.:Saturday, January 12:.

..:12 of 12 Project (yes I'm actually going to attempt to do it this year):..

So, I have decided this year to try the "12 of 12" project. Go hereto see the author of the project Chad Darnell.

Basically the challenge is to take 12 pics on the 12th of every month and post them. I suck at it. Last year I forgot after the first month. So this year I'm changing it up a bit. Instead of 12 pics, you will get 12 of something. Some months it might be pics, or quotes, or stories. Kinda like the "5 things" fics that have proliferated fanfiction in recent years. I can't promise they'll be any good, but I will give it a shot.

So, to start things off with a bang (or a wimper) you get the stories behind 12 items found in my room. They may not be the coolest things out there, but everything has a story behind it at least.

Here we go:

3 Necklaces: 1 Copper, 1 Bronze and 1 Silver:
Okay, these three necklaces were all picked up at various renaissance villages and festivals in the states over the past few years.

The one on the far left is made of Bronze and has a celtic knot on one side and a knight sheild on the other. It was actually found and dug up at a renaissance festival this last year, when making inquiries as to it's origins I was told that the design had not been made in many years and it was probably quite old.

The one in the center is made of copper and has the Welsh dragon Owyn on one side and the Green Man on the other. It was bought at Universal Studios Isslands of Adventure back in Grade Nine and was worn pretty much every day in high school.

The necklace on the right is made of silver and has a triskellion on one side and the world tree on the other. Bought a year ago, also at the ren faire, as I was getting more and more into celtic imagery and folktales, and wanted something physical as a reminder of why I'm back in school.



One Sword: Stainless steel and Copper Accents :
This thing is probably pretty much worthless. I keep it sharp, and it is rather pretty, but it's more the story that I keep this thing for. This sword was bought at Universal Studios, down in Florida, while I was on a trip with KT back in Grade Ten. We both bought blades from the same place, and realised only after we had gotten them back to the bus that bringing weapons over the border is.... rather frowned upon while on a youth group retreat, and very likely illegal to boot.

So the both of us ended up smuggling them in the lining of our bags, and spent the whole bus-ride back to the border debating the merits of telling the border police we had them (and almost definitely getting them confiscated) versus not telling them, taking the risk, and possibly getting into a whole lot of trouble. It ended up that the border police pretty much just waved us through, and all our outlandish excuses and stories thought up to facilitate keeping the goods, were absolutely useless.

It's still pretty though.

15 River Stones :
4 Years ago I went to Wales with my family. While we were there, instead of doing the daft touristy stuff, we spent alot of the time just driving around to various places to see what we could find. The stones were taken from all the various rivers, ponds, bays and any other bodies of water that me and my little sister ran across. I think we drove my poor parents mad with it all to be honest...


Kept in a wooden box that I made in high school, that has a celtic knot carved into the top of it.



Woven Rug: (With the addition of a small black cat) :
This rug got pulled out of storage in the inevitable mad panic of "Oh gods, I'm moving out of the house and have NO FURNITURE, and therefore must raid my parents basement."


It was actually made by my kindergarden teacher Mrs. Greydaunus, whom my parents still keep in contact with.


The small black cat, on the other hand, was not made by my teacher, but has since claimed the rug as his own, and often sleeps there, getting in the way of just about everyone who comes in.




Piece of Volcanic Crystal:
This was purchased on one of the trips my parents took us on as children, to Pompeii if I recall correctly. It was actually bought to soothe my older brother, whom, while exploring the area (and, of course, going where the tour guide expressly stated that small children should not go,) tripped and cut his leg rather badly. My parents pretty much went "look! Isn't it shiny? Oh please stop crying, you'll set the rest of them off..." (He did, actually, set my little sister off crying as well as she adored our brothers when she was little and spent a great amount of time mimicking them)




Painting :
This was made for me by my brother for my birthday several years ago. I used to have quite an obsession with aquariums, and any time we travelled anywhere we would inevitably look up the closest aquarium and spend the whole day watching fish float about all around us (and usually losing one of the siblings when we inevitablly wandered off, there was a reason our parents tended to put those child leashes on us)

I had a special place in my heart for the manta rays, especially after one aquarium where they had a tank that you could actually pet the manta rays in, they were incredibly cool and felt like liquid silk when they brushed past you.


Wind-up Singing Clown Toy: (Plays "It's a Small World")
When we were very little (I was about 5 or 6) my parents took us to Disney Land. Now, there is nothing inheirently wrong with Disney Land, unless you have 2 rather wicked older brothers who have visited Disney Land before you and decided to play a trick.

They sat me down the night before we went and we all watched Childs Play, the movie with the evil possesed doll Chucky who kills small children.

Now image the "It's a Small World" ride, a dark tunnel, filled with hundreds of creepy singing dolls. I freaked out, and for some strange reason, my mum bought me the clown to make me feel better.

I think I had nightmares till I was about 12.


Wire Sculpture:
This is one of the few pieces of art that I've made and actually liked, it was a grade 11 project to made a posed human figure using steell wire. Pretty much destroyed my hands, took about 4 tries, but I was actually happy with this as the end. The base has Japanese lettering on it that says Kamui, which is a spiritual or divine being in Ainu mythology, although honestly it was because I was more than a little obsessed with the manga series X-1999 at the time.

It origionally had a pair of copper wings, but those have been wreaked through all the moving I've done over the last few years and were removed till I could make a new pair.


Grey Teddy-Bear: (Also known as Seth)
This was a gift 4 years ago from the Girl Guides while we were in England. The bear is a specific brand, and are the English equivalent of Winnie the Pooh. They're called Me to You Bears and I absolutely adored them, but could never manage to find one that I liked while we were on the trip.

The other girls on the trip bore my griping with good graces (aka, yelled at me to shut up) and gave me the bear at the end of the trip. He's all patchwork and missing fur and fixed stitches and I love him to bits.




Camel Bone Keepsake Box:
Made of actual camel bone, which was quite plentiful in the desert where I grew up. All you had to do was look long enough and you could find dozens of bones, and sometimes whole skeletons out there. My brother even ended up with a whole leg bone that he used to carry around like a rather macabre cane.

The boxes themselves could be found at the little road-side vendors that seem to crop up world wide and holds a few little keepsakes from the emirates.


Hanging Ornament:
Bought in New Orleans at Mardi Gras the year before the floods destroyed most of the city. My dad was down there for a conference and brought us down with him, and me and my little sister pretty much made it our goal that holiday to collect alot of beads and useless trinkets. It's the last real "family vacation" I ever went on before moving out, and it never fails to make me smile.






Carved Rosewood Chest: (With a small black cat (aka: Nyx) on top)
Each of my siblings and I were given these by my mum, they're called a glory box and contains all the little odds and ends one tends to accumulate in life and want to keep. (The cat is not one of them)

Baby blankets, school awards, sports medals, little souveneirs from travelling as well as a few well-loved stuffed animals and toys that I've had pretty much since birth.


Wow, this ended up being alot longer than I thought it would. Will probably lock this till I have at least a few more months of this done so I don't face mocking if I forget entirely next month...

Labels: 12 of 12 Project

Meru at 9:48 AM