Age of the Golden Illustrators cabochon necklace finished - Lirope the Bright

Lirope the Bright

Meet Lirope the Bright, a woman of unparalleled beauty and magical powers!

I was so excited when I came upon a source for collage sheets of illustrations from my favorite artists who painted during the Golden Age of Illustration. I love getting lost in the stories and the characters come vividly to life in my imagination, spurred by these gorgeous images. To be able to design something to wear from their gorgeous illustrations is a true treat.

One of my favorite artists from that time is Warwick Goble, who immortalized Lirope for us all in his illustration for the poem, Lirope the Bright, in The Book of Fairy Poetry, published in 1920. Isn't it fantastic that we have free access to some of the greatest and most beautiful works of all time online! Openlibrary.org is a wonderful resource for reading, especially before bedtime.

Here's an excerpt from the poem, Lirope the Bright written by Michael Drayton -

"What form she pleased each thing would take
That e'er she did behold;
Of pebbles she could diamonds make,
Gross iron turn to gold.
Such power there with her presence came
Stern tempests she allayed;
The cruel tiger she could tame,
The raging torrents stayed."

I love that Lirope was not only beautiful, but also full of gentle strength. What a wonderful ally to keep close.

Necklace is made of double strand seed beads and crow beads

In this image, Lirope is holding up a jelly fish, whose tendrils turn to jewels at her hand, so I pulled out the deep brown color of her hair, the soft pink of her dress, and the iridescent greens of the ocean (because in the full image she's sitting on the sand by the sea) for the peyote stitched border and the fringe on this piece. As I stitched the border around the cabochon I chose pearl colored beads to echo the pearls she's holding, and sea green ones to echo the colors of her jelly fish.

Fluffy fringe whose pattern changes with the wearer's movement

Her fringe includes sparkly Swarovski crystal beads in soft pinks, sea greens, and emerald greens. Pearl colored seed beads accent the dark browns, again echoing the pearls that Lirope is holding.

Here's how the back looked when I first began.

And here's how the finished back looks with soft forest green ultrasuede.

Starburst pattern pulling out the colors in the image surrounds the cabochon.

She'll be on display for the month of November at the Bellefonte Art Museum, then available on Etsy at Dreamkeeper Creations.

Length of necklace - 21 inches

Total length of necklace to tip of fringe - 26 inches

Here's to celebrating beauty and strength, one of my favorite combinations!

Namaste,
Jen