Some years ago, wandering in the woods of New England, I came
across a coil of barbed wire. It was sitting there on the ground, kind of
mid-use as one end of the wire was attached to a couple of trees.
That it was old was indicated by the fact that one of the trees had grown and enveloped the wire by nearly an inch. This wire was old.
I managed to get that bundle of wire home, for reasons not quite understood at the time.
There the bundle sat. It moved with me from place to place. I don't—didn't know why.
Until I one day realized it was the creativity, the imagination, the ideas...
The artist in me wanted it. I cut pieces off and made little sculptures; twisting,
bending, nailing.
Little ideas though; odd sculptures, too odd for someone to actually put on their wall...
Then, having to clean and scrape the old wire, I'd bend and twist and turn... And then they appeared: Pendants.
Like a sigil they appeared. Bent runes. Yeah. They work. Cool, I thought. Let's make more!
But the old bundle of wire, now a bit less of a bundle, was (still is)
rough to work with. A piece has to soak more than a day in distilled vinegar,
and in some places rust has eaten into the steel and I have to try to smooth
it a with a file here and there... They take hours to make.
But barbed wire is still produced, and I got me a new bundle at a tractor store and had a friend help me carry it's dangerous carcass home.
The new pendants are easier to make, and jewelry making tools and parts are more readily available than ever before.
I make them in a variety of styles—the spice of life they say.
If I soak 'em in vinegar the zinc comes off and the bare, low carbon steel shows and gets tarnished, it's "weathered". I mount them on a chain or a choker; hang them down or connect them horizontal.
I even make hat bands!
So, check out my, ahem, deadstick Etsy store for now, and check back later for more pictures of what I do. Or contact me with the contact form.
Thanks for listening.
