Description
Inspiration for my Praying Mantis Necklace
My father had been asking me to make him a praying mantis ornament from the moment that I finished my stag beetle. It was a two year wait before he finally had his model of a European Praying Mantis proudly sitting on his dressing table. Convinced that a praying mantis necklace could be simply the coolest piece of jewellery ever, I set out to work out the best design. Long gangly legs are not so practical when designing jewellery and so the leaf became an integral part of the design.
Modelling the prayting mantis brought about one of my favourite stories. While modelling the mantis, I shared a few snaps of it in its embryonic state. One of my customers, who happened to live not too far away from me, contacted me offering to lend me her son’s deceased praying mantis pet! Once I got over the shock, my answer was, of course, “Yes!”. She was really useful in being able to look carefully at a real creature, rather than imagining how she is from photographs. And she also accompanied me to the RHS Wisley Spring Fair that year.
The mantis model is approximately life-sized.
