Spectacular Spirals

I've had spirals on my mind, ever since I received Jenny Davies-Reazor's June Component of the Month charms.  The pair of charms I received had spiral impressions on them.  I designed earrings to emphasize the spiral motif, by echoing it in antiqued brass wire. This got me to thinking about the meaning and history of spirals.

Green Spiral Earrings

Once I began looking around, I started seeing spirals everywhere.

They are found in nature; in animals, plants, weather patterns and who knows what else. This dahlia from our front yard is unfurling in a spiral pattern.

Big Horn Sheep -  Pinterest.

Weather Patterns - Pinterest

Spirals also show up in many cultures, religions, traditions, art and architecture.

Pinterest

Spiral Petroglyph - Pinterest

Buddhist Temple in China - Pinterest

So what about spirals in jewelry both ancient and contemporary?  Here's a very quick sampling of what I found.

Greek gold ring from the 7th -6th century BC - Pinterest

Then skipping blithely through many centuries, I photographed these early colonial filigree earrings in a museum in Oaxaca, Mexico.

And still later, Art Nouveau jewelry was awash in spirals and swirls.

René Lalique - Pinterest.

Which made me wonder about contemporary jewelry. So I decided to make an Etsy Treasury of spiral art beads and components, as well as finished jewelry.  I quickly found that just on Etsy, there were enough spiral pendants and jewelry designs to make a dozen treasuries. I was amazed!

AJE team member, Karen Totten loves spirals.  In fact, here's a peek into her studio earlier this week.  She's a spiral maniac!  These pendants and charms are all works in progress for Bead Fest, August 23-25.  In fact, many of our members' studios are filled with work for Bead Fest, including Susan Kennedy, Jen Cameron, Jenny Davies-Reazor and Diana Ptaszynski.  

Here's a finished piece from Karen.

Hot Coral Hollow Bead

And Diana has spiral ammonites.

Ammonite Pendant 

Kristi has lots of ammonite spirals, too.

Ammonite Bracelet Component

Here's a pretty flower with a spiralling stem from Rebekah.

Rustic Flower Pendant

And I have a necklace with a spiral pendant.

Brown Spiral Pendant Necklace

And if that's not enough, you can check out all these amazing spiral components and jewelry designs in the Spectacular Spiral Treasury that I put together on Etsy.  Enjoy!

'Spectacular Spirals - Part 1' by beadmarie

Spirals are a universal motif in nature, architecture, science, art, religion and mathematics. I found so many handmade art beads and finished jewelry with spirals, that I'll be doing two treasuries with this theme. Enjoy!

Yellow Swirl Porcelain Flowe... suburbangirlbe... $10	Swirl cuff bracelet 316clay $23.9	Round Porcelain Bead Mix Wit... JeraLunaDesign... $20
Handmade Polymer Clay Chubby... KristiBowmanDe... $10	Ceramic charm pair spiral or... jdaviesreazor $10	Little Gecko Lizard bead - S... TreeWingsStudi... $8
Pink and Copper Scoops Neckl... BeadworkbyKAS $95	Copper Swirl Fibula MelismaticArtJ... $38	Lampwork Beads - SueBeads - ... suebeads $30
Porcelain Clay Spiral Textur... MarshaNealStud... $10	Spiral Earth Stone- Black La... Genea $32	Large Copper Swirl Pendant R... SLArtisanAccen... $10
Golden Acorn Glass Lampwork ... LoriBergmann $18	Large Handmade Ceramic Porce... WhiteCloverKil... $9.5	Bronze Age Spiral Toggle Cla... ktotten $18
Earrings Wire Wrapped Bronze... GraceElements $30

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Linda
Linda Landig Jewelry - ArtFire 
Linda Landig Jewelry - Etsy