan Miller. A
new(ish) Facebook page, Ceramic Art Bead Market, is hosted by a group of talented art bead makers and is available
for anyone to join as a buyer, and for approved sellers to offer their products
for auction.
Some of the ceramic spikes were
used for this necklace.
 |
| Necklace for Frida |
The greenish cast to some of the
spikes, along with the random and different embellishments seemed perfect for
this challenge. I used copper wire, with a steel blue coating that looks black,
for all of the wire elements, from the vaguely heart like squiggle the spikes
hang from to the hook clasp and loop and the smaller wire wrapped around the ribbons.
The loops that hold the pendant piece on the necklace, and that make up the
clasp, have wire wrapped around them for another interpretation of the thorns.
Because I wanted to bring some more brightness to the
overall look I decided to use Cotton Batik ribbons, in green and earthy orange,
along with a green organza ribbon. They were lightly woven together to make the
softest feel around the neck.
I struggled with the final result,
not quite happy with how the pendant portion hangs off of the ribbons, but
decided to post it here anyway. I’ll wait a bit before making any further
decisions.
Now please check
out what everyone else made here.
