Sun Wheel

(2011) 2" x 2" for the pendant, silver art clay (cut, carved, fired, polished and burnished), bezel wire, silver wire, black star diopside.

This is my take on a traditional Sun-wheel design. The long V-shaped wire pieces stand for the four cardinal sabbaths of Yule (winter solstice), Ostara (spring equinox), Litha (summer solstice) and Mabon (fall equinox), the smaller double spirals indicate Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas and Samhain. At the same time the cardinal points can also indicate the four elements of air for spring, fire for summer, water for fall and earth for winter or the four ages of man - youth, adulthood, middle age and old age.

I patterned the silver disk before drying and firing to give it an old and hammered look, then after firing fixed the bezel wire to hold the stone and the 8 wire shapes around it. The circumference is twisted from two wires to blend the pendant patterns to the viking knit chain on which it is worn.

After re-firing to fix the wires in place I set the stone, antiqued and polished the pendant. I burnished a little to bring out the highlights on the wires and the pebbled surface of the silver