Winter is Coming...
©2018 by Cynthia Rutledge
The longest poem to date, created by Nonnus in the late 4th century A.D. through the early 5th century A.D., talks about the daughters of Helios (God of the sun) and Selene (God of the moon). Their daughters were known as the Goddesses or Queens of the Seasons. They were created to guide their father's path across the heavens and they oversaw the flowering and fruiting of the earth. These Goddesses brought to other Gods, and man, many things that were good and desirable. As Nonnus wrote, "So in four portions parted is man's year ruled by these Queens in turn, with Zeus himself, the overseer in heaven".
Each Queen of the Seasons was described in the poem. Spring could puff out her lips and blow a spring wind. She wore a fresh coronet, while she laughed like a flower and fanned through her robe the fragrance of the opening rose at dawn. Summer, the harvest-home season, carried a head of corn with grains and a sickle. She was wrapped in white linen and danced until her face was damp with a dewy sweat. Autumn was leading a dance for an easy plowing. She had yet to produce the fruit of autumn, so her hair was still bound with olive drenches from the waters of the Nile but dry was her body. She was awaiting the time of the wine harvest, waiting for her golden locks to be intertwined with vines and to be drunken with the purple juice of the harvest. Winter was described as wearing a snowy, rain-producing, veil shadowing her face as she sent forth a gleam of subtle light through the black clouds. Encircling her head was an evergreen garland and she was robed in a white circlet of snow covering her frost-rimmed breast.
Winter is Coming…. Is inspired by Nonnus's poem about the Queen of Winter and the jewelry produced during the Hellenistic period in history, which covers the period of Mediterranean history between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire in 31 BC. Hammered gold myrtle, laurel and oak leaves were used as adornment in the form of wreaths or crowns, bracelets and armbands, earrings and necklaces. Jewelry was considered a symbol of eternity, peace and victory as it circled around a head, neck, wrist or finger. The endless circle was customarily used by Emperors and Empresses' of this time to show strength and unity to their people.
A shaped, peyote stitch, torque-style cuff uses multiple armatures to hold the shape and create a domed curve to the cuff. The cuff ends with bezel-set pearl cabochons and a bit of shaping detail. The top of the cuff has a bezel-set CZ and two bezel set pearl cabochons, ending with peyote stitched oak leaves on each side of the pearl cabochons.
Skill level: Intermediate
Dimensions: .75 inches wide at center top by desired length
Workshop length: This is a one-day workshop.
Techniques:
Tubular peyote stitch and a variation
Flat, even count peyote stitch with decreasing
Stitching-in-the-ditch techniques
Bezel techniques