This past summer, I was invited by the Kansas Herpetological Society to put on a mini art show at our annual meeting in November. The society is devoted to the scientific study of reptiles and amphibians, so I thought it might be nice to include some designs in the new ‘signet’ series. I was playing around with different ideas for how to do snakes and struck on the concept of using ‘medallions’, a series of circles containing different patterns inside. The ‘medallions’ I came up with are totally creations from the often jumbled depths of my mind and have no meaning beyond their aesthetic appeal.

These first two designs are named for heraldic colors. In medieval times, heraldic devices were used to identify people and all the colors, motifs, and their positions in the design had meaning. ‘Tenné’, the name of the first snake, is a tawny orange color and can mean “meek”, while ‘Or’ is metallic gold and can mean “generous”.

Size = 5” x 9” (14 ct.)

Size of Sanguine = 5” x 13” (14 ct.)

This is a pair of the medallion style snake patterns that are a bit larger than the originals. They also have the Kanji symbol for “Fire” and “Water” in the medallion just behind each head. The “Fire” design is red, like embers and coils as flames sometimes do when leaping up into the sky. “Water”, on the other hand, flows sinuously back and forth as water flows down a stream.

This design was an experiment in mask making. I’ve always enjoyed the highly decorated half masks of the Mardi Gras celebrations that I attended when working on my Master’s degree in Louisiana. I can’t wear them, because of my glasses, so I decided to make some in a different way. The “official” name of the half mask is ‘colombina’. They were originally worn by characters of the Commedia dell'arte, a type of theatre performance popular in 14th – 17th century Italy. This kind of mask is worn by Carnival goers the world over and has been popular for centuries.

Size = 10.5“ x 5.5“ (16 ct.)

Size = 9.5“ x 12“ (14 ct.)

This design came about as I was toying with ideas of combining my signet dragons and the medallions. It started out as a square, like a chess board. So, I decided to give it a chess term as a name. Chess is a very old two-player strategy game with many varieties all over the world. I learned to play as a child when my older brother started beating our farther and my brother needed another opponent. I ended up teaching my younger brother and we have all been teaching and playing with their children. The game tends to pass through families in this way. Now, it can be played against computers, but is far more fun with a living opponent. “Checkmate” is what you say when you’ve trapped your opponent’s king and won the game.