My newest collection, 'Searching for You' is based on the beautiful movements and flighty natures of hares. This collection includes jewellery for both men and women, which is a first for me and very exciting!
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| Preliminary hare pendant designs |
Through research into the animals, I found that every civilisation seemed to have a myth or a legend that revolved around hares:
- In the Western world we refer to the Man in the Moon, but in other societies the Hare (or Rabbit) in the Moon is a more familiar figure.
- Celtic legend says that Eostre, a goddess associated with luna activity, turned into a hare at every full moon, hares acted as a her messengers and were sacred to her.
- A Buddhist legend from India states that Buddha was a hare in an early incarnation, the hare sacrificed itself so that it could feed a hungry beggar. The hungry beggar was actually the god Indra in disguise who rewarded the hares sacrifice by turning him into the Hare in the Moon.
- An Anglo-Saxon myth of a white rabbit that laid coloured eggs at the time of the spring festivals was the basis of the Easter Bunny today.
- In Western Europe, hares and rabbits came to be held in some suspicion due to tales of them being associated with witches. Even in Somerset we had our suspicions, if a hare appeared in a village street, it was said to be a foreshadowing of a coming fire.
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| Watercolour and conté |
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| Watercolour, charcoal and conté |
Rabbits have been the subject of my sketching before and they feature in my drawing August blog which can be found here:
My first design that is coming to life is a bangle. It has been designed to be worn by both men and women as the shape of the bangle is not overly feminine or too masculine, and both ends of the bangle are shaped to be the heads of the hares.
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The bangle
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The bangle is hoping to be ready for the Celebration of Craftsmanship and Design exhibition in August, more details of which can be found here: http://www.celebrationofcraftsmanship.com/Erica_Sharpe.aspx
The rest of the collection will be coming throughout 2014.
Visit Erica's Website: www.ericasharpe.co.uk
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