These Moon and Sea wooden pendants can take the best part of a day to make. Combining a variety of skills I've honed in joinery, marquetry and silversmithing, I carve and inlay these tiny sculptural forms that embody the majesty of nature. This Moon and Sea Pendant is carved from Ancient Irish Bog Oak from the West of Ireland. It has inlays of rose-cut rainbow moonstone, eco silver starry skies and a realistic atlantic sea. It is hung with a dark brown hemp cord with slip knots.
h36 x w35 x d10 mm
Ancient Bog Oak typically describes the remains of trees preserved for 3,000 - 8000 years (spanning Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age periods I believe) and it is extraordinary tough.
Dark in colour, it's often black for the oldest wood, a result of the chemical interaction between the gallic acid of the oak and iron in the bog waters. As the vast boglands have been inhabited by humans since the Mesolithic age, the Bog Oak has a strange beauty I think because it connects us to the ancient peoples, our people, all those that have gone before us, their land, their stories, their homes, their offerings and ancient pathways and footprints upon our beloved earth.
This Oak grew at a time when Britain and Europe were once covered in ancient forests. To me this is a wonderful vision to bring to mind and to focus on in terms of nature and planting, re-balancing the earth and re-foresting our earth in today's times, for the generations to come. And somehow, the Bog Oak conveys this connection, to our past and the future and all inter-connected things, in every moment, in every realm. And from that we receive, if we tune-in, a knowing, a sense of place in our world, wherever we are. Bearing strength from the heart of the earth, Oak can bring a deep joy, gratitude, steadiness and sense of place that endures through all.
Moon and Sea Pendant - Ancient Irish Bog Oak
* Please note each piece of work is unique and handmade using natural organic materials. There may be small imperfections e.g. tiny nicks in the shell pieces which are part of the natural weathering process, or non-uniform woodgrain, or some making marks as I don't sand and finish to a uniform machine standand. This work is not mass produced but made by the raw energy of a woman's heart and hands. My own cycle informs and influences my woodwork and I try to allow for this too as that is often where the real magic happens - sometimes pieces are wild, other times calm - but they are always lovingly made.