My nebula pendants began as simple black domes as described in my last
article. I felt that they represented nebulae the best I could imagine
at the time - and I still think some of these simpler pendants do best
represent the photos I have seen, sent back from Hubble and other space
telescopes.
One pendant I created was based on a panoramic view of the infra red sky
showing all the galaxies outside of the Milky Way. This really wasn't
one for carefully placing a few micro beads as the image was full of
stars and galaxies and nebulae. Again, it was a dome of black clay with
a white streak of clay and Adirondack Ice Cap alcohol ink and many
micro beads and was quite startling to look at.
I also did a smaller pendant around the same time called 'Black Hole' because it was my representation of what I imagined a black hole to be like - except I suppose it should really swallow up the pendant if it was anything like realistic.
Another one which was a bit more 3d than just a dome was one I called 'Starburst' as it was how I imagined a star to come to birth - emerging from the dark, gaseous mass of a nebula - again very far from reality, I have no doubt.
A final one which was just a bit more 3D was a photo I saw called 'The Gates of Heaven'. They were apparently huge pillars of gas in the cosmos. After some research, it would seem that the photo I saw is a fake using some clever graphics, but the idea inspired me and so I did my own take on 'The Gates of Heaven'.
I did two pendants loosely based on actual nebulae. The first was the 'Crab Nebula'. I knew this was going to be a tough one to do and for once I wasn't wrong. It is a spectacular nebula, but extremely difficult to even approximate in polymer clay - despite using translucent clay and liquid clay to try and capture the ethereal quality of the centre of the nebula.
The second based on a real nebula was the 'Tarantula Nebula' pendant. With this one, I was more interested in trying to capture the beautiful colours.
A follower from Australia challenged me to try and do something representing eternity. Now eternity is such a mind-blowing concept that it is hard enough to get your head around, let alone to even begin to represent it in some form of art jewellery. I decided I would do a set, but rather than being domed, it would be concave and I would try and represent stars and nebulae being sucked, whirlpool-like, into total blackness. I did the pendant by making an open-fronted hollow cabochon and inside were two circles of clay as I wanted stars to show at different levels within the piece. On the whole I was very happy with the pendant, if not quite as satisfied with the accompanying earrings, but then it is very rare that I am fully satisfied with anything I do. Such is the burden of being a perfectionist when one is anything but perfect.
The next nebula piece I made which was also more three dimensional I called the 'Warp Nebula'. My vision was to attempt the cloud like nature of nebulae, but with a large star appearing to be floating in the middle of the said nebula. The pendant was pretty tricky to make and, as it turns out, even more tricky to photograph in order to show the curving depth of the piece - and to prevent it from looking reminiscent of a cat's face - which it was reminiscent of when photographed from certain angles, but looked nothing like in reality.
It had been almost a year since I have made a nebula pendant or set before I revisited them again The subject, this kind of jewellery and the technique just fascinate me. There is so much potential with this jewellery - not only with colours and patterns, but with the 3D possibilities and I love that aspect.
Most of my recent ones have returned to the simple dome approach, but this time with holes or grooves sculpted into the domes or with protruding clay to give the illusion of stars shooting out of the piece. This was the first ...
I created another called 'Birth of a Star' - imagining a new star to be glowing red and emerging from a gaseous mass. The main star is set back in the pendant and can only be seen from certain angles and I decided to surround it with smaller red stars on the surface or on stalks of clay, as if they had broken away from the emerging star.
The 'Vortex' pendant was another domed one, but with swirling grooves sculpted into it to represent stars being sucked into a deep hole to perhaps form the two larger stars inside. The base clay is Sculpey Premo Accents 'Twinkle Twinkle' - the basis of most of my nebula creations. But as well as the microbeads to represent stars, this pendant also has tiny amounts of fin, coloured glitter so that the pendant sparkles when caught by the light. I love the idea of hidden stars, which are revealed when looked at from certain angles.
The final piece in this post is one I called 'A Universe within a Universe'. I think the name speaks for itself. This was a return to a more concave pendant of the type of the 'Warp Nebula' above.
The nebulae and galaxies photographed by the Hubble telescope and other space telescopes are not actually brightly coloured - or are they? The point is that the photos returned to earth are monochrome and scientists give them the colours so that the eye can see what is actually there. Sometimes these colours are linked to the actual chemical elements and compounds found in the nebula or galaxy photographed. Invariably though, the photos we see are sometimes more filled with the colour of space (the stars and gasses), than the blackness of space - and the colours are often vibrant and startling. This pendant utilises the beautiful Sculpey Premo Accents Purple Pearl quite heavily on the interior of the piece - maybe partly because purple and it variants are my favourite colours! It is just such a beautiful and vibrant colour and I was pleased with the effect and the overall result - and thankfully, someone else fell in love with it too.
There is no doubt that I will return to nebula jewellery time and again. Our universe inspires and amazes me and the photos from Hubble and elsewhere are simply mind-blowing. I don't pretend that my creations can emulate the beauty of this part of creation or the wonderful photographs taken of it, but my hope is that at least some capture the colourfulness and the sense of ethereal gassiness of the cosmos. Besides, sometimes I get an overwhelming and irresistible 'nebula moment' and just have to get it out of my system.
My Nebula Pieces on Etsy
https://www.alancordiner.com
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