Some charms are painstakingly created over years, magic and materials carefully selected, crafted, moved into place so very delicately.  Others are made quickly and with desperation from nearby materials for a single-minded hope and purpose.  It is the opinion of some mages that both types of charms can be equally effective.

As happens so often, I was just going through materials and staring at a few of them and then... er, this.  Plus a little story in my head.

A few days previous, I had been playing with polymer clay and the "stone" effects I might be able to get, and then "antiqued" bronze wire, pressed metal wing charms and that copper diamond came in to the picture.  Things happened.  For all the simplicity, I really enjoy how it came out.

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Still very young and unaware of the ways of the world, the seventeenth daughter of Nature decided to take a husband.  There were many years of bliss, until her husband became ill.  When his eyes ceased to see her and his chest ceased to move, she cried out in anguish for her mother's help; but Nature told her this was the way of mortals, and she could do nothing to go against their fate.  Nature's daughter begged the birds to take her soul to her husband's, but they too could not go against the way of things.  Devastated and alone, the daughter of Nature tore apart her wedding dress and began to fashion her own bird, sewn together with her own hair, bejeweled with her own blood, its eyes made from her own crystallized tears held in place by her own wedding ring.  She breathed the breath of life into the bird, and when its wings spread and flapped she begged for it to take her soul to her husband's.  The end of the tale changes depending upon the storyteller, but they generally agree that the bird took her to meet her husband, and Nature would never again acknowledge her seventeenth daughter.

That weird little story was in my head the entire time I was making this... bird-thing.  I just wanted something simple between projects, so of course I wound up with something much more complicated.  It's weird and different and I really wanted to reflect that messy, desperate, grief-stricken emotion that's reflected in the story.  Despite how "messy" it all looks, though, it's still very well put together.  I swear, I could do no less.

All entirely hand-sewn from satin brocade (wow was that an experience) from a not-really-followed vague memory of a pattern I think I may have seen on the internet years ago.  Then I added plenty of glass beads, coated wire, two quartz beads for the eyes, and surely a little insanity all around.  Well I like it, so there.

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Despite appearances, Pyrria is actually quite shy.  She opens up and becomes the life of the party when she's comfortable, but until then she is more than content to explore on her own or find a nice little quiet spot to roost and sing to herself.

Pyre birds are often mistaken for phoenixes by (hopefully) well-meaning but generally easily-distracted or just plain inattentive mages, magicians and alchemists.  They're more closely related to dragons than they are to phoenixes, legs designed for running at high speeds and leaping.  That's not to say they don't fly, of course; they rely more on self-made heated air (in part thanks to the heartstone) to stay afloat than their wings.  There was some, shall we say, "unpleasantness" a while back regarding humans and their inability to keep their hands off sparklies that they proclaimed as their own, hence why pyre birds are rarely seen these days.

Things that I had planned: using "flower" beads for the wings and tail, trying a polymer clay beak, and giving her roadrunner feet.  (Roadrunners are cool, be quiet.)  Things I did not plan: EVERYTHING ELSE.  That said, I'm really quite happy with how she turned out.  My days of chocobo making paying off, eh?

The "heartstone" is a great big lovely goldstone cabochon, and her eyes are green aventurine.  There are many, many beads, both glass and acrylic.  And by some strange miracle, I've only managed to include six Swarovski crystals.  Six!  But I did manage to use ALL of the gold-colored wire I had.  Every last inch.  And quite a lot of silver, too, though that's part of the internal structure.  I had planned to give her a hinged/moveable jaw, but ultimately decided that the initial design would probably wear out far too fast and it was a little too late for a redesign, so... it's set this time.  We'll see if there's a "next time" at some point.  ...I don't want to think about that right now.

Side note: she's also very good with dogs.

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She was going to be another choker. But she insisted otherwise, so... clearly she's got some personality to her.

Perfecting my technique with various materials. And, well, shiny spiders make me happy, obviously. The extremely bright pink beads have a bit of a gold sheen to them, and the black beads are a bit faceted for an extra little sparkle. All in all, this... still took a lot longer than I think it should have, but I'm getting there.

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The real easy-going type.  And why not, really?

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A friend, one of my former voice actors and my former "boss" at a gaming web site liked my little shiny tree. And so I was commissioned for a little sculpture/tree combination to decorate his workspace. This would be the result--and, as usual, it was impossible to photograph well. I did what I could.

This sculpture represents many moments of "argh", and yet turned out beautifully. The larger Swarovski crystals, for instance. When I bought them, I thought they'd be a bit more red than orange, and didn't think they would work--but somehow with the smaller, dark red crystals and the paint job on the little beastie, it all just worked nicely. The tiny crystals were a whole other spontaneous and insane moment of "what if I did this..." that worked out for no reason at all. And then we have the layered paint job on the creature itself, which is actually composed of black, brown, earthy red, copper, bronze and gold in varying degrees. It looks so much better in person. As for that extreme close-up shot of the sleeping creature itself, you can see that it's kind of part of the roots of the tree. I got to the point where I was cleaning pant off and... it just looked good. So I left it. Maybe he's curled around the tree, maybe he's part of the tree. Maybe he's a little... draconic dryad. I don't know, he's just awesome.

The more important point, though, is that the little critter is enjoyed. I hope it's a nice little companion to shiny up the workspace, and also to make people wonder. Even more than usual.

What hatched from that strange gold-flecked egg was not quite a bird, not quite a dragon... well, no one's quite sure what it is, but it's been named Sahale, strongly rumored to be a Phoenix. Certainly Sahale's story is only beginning...

This is the joy of having an enormous amount of "stuff" lying around, just waiting to be used. This little critter started out as, "Hm, I really should make use of this wool... and these eyes..." I hoard because eventually cool stuff will happen, see? The wool is exquisitely soft merino wool from Flights of Whimzy, and the eyes are lovely, sparkly, alive things from Dreaming Tree Studio. As will happen from time to time, I will glance at a pile of things, take an armful, and see what happens.

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This one was began months and months ago, and simply set aside for other things. So I got her finished between projects... and I'm so glad I did. I needed this. I've been wanting to finish her for a looong time. (And yes, those are male peacock feathers--Ryia's still a she. Yes, I can tell. *grin*)

From beak to tail, she's 10.5 inches long. So, a rather small sculpture but SO SHINY. And with a loop in the back to hang on a single nail or tack. Composed of air-drying clay, cruelty-free peacock feathers, acrylic paint (which is actually a mottled blue/purple with lots of subtle gold streaking and a little gold detail), glass beads for eyes, gold-plated chain, gold-plated copper wire, green goldstone (which never shows up well with my camera--those hanging round beads have loads of shiny green flecks sparkling in them), and little glass hang-y beads. I love her but I'd love to find her a good home and someone who would give her a history, too. ...And maybe... make some more of a similar nature. It took me forever, but I really enjoyed this.

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