Let Go of the Devout and Feel Divine

This necklace was made utilizing centuries-old chainmail techniques and using aluminum and steel rings, freshwater pearls, hematite beads, a piece of sea glass, a shark tooth, and labradorite and amethyst pendants. This piece utilizes six different chainmail weaves in total and took upwards of 40 hours to make.

I wanted this necklace to represent one’s journey from Antimai to the holy city of Sunya. The very top band of the necklace is made of a chainmail weave called byzantine, and woven into the structure are pearls and hematite beads.This structured, rigid band represents Antimai, with the rings so strongly enforced and the continuous pattern of the band representing the order in that society.

However, directly below this band, we find a shark’s tooth and twisted, overlapping, and dangling chains. These represent the wastelands, with their unpredictability and lack of order. The shark’s tooth represents the marauders found in the wastelands and their savage, animalistic way of life.

We then move on to the lower band of the piece. The purple-gray chain on the outside is made of a weave called barrel weave, and this is meant to represent the Bazaareteria and how it is the divide between the Wastelands and the Glass Desert. It offers the viewer a brief respite between the chaos of the two bands.

However, in the center of the lower band, we come across a piece of sea glass, suspended in chainmail using a weave known as 2 in 1. This glass represents the transition into the Glass Desert. Then, if we follow the chain outwards from that pendant, we find crystals attached to piece, representing the crystal forms mentioned in The Glass Desert I – Giants. Similarly, there is a chain of rings interlinking one another using a technique known as a mobius; these swirling rings represent the storms found in the desert.

Finally, our eyes travel further down, past chains made of both the turkish round and byzantine weaves, representing the long journey through the plains, where we finally reach the bottom most pendant, a metal triangle with an amethyst crystal resting over it, representing Sunya, as well as the Indigo Child.