I posted a preview of Elise's "Felix Necklace" on the Pink Crow facebook page, but I've been holding off on posting more info and pics of this piece to my blog because I wanted Elise to have it in her hands (and around her neck) before I spilled about it in such a public arena. I got a message from her this morning...she got it, so here we go:
Elise and I have been laboring over the design of this piece since last summer...yes, for that long! This piece was discussed and detailed down to the last rivet, and I have to give Elise a ton of credit...she has an amazing eye for detail.
It all started even before little Felix (Elise's son) was born, but after his birth the design took a new turn. She knew this would be such a wonderful way to mark his coming into the world...in essence we birthed a piece to commemorate his birth.
We started off just discussing elements that Elise wanted incorporated into the design. She loved The Circus - Act One, and the elements she found most intriguing were the rolling stars and the gold foil. I thought it might be fun to incorporate just a half-frame of the foil, so the stars could roll behind the curtain and appear and disappear as dictated by Elise's movement.
So I started emailing Elise mockups of the piece, then later once we solidly decided on some elements I began stacking the elements and emailing her shots of what we had at each point of progress:
Elise wanted Felix's name and date of birth on the back of the piece and we discussed in detail how this would be done. We chose an "F" from one of the Vintage French Stock Certificates to begin Felix's name, this would be inside an F-shaped window. I completed his name by sawing the "elix" through the backplate. I also collaged Felix's birthdate into a cutout window with stock certificate elements.
Soon I had all of the elements ready and it was just down to the assembly. I love how this piece turned out and may incorporate the half-curtain concept in future pieces.
Thanks to Elise (and little Felix) for allowing me the opportunity to create The Felix Necklace. I was honored to be able to work with you on a piece that would mark such an amazing day in both of your lives!
-c
