Father Sun, Sister Moon

Beside runes and nature, another of my passion is Sami culture. The Sami are the indigenous people of the north, they suffered a lot and have been dispossessed of their lands, their ways, their religion and for many years even of their language. Now they are trying to thrive in this world, they are trying not to give up their ways, and I think we could all learn so much from them ( as we could from most of the -few-indigenous groups still existing on the planet. Anyway, a while ago I did some research about Sami's Shaman drums and I could find some images online ( I'm sorry I can't remember which web-site at all ) and loved them, so i started realizing some pendants in polymer clay inspired by those signs. Here the first one I finished yeasterday. It's sun\moon signs and I really like it. It is polymer clay carved, coloured with pastel chalks and polished.

Aegishjalmur or Helm of Awe

One more try at carving. I'm especially happy of the outcome I got this time.
This is Aegishjalmur , or the Helm of Awe, an ancient Norse symbol, whose general meaning is protection and irresistibility in battle. As many mysterious things there's not a real reason why ones feel drawn to something and I really not know why I feel so bound to this symbol at this moment, but as I always do, I just let this feeling flow and this has been the result.

(realized in polymer clay and charcoral medium)

One White Tree - JRR Tolkien

Tall ships and tall kings

Three times three,

What brought they from the foundered land

Over the flowing sea ?

Seven stars and seven stones

And one white tree.

                     (JRR Tolkien)

In the picture a carved pendant I made in polymer clay and charcoral medium inspired by this wonderful poem and original illustration.

Amrâlimê

In this period my main artistic endeavours are aimed in learning new skills on a side ( carving and  woodworking  mainly... ) and including my interests with a few techniques I learned through some online art classes that I took last year. Here a few tries I did with celtic knots, mixed-media art, Khuzdul runes and words.

Amrâlimê is the Khuzdul word for 'my love' or 'I love you'  taken from one of The Hobbit movie, on the lower circle it is written in runes

My first attempt with engraving, not totally satisfied, but I'm trying to be gentle on myself as it was the first try ever with this specific technique.

Credits: sources for all things Khuzdul and Neo-Khuzdul  are Midgardsmal  and The Dwarrow Scholar

Futhark

I finally finished my first set of Futhark runes. I made it with a white polymer clay, not the best choice, but being fairly new to all the carving-burning-sanding process, I'm just trying to refine my skills before trying better and most suitable materials. I'm kinda satisfied, even if the tokens are not perfectly alike and smooth. I like the color I gave, using pastel-chalks. May this set be the first of many more,opening new doors for me.