Before starting I like to thank Nan Smith for including me in this challenge and to my friends from Indonesia, who are also in this challenge, Lilikrist and Asri Wahyuningsih (who now live in USA).
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I am from Indonesia, a lovely country spread across the equator....If you do not know where it is please look at Dini's map in Nan's blog ....( love the map very much)
On the right....just over Australia.... lays Indonesia with its islands in red and white colors. The data showed that there are about 17,508 islands (the data varies), big and small, spread along the country. The length of all the islands combined with the seas is 5150 km and the width is 1700 km with the area of the lands is 1,9 million km2 and the area of the seas is 7,9 million km2. I cite the statistics just to show that the country is so wide but on the other hand the islands are spread along the areas... this is one reason among other that made us have so many ethnic groups, each have their own culture...... So for this challenge I picked one from Java island, to be precise from central Java.
This is what I made for my beloved country
the overall look
The chain
The pendant
Recently I was crazy in love to wire crochet..... so that's what I made for this challenge....I used this technique for this jewelry, both for the pendant and for the chain.
Now the story about the pendant.... it shows 3 figures which we, in Indonesia, called "Wayang" or in English translated as puppet. The Wayang's is played by a "Dalang" (director) and because the Dalang sits and plays the puppets behind a screen and the viewers only can see the shadow of the puppets, the show is called "shadow puppet". To show what I mean, this is a show of "Wayang":
The Dalang plays the puppet (from the Dalang view)
The viewers see the shadow of the puppet
The show usually tells the stories of Mahabrata or Ramayana- India's story adopted by Indonesian's about 1500 year BC- and it takes about 8 hours or so.
My pendant consists of 3 characters from Ramayana, from left to right, Sinta, her husband Rama, and Rama's brother, Laksmana. Ramayana is a love story between Rama and Sinta. Rama is supposed to be a King in Ayodya but he was exiled from his country so that his step brother (Bharata) can be a king of Ayodya. During the isolation, Sinta was kidnapped by an evil giant-Rahwana. But good always win against the bad, so Rama can win his wife back and they live happily ever after. These are their pictures as Wayang;
Rama and Sinta
Laksmana
This story is played by dancers every full moon in Candi Prambanan (Prambanan Temple) near Yogyakarta (a city in Central Java) and also was put as reliefs in the temple. This is the picture of the dancers playing Ramayana in front of the Prambanan Temple.
Now back to the necklace, I made the chain with white and red color as an image of our flag, our symbol of bravery and purity.
Hope you like my necklace and my story....
And these are all other participants, have fun to blog hop in each country;
Nan Smith (host): wirednan.blogspot.ca Canada
Dini Bruinsma: http://angazabychanges.blogspot.ca The Netherlands
Stephanie Weiss : http://uniquelymebwd.blogspot.com USA
Ana Cravidao (ACBeads) :http://acbeads.blogspot.com. Portugal
Liz E :beadcontagion@blogspot.com. USA
Vera: veradesigns.blogspot.com Germany (USA)
Andra : http://bijouxdemonange.blogspot.com Romania
Delilah: http://mssdelilah.wordpress.com Romania
Jessica Murray: http://whimsicalweavings.blogspot.com USA
Mischelle: http://micheladasmusings.blogspot.com
Rebecca : http://www.godsartistinresidence.blogspot.ca/ France (USA)
LiliKrist: http://pcbylik.blogspot.com Indonesia
N Vakentine Studio : www.nvalentine.blogspot.com Canada
Karin: maverickbeads.blogspot.ca Calgary, Canada
Diah Anggreni : http://pernik-manik.blogspot.com Indonesia
Karen : www.overthemoon-design.com Australia
Cath Thomas : http://samohtac.blogspot.ca Switzerland
Asri Wahyuningsih : http://asribeadwork.blogspot.com USA
Crysalis Jewelry Design Denmark ( Canada)
Jasvanti Patel: www.jewelrybyjasvanti.blogspot.com USA
Lola: http://beadlolabead.blogspot.ca USA
Beccy Peterson Sweden (USA)
Paula Hisel : www.simplybeadiful.weebly.com USA
Inge von Roos: ingetraud.wordpress.com Germany
Laurie Vyselaar: Lefthandjewelry.wordpress.com. USA
Anindita Basu: www.alankarshilpa.blogspot.com USA
