New SciArt Necklace

As I’ve said before, I like to challenge myself to make a new major piece at least once a year. This year’s piece is entitled In the Blood, and it appeared for the first time as part of my offereings for the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair in July. It incorporates some of the elements that I have been using, in a new way, and on a bit of a larger scale. My thoughts were about blood circulation and the movement of cells through the body via the vessel “highway”, particularly red blood cells and the prominent role of macrophages in the landscape of immunology research at the moment.

An early stage of construction

I love green tourmaline, and the colour green in general, and it’s been a while since I used any cabochon gemstones (flat bottom, usually no facets) recently, so when I came across these little beauties, I decided green it was!

The final piece: an off-shiny finish on sterling silver, with the central hand-cut hollow form filled with green needled felt and two green tourmaline cabochons.

I’ve used a bit of artistic licence here, the tourmaline set dishes are meant to represent red bloods cells, but of course, human red blood cells don’t have nuclei (although , fun fact, chicken red blood cells are nucleated!).

some sense of the scale, modeled by my lovely colleague Alexis!

A closer look at the central pendant

I was really pleased with how it turned out. Of course, I’ve already started thinking about my next large piece—I think it’s going to involve a LOT of hammering, and I’m thinking bangle……so, I should get on that!

If you love this piece as much as I do, just pop me a message to find out more. Also, if you have any questions related to immunology, I’m always up for a chat!