Symbols fascinate me, as they do most humans. Symbols are how we explain ourselves to ourselves throughout history. I also love Saami drums, shaman drums, frame drums. Layne Redmond's book When the Drummers Were Women is a good background read on women and drums. Reading about the book, one article reported that an ancient sculpture was identified by an archeologist as "Woman with Cake." Because that's what ancient women did, right? Baked. It's since been identified as a drum. As we reclaim our history, and discuss this heritage, we're also attending workshops and women's circles.

I created this pendant design for a friend's workshop. I called it Woman with Cake (because that's so fun.) If you have ever drawn a mandela, you know the whole-body feeling when you close the art. Warm and bright. That's how I felt when I finished the prototype for this design.

1.618:1 is called the Golden Ratio. It appears in nature often and has been celebrated as the ideal art dimension. In the design also is the vesica piscis, the mathematical (and divine) oval.

It's magic. And the design works well upside down; emulating the flame of taking action, of growth.

I made this piece with 16g argentium silver wire, torched together and then given a slight texture with a phanishing hammer. It's a little larger than the Golden Ratio, but I like her spirit and dimension. She has extra magic.