Art elements November theme challenge is do with Fossils. Having worked with a polymer clay faux fossil before, I wanted to do something with Saligrama– the holy fossils worshiped in Hinduism. But I couldn’t get my hands on any fake ones and the originals are too religious an item to experiment with. I then chanced upon an ammonite mollusc shell. It looked like a shell that could leave its imprint on the sea bead and create a fossil. Thus was born my Mollusc and bead necklace for this challenge reveal of Fossil jewellery and fossil prints.
Molluscs
Mollusc is the general name given to animals with shells such as Bivalves (scallops), Gastropods (snails), and Cephalopods (octopus, squid, and ammonites). By studying their fossils you can understand evolution as you calculate the time scale required for it. You can also recreate the past environments in which they would have lived in.
Fossil Jewellery
To create my necklace, I spray painted my shell and dabbed some gold and Verdigris patina ink on it. The shell is embellished with rhinestone and pearl chain. Beads of glass, wood, shell, and metal in green, teal, blue and copper complete the necklace. Since the shell used is real, it is prone to breakage and must be handled with care. This mollusc necklace is for sale.
I tried making another shell based piece for the challenge. I was about to add an altered shell to a fabric cord when I made the mistake of making the hole drilled on the shell bigger. The pressure caused the shell to crack and break leaving me without a second piece.
Fossil prints
My second idea for this challenge was to photograph old pots and stones and edit them to show possible fossil imprints. But they looked too amateur. However, while I was editing my photos, I created an ammonite fossil motif on photoshop that I liked. With some size manipulations and rearrangement, I created the prints that you see in this post.
These are medium size – Square of A4 prints and I am offering them for free for anyone who wants to use them for print with credit. Just right click and download or mail me for the Jpegs. One is in brown and red, the second in olive green and the third is unsaturated – in gray. They show various levels of the fossil formulation process – decay, sedimentation, and petrification.
This month’s Participants
This is a blog hop reveal for Art Elements’ November challenge. Please visit the other participants to see how they have all interpreted the theme fossils.
Guest Artists Divya (me) Dawn Tammy Susan Cat Sarajo  Beth and Evie  Michelle
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