Game of Thrones Jewelry Challenge Reveal 2...

In my last post, I mentioned that the world George R. R. Martin created is abundantly lush with detail.  It'd be easy to spend years creating things inspired by the books and the TV show and not get bored.  That's one of the things that I love about the Game of Thrones world.  It's a believable cosmology that's familiar, but fantastical!

One of the things that is carefully considered in both the books and the show is religion.  Just like our world, there's enumerable paths and each particular dogma has its own particular symbolism.

In the Northern regions of Westeros, many of the people still believe in the Old Gods.  Their church is basically a grove of trees called the Godswood.  At the heart is a Weirwood Tree.  They are trees, that were once prevalent all over Westeros, but were chopped down with the coming of the Andals.  The trees have white bark and dark red leaves.  They also have faces carved into them that were said to be carved by the Children of the Forest, who are basically a faerie race that has a similar history to the Native Americans of North America.  The trees are touchstones to reach out to the Old Gods.

I haven't had too much time, but I love the iconic symbolism of the Weirwood trees and I knew I wanted to make at least something.  I've been working on a commission to create one of my Dreaming Tree pendants.  (I made them a few years ago for a gift exchange.)  I had the mold out, so I quickly pressed out a piece in polymer clay and changed it a bit, adding a leaf texture and a face on the tree trunk.  (CLICK HERE to see the original made out of porcelain and fine silver.)  Once I baked it, I painted it and that's where it really started to look like a weirwood tree.  I make this into the focal of a necklace or just keep it as an ornament.

Stop by Heather's blog to see the links to all the creations made for the Game of Thrones Jewelry Challenge.  CLICK HERE to visit her blog.