The Etsy Beadweavers September 2013 theme is "My Favorite Song" and I had some gorgeous pieces of Rhodocrosite that reminded me of an awesome two-tone pink Chevrolet my parents drove when I was a little girl. It was Champagne and Dusty Rose and I thought it was SO COOL! I wanted to use those cabs, and somehow the song "Pink Cadillac" popped into my mind.
I had a chat with my BFF Google Images, and found several juicy places to start. I went first to a caddy of my own vintage, 1953, but that was not recognizable. I must have been too young. :) But when when I got to the later 50's, I found things I remembered! I felt that using vintage cars could help me avoid the Mary Kay association, which I wanted to avoid. I find I am at my best when I am working with ideas that have meaning in my own life. The vintage cars just felt right to me.
I tried to think, what about a car is worthy of jewelry. The whole front end seemed to be full of great ideas. I loved the grille, so started with that.
I absolutely ADORED the bumpers. They were shaped like bullets, or maybe bombs, and I made a couple tries at them. They looked like breasts to me, or my own first circle-stitched bras, and this made me laugh, but they were not quite the right image!
I tried to think, what about a car is worthy of jewelry. The whole front end seemed to be full of great ideas. I loved the grille, so started with that.
I absolutely ADORED the bumpers. They were shaped like bullets, or maybe bombs, and I made a couple tries at them. They looked like breasts to me, or my own first circle-stitched bras, and this made me laugh, but they were not quite the right image!
According to wikipedia, the song (as written) is not really about a car. And the lyrics bear testiment to that. Bruce Springstein meant it as a metaphor for sexual activity. I didn't really want to go there! I loved the Natalie Cole version, which was a chart topping cha cha at the time I worked as a professional ballroom dancer. She WAS talking about a car... So out with "the boss's" breast images, and in with the ones that looked more like lipsitck to me. Those are cherry quartz.
Then I thought the license place had a pendant quality. SO time for the Rhodocrosite cabochon. And I remembered fuzzy dice, and I think that figured into the fringe I created!
And there there were those funky hooded headlights, which I thought were pretty amazing too!
But these, I just could not use. When I put them in place, the whole thing took on a disturbing doofy face identity, and that was NOT what I wanted. It is one of my personal pet peeves in jewelry, in fact. So instead, I created a hood ornament/logo component, with the underlining V shape and the cadillac crown image, loosely defined.
