"Pink Cadillac"

 

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!

 

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.

 

 

This was such a fun journey!  I hope you enjoyed it too, and I also hope you will visit our Etsy Beadweavers team blog between the 9th and 15th of September and choose your Favorite Song entry!  My team rocks, and there are many heartfelt and clever beadwoven beauties to look at.