Out With The Old, In With The New
So, I've been wearing the same pendant for 8 (maybe 9?) years now. I got it at a souvenir shop in Maine (called appropriately enough, Maine-ly Maine) for $3. According to the little card that came with it, the Nordic rune "eihwaz" is the "primary rune of defense and protection from harm". Now, I don't expect three-dollar pendants to be bastions of historical accuracy, but I liked the idea of it, and my response to the question "Does it work?" (had it ever been asked of me) would have been, "I'm not dead yet."
Anyway, I wore it for a long time on different cords and I think a chain for a while. Most recently, and for the longest duration, I've been putting it on a piece of hemp until it gets skanky and then I cut off the hemp and replace it.
Now, it started out looking like this.
But now, it looks like this:
Or maybe you can see better in this one how the jump ring has just about worn through the pendant to the point of bendyness:
So, now I need a replacement for the sole piece of jewelry that I wear, and I start thinking about what I'd like. I eventually decide on a cat's paw type thing, and start looking for that. In my searches, I find lots of "paw"s that are just a circle pad with circle toe pads (in other words, generic animal paw representation). I also find that on Etsy, you can request custom items. So I sit down (I was totally already sitting) and think "if I could have any pendant design I wanted, what would it be?" I came up with the idea of two cat's paws, one slightly larger than the other, with the bigger one for Ringo and the smaller one for Lady.
Which was artfully made by talented Etsy artist KDemARTe:
And it is so very perfect, with the big goofy Ringo paw and the small dainty Lady paw, and now my missing* kitties can be with me and keep me safe.
*Okay, so technically they're not "missing" in that I know exactly where they are (on top of the bookshelf in the boxes I made for their ashes and artifacts), but you know what I mean.
Anyway, I wore it for a long time on different cords and I think a chain for a while. Most recently, and for the longest duration, I've been putting it on a piece of hemp until it gets skanky and then I cut off the hemp and replace it.
Now, it started out looking like this.
But now, it looks like this:
Or maybe you can see better in this one how the jump ring has just about worn through the pendant to the point of bendyness:
So, now I need a replacement for the sole piece of jewelry that I wear, and I start thinking about what I'd like. I eventually decide on a cat's paw type thing, and start looking for that. In my searches, I find lots of "paw"s that are just a circle pad with circle toe pads (in other words, generic animal paw representation). I also find that on Etsy, you can request custom items. So I sit down (I was totally already sitting) and think "if I could have any pendant design I wanted, what would it be?" I came up with the idea of two cat's paws, one slightly larger than the other, with the bigger one for Ringo and the smaller one for Lady.
Which was artfully made by talented Etsy artist KDemARTe:
And it is so very perfect, with the big goofy Ringo paw and the small dainty Lady paw, and now my missing* kitties can be with me and keep me safe.
*Okay, so technically they're not "missing" in that I know exactly where they are (on top of the bookshelf in the boxes I made for their ashes and artifacts), but you know what I mean.