Oakenshield

As you guys may have guessed already, I love high fantasy, science-fiction, and other such whimsical nonsense.  First of all, it is NOT nonsense.  It's...

That aside, I love Lord of the Rings.  Do not start with Elven language and the Silmarillion.  I'm not that heavily invested in Tolkien's works.  I just like mythology and fantasy stories.

Recently, I've been inspired by the Hobbit Franchise that has been buzzing around the theaters.  The costumes for the Rings Trilogy were fabulous, the story was great (read the books first kids), and I enjoyed the characters.  Naturally, I was looking forward to this new franchise for the same reasons.   However, it wasn't until I saw THIS that I recognized that it can be an excuse to make pretty jewelry.

FEMALE OAKENSHIELD!  This picture is by Alexander Turchanin.  Look him up.

I started work on my own 'Oakenshield' inspired artpiece- though, it's decidedly not as mind-bending as this one.  I tried to make use of the rich blues that you see in his costume as well as pick elements that hint at the intricacies of his armor.

Simple, yet forceful.

 The depth and starkness of the crystal in the pendant reminded me both of the planes of his face (specifically his brow and nose) as well as his eyes.  Steely gray against deep blue is a great combination.

 In the various incarnations of the Lord of the Rings franchise, the devil is always in the details.  I picked a pendant that combined simple, unfrilly shapes with some intricacies to make it a bit more special.  You can't have a big, round, shimmering pendant be your artistic representation of Oakenshield.  That's just wrong.

This was fun and easy to make.  Just simple wire wrapping and careful balancing of the elements.  In hindsight, Oakenshield would probably have gone for less crystal in favor of more of that dusky steel, but he's not in charge here.  I am.  HA!  Well.  Happy crafting.