The author Martha Wells has risen to fame during the last years for her Murderbot novels, but actually I discovered her long before when stumbling upon the Books of the Raksura, which have the richest worldbuilding I ever saw. It never feels like The Other Mother’s house in Coraline, just enough for a superficial layer, but you always get the impression that you could go deeper and deeper and find more.
For those of you who have not read the books (mild spoilers ahead), the Raksura are dragonish shapeshifters that live in courts, ruled by the reigning Queen, who has one or more male consorts. The books revolve around Moon, a very unusual consort and the adventures of him and his court. The courts are always named after a queen and a consort, often the founding couple of a court.
I’ve always admired fan art, but I’m useless with a pen, so I decided to put my other talents to use and make some earrings. Malicious rumours claim that I have a pair for every day of the year, but those are absolutely not true. I counted them and I will have to repeat them after June 20th. Though, seriously, if any of you fancies a pair, just let me know. Unless it’s my favourite pair, I’m happy to send it to you, since polymer clay always yields several pairs for one design. Anyway, let’s get started.
First, Indigo Cloud, the primary court in the novels
I did a classic swirl here to get the idea of clouds in a blue summer sky. Look at that blue…Next up, Emerald Twilight. They may not be my favourite court, but I think they’re my favourite earrings:
Fake geodes are a lot of fun. Different shades of green as well as translucent clay are wrapped around each other. As you can see, you cannot go small with fake geodes, but gorgeous.
Next one is Opal Night. I wanted to combine black and white with sparkle and I think I succeeded. Instead of cutting the shapes with what’s basically cookie cutters, I used metal bezels to fit the polymer.
This technique allows for small studs, because even though I love the big flashy pairs, they are occasionally not appropriate.
Next is Sky Copper. This was a small slab, so only two pairs. Again, guess my favourite colour…
And last but not least: Sunset Water. Here I wanted to create the effect of sunset being reflected off rippling water. For this I wrapped the blue in orange, rolled thinner, cut in half, put together, roll, cut,…, you get what I mean.
I hope you liked my book inspired collection. Thank goodness, my two passions for crafts and jewelry go together well. Just imagine me just liking one of them…
Anne, Cranky Cat Lady says
Wow! That is beautiful work.
chigau (違う) says
Very beautiful.
Jazzlet says
Gorgeous!