Serruria aemula

After a long silence, here is another design : Serruria aemula, or the Strawberry Spider head. It had been a long time that i wanted to feature proteas since hundreds of different ones ornate the fynbos of our beautiful South Africa. Proteas are magnificent, every single one, when i come across one of them i immediately have this fantastic pattern unravelling in my head. During a visit in the Western Cape we stopped in the fynbos around Franschoek, Greg had to drag me back to the car. I had found yet another one i didn't know!

I chose this protea in particular because not only it is stunning, it is endangered.
Apparently there are only 1000 or so survivors.
The habitat of the plant has been dramatically reduced by farming and urbanization.Veldfire is extremely necessary to the life cycle of the plant (triggering the germination) but regular "man-made" fires have a negative effect since the plant has no chance to produce a significant store of seeds. And if it was not enough, the indigenous ants that carry their seeds underground are now in competition with another type of ants from Argentina. It seems immigration is never exempt of problems. By the way, after five month of waiting i finally have my visa! Yeah, i am legal here! No, i won't neglect the local flora, promise! I'll help with crochet-propagation!

Serruria Aemula

The necklace of the same name

 The necklace was sold as it was coming out of my workshop... I miss my Serruria.... i've started another one in the same vein!

Serruria on a rock

For more info go to :
http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantqrs/serruriaaemula.htm

Nymphea

Now that my dear friend has received her box of goodies (errrr, long time ago!), i can disclose one item : the Nymphéa Kink! Kink because it is actually the name of that fantastic pattern (see Knitty.com), and Nymphéa because i used a ball of cotton yarn that i hand-dyed and it did look like the paintings of the same name by Monet.

Nymphéa on Angel

Earth's Tears

The early planet was covered in volcanoes. These had a major effect on earth and helped to create the atmosphere. Volcanoes have fascinated mankind for millennia. The Ancients held the explosions of molten rock and gases to be the work of Vulcan (Roman version of Greek Hephaistos) forging away in his lava den. Johannes Kepler believed that volcanoes were the tear ducts or Mother Earth.




What a beautiful metaphor indeed. The tears of Mother Nature, her lava tears hardening and shaping our land, sometimes an underrated basalt, sometimes a coveted diamond..... I like to think Mr Kepler was right.

Some cheeky people will say that lava tears, like woman tears, are unpredictable... But remember : "the Kabbalah teaches that the female is more sensitive because her soul is more connected; that’s why she cries more, that’s why she understands more." (Rabbi Asher Jacobson in an interview about the Star of David, Shekinah and the Kabbalah)

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Ondine

Ondine is actually the second piece of a series of necklaces that are crocheted on the same theme. It was made for a friend's 40th birthday, and it can be said that if she was a necklace, she would be Ondine. It was the colour of her eyes that triggered my choice of colours. They're not green, they're not blue, they are a true "aqua", like the eyes of Athena in Odysseus.

Aquamarine stones were lurking in a corner of my treasure box and naturally found their way into the loops of my yarn.

When i looked at the necklace, it looked like a waterfall, the perfect gift for a mermaid!

Barringtonia

During one of my trips to Durban city, i stumbled upon a beautiful tree. I had to stop and drive back to the spot!
Fluffy flower... that's what i googled, and here it was, my fluffy wonder!

Needless to say i immediately planned a necklace featuring it. A bit more research told me its name was Barringtonia racemosa, and that it was, in fact, a mangrove tree. Durban being such a humid place, the tree likes it and grows there, even though its feet are not in water, but in concrete (go figure Nature). For more info go to http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantab/barringrac.htm.

Oh, yes, and it does look like the designers of the world of Avatar could have been inspired by it for the "pure spirits of Aiwa"

What if you could wear them?

The finished necklace

The barringtonia flower and a blossom

That's all for today!

I can't see clearly now

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Passiflora

I have designed a few necklaces since my last post, but i wanted to share this design first.

I have been wanting to make a bridal head-dress for a long time, but i just wasn't sure what flower to use, apart from the orange blossoms which symbolizes purity (virginity). I came across the passion flowers and there was no doubt it was destined to adorn a bride. The symbolism of it is very rich :
When the Spanish conquistadors came across it in South America, they saw in it the symbols of the Passion of Christ (yes, with a long stretch of the imagination, they saw the whip and the thorns in the centre of the flower). The sad bit of the story is that they used it a sign from God that they were allowed to conquer the land. And therefore kill anyone who stood in their way. Hence its name, Passiflora, the flower of Passion.
To the Incas, it was the Vine of Souls, to the Mayas, it was the Vine of prophecy, to the Aztecs, it was the Healing Vine... for more info in a very detailed and very well research text, go to http://www.paghat.com/passiflorasymbolism.html.

Coming back to my design, i loved the intricacy of the passion flower.

Let's add to the orange blossoms (virginity, purity) a pinch of passion, a sprinkle of soul and a spoonful of magic!

 The Passiflora (well, one of them, there are so many with such beautiful colours, they look as if they are coming straight from Paradise)

 Orange blossoms... fresh water pearls....

Et voilà Passiflora!

 

[edit] My father just told me that there are more than 500 types of Passiflora!