Night At The Acropolis

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    I'm a member of the SRAJD. That's the Self Representing Artist in Jewelry Design if your unfamiliar
    I just discovered that they've started a regular challenge. A monthly theme, and for the really ambitious, weekly sub themes.
    There is a weekly blog post of all the submissions. A winner is chosen from each month's submissions and there is a prize. The monthly prize is a feature on the SRAJD blog. There will also be an annual winner, receiving a trove of jewelry supplies.
    I'm intrigued of course. I could certainly use a little publicity.

    This month's theme is Greek Gods. This weeks sub theme is the God Dionysus.
    Some of the images seem familiar, but I had to do my homework. I'm not up on my mythology, and I didn't know anything about Dionysus.

Arno River, Florence Italy

    When I googled him I discovered that he is also known by the Roman name Bacchus.
    I know Bacchus. I learned about Bacchus when studying up for a trip to Florence Italy back in October of 2004.

Ponte Vecchio, Florence Italy

    He was the God of fertility and wine. He invented wine, and spread the art of tending grapes.
    He was also a patron of the arts. His festivals were a driving force behind the development of Greek theater. The theater of Dionysus Eleuthereus, built in the 6th century B.C. sits at the base of the Acropolis in Athens Greece.
    The last of the twelve Gods accepted at Mt. Olympus, and the only one with a mortal parent. He was the child of Zeus and Semele.
    Semele insisted upon seeing Zeus in his true form. She was instantly burnt to a crisp at the sight of his glory. Zeus rescued Dionysus and stitched him into his thigh until he was ready to be born.


    He was also known as the God of indulgence and ecstasy. Probably most famous for his wild parties.

    After doing a little reading a plan started to formulate and I got to work. A rather ambitious plan, because I could really use that feature for some publicity. Trying to get my work out there and actually sell it.
    Keeping my fingers crossed that all would work out.
















"Night At The Acropolis" - The wine flowed, the music played, and the Gods danced all night long. 

    The lute was forged from copper sheet and wire scraps. Ten separate pieces were soldered together, and then the strings were wired on to create the three dimensional instrument.

    Wrapped in a sea of twirling grape vines, with ruby Jade grape clusters and olive green glass grape leaves..
    Centered between two Lyre, made from heavy gauge hammered copper wire, and wire wrapped with 24 gauge strings.
    Flanked by two sections of Laurel leaf wreath. The twelve laurel leaves were also forged from copper sheet scraps. Soldered onto hammered 6 gauge links with drilled ends

    A laurel wreath is traditionally made with twelve sets of leaves to represent each of the twelve Gods of Mt. Olympus. I used just twelve leaves due to space constraints. One leaf for each God rather than a set.
    The laurel leaves are wrapped in Merlot sari silk. Finishing off the back with the sari silk for a comfortable wear.
    It closes with a hammered copper hook and sari silk loop.
    I am really proud of how this piece turned out.
    I mentioned that it was ambitious, but that was a bit of an understatement. This instrument is so far beyond my skill level. I'm completely blown away that I was able to pull this off.

    Soldering is one of the things I still greatly struggle with. I was completely winging it.
    Not to mention I didn't even know about this challenge until Saturday night. I cant believe I managed to pull this off in two days.
    This might be one of the coolest things I've ever made.

Head on over to the SRAJD blog to see the rest of the Dionysus inspired entries for this week.