Sunday, October 12, 2008

Bite Me


I had two titles picked out for this Halloween-inspired project - "Love Bites" and "Bite Me". Ultimately, I had to go with "Bite Me" - the name just seemed to have more attitude. Anyway, I've gone gothic this week, with fine silver and Czech glass. This was a really fun project and completely inspired by my participation in Terrorific Tuesday this October (thank you, Alexa!). Furthermore, I created all new beads for this necklace, which I love, even though they are all quite simple in design.

This whole project arose from late night thoughts about how we sometimes use sharks' teeth as design elements in jewelry. I thought to myself, well then, why not vampire fangs? Then I thought, why not vampire fang bite marks? So, I fiddled around and came up with a few simple designs for fangs, bite marks and then I decided to do a simple bone for a toggle closure. Here's a close-up of the fangs:



As you can see, I used knotted leather cord instead of jump rings to string the fangs. I'd like to say that I planned this all along, but in fact, it turned out that I'd made the fangs a little too thick and was unable to attach them to a jump ring. As a result, I had to sit down and come up with an alternate way to string these. I like the way the leather looks - I think it adds character to the fangs. (Although, I have to say, part of me thinks this fang shape would make a great "Flintstones" or "Inuyasha" inspired necklace. Something for the future, maybe.) For the bite marks, I tried various shapes, but in the end, I found that I liked two simple joined circles the best. I filled (overfilled) the center holes with resin that I dyed a crimson color:


Finally, I shaped a simple bone for the toggle:


As far as stringing the piece goes, I had the black Czech glass in my stash already, as well as the small red drops. This past weekend was the local art center's biannual bead show, and I was lucky enough to find the deep red Czech glass beads I used here between the fangs (the beads were marked as "Oxblood" color). For the rest of the necklace, I kept the stringing quite simple so the bite mark bead would actually be visible and reasonably prominent. Of course, the bite mark bead is strung to lie along the side of the wearer's neck.

So there you have it - "Bite Me". Thanks for visiting!

15 comments:

Alicia @ Oh2122 said...

That's awesome!

Bonus, it can be reworn later this year when the Twilight movie everyone is talking about premires.

Melissa J. Lee said...

Thanks 0h2122! Errm, what Twilight movie? Off to Google it! (It's amazing I can make anything that seems culturally current, given how out of the loop I am - nothing but Sesame Street, Blues Clues and Curious George for me right now...)

Alexa said...

Wow. You are so inspiring. Also, vampires are hot again with the new show True Blood. you are on the cusp of trends and youd didn't even know it!

Melissa J. Lee said...

Yep, never heard of True Blood, either! I hope it's not a premium cable show, since we only get basic. The funny thing is, I saw a version of Dracula when I was very young, and it scared the pants off of me - I was terrified of vampires for several years after that. In retrospect, it was a pretty cheesy show, but at the time, I found it intimidating.

Margot Potter said...

This is so cool! I love it! You're so creative Ms. Lee. Everything you do has such wonderful intention and execution.

Fabulous.

Cheers,
Margot

Phyllis Dobbs said...

That's a fabulous necklace! I love the "bite me" title that you gave it - good choice.

Anonymous said...

how bloody clever!!! love it

Melissa J. Lee said...

Thank you, Margot! I'm so glad you like it - I think this roundup has presented a great opportunity to let the imagination run wild.

Thanks, Phyllis! Your avatar is so CUTE.

Thank you, Brenda!

Kat, The Fearless Crafter said...

Drop dead gorgeous! I like the added touch of the leather cord used for the fangs.

Melissa J. Lee said...

Thanks, Kiki! I'm glad you like the leather cord - I was pleased that my design problem turned out well in the end.

Amy @ Living Locurto said...

Very creative!!!

Amanda said...

What an awesome idea! I completely agree with you - the leather definitely adds character. I think the jump rings would have taken some attention away from the fangs.
I love that little "blood drop" dangling from the right fang. (: Nice work!

Contessa Kris said...

Ohhh, yum! I'm so glass you're participating in this group of artists on display! I love seeing your work! Beautiful piece!

Melissa J. Lee said...

Thanks, everyone! This roundup is a lot of fun - I'm already thinking about next week...

Anonymous said...

You are crazy creative!! There will definitely be a few Vamps that will fight over this necklace!! Very Cool!