Whale of a Tale. Pendant. 28/28.

Back on track today and all up to date with this piece made in the early hours of the morning when it was still too hot to sleep. I mentioned yesterday that the heat was taking a toll on me. By this morning, I was feeling really unwell with it. What does one do when Perth is sweltering in 42C heat and humidity?
Given the opportunity, one heads South.

Albany, on the South coast of Western Australia. The place I spent the first 12 years of my married life and where all my children were born. Not my place of origin, but my spiritual homne in so many ways.
The place I discovered my creativity and first dared to dream I might one day be an artist. The seaside haven where I saw my first whale, up close and moving wild and free in the waters just alongside of where I stood looking out from the rocky shoreline. The only place I've ever lived where the climate suited me - and the first place I think of and inevitably begin to yearn for the moment the weather wherever I am starts to bring me down.

One can dream, or one can drive. It's a 5 - 6 hour trek from where I now live. So dear and close in the memory, so very far by road on a day of oppressive heat, when the sky weighs down upon the heads and shoulders of hapless humans who must for any reason venture out of doors, beating a violent tattoo on a weary and aching body. It's days like these when the humidity renders evaporative cooling ineffective, when the energy is at its lowest ebb and everything just seems too hard to deal with, that I long for that place I still think of as home, despite almost 13 years away from it, and even though I spent my first 17 way further North, in the sweltering WA Wheatbelt.

So, in the spirit of that place which calls to me in all my deepest dreaming, and in keeping with my pledge to try more circle based designs, I give you this stylised rendition of the natural totem of the place, with thanks to Rowan, who helped take my idea from a pathetic scribble I couldn't get quite right and turned it into something worth trying to replicate in metal.

 

Whale Tail Pendant. Sterling silver, rubber cord.

The texture you see is from use of my chasing hammer, which I must confess was not part of the original plan. In hindsight, I probably should have started with at least 1.5mm wire for the outer circle instead of 1.2, and I could have been a little more careful with my soldering. The wire was slightly marred at one point on the outer circle when I made the last join. It was a ridiculous time of the morning and I was far too tired to countenance starting over, so I filed and sanded and hammered away, which covered the worst of the faults, although clearly the circle is no longer perfectly circular. Not to worry. This, as with all the others in the challenge, is a prototype piece. Perhaps I'll do it over, with some variations on the design, and with more appropriate choice of materials, at some future time. For now, it stands as my challenge piece for today, and the symbol of my longing for escape to someplace cool to refresh body and spirit.