I recently finished a book called 'Beautiful Creatures" by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl which was a fantastic story about a guy who lives in a small southern town where nothing ever changes. . . until he meets a girl named Lena Duchannes. There was a part in the book that talked about a necklace Lena wore. . .
“A girl who wore a long silver chain around her neck, with tons of stuff dangling from it — a plastic ring from a bubblegum machine, a safety pin, and a bunch of other junk …”
“They aren’t really charms, just things that mean something to me [...] I know it looks like a bunch of junk. But I’ve never lived anywhere very long. I’ve never had the same house, or the same room for more than a few years, and sometimes I feel like the little pieces of me on this chain are all I have.”
"I touched her charm necklace. It all looked like junk, and most of it was — the most important junk in the world. And now it had become my junk, too. A flattened penny with a hole in it, from one of those machines at the food court across from the movie theater, where we had gone on our first date. A piece of yarn from the red sweater she had worn to go parking at the water tower, which had become an inside joke between us. The silver button I had given her for luck at the disciplinary meeting. My mom’s little paper-clip star."
I love this idea and started thinking about if I had a necklace of my junk, what would I put on it? Inspired by this idea I decided to make a necklace of my own! And here is the result!!!
I love the way this necklace turned out because each charm is not only meaningful to the character Lena Duchannes but also to me. Below is the list and description of each charm and its importance.
Locket-This is suppose to represent the locket Ethan and Lena found which gives them visions of the past and clues to Lena's future. This is not a traditional locket shape which I like and I love that you can hold a picture or something that means a lot to you close to your heart.
Raven- This of course stands for Ravenwood Manor, Lena's home and the home of her uncle Macon. For me birds represent nature and all things living and I just happen to love bird necklaces.
Crescent Moon-This is an ode to Lena and Caster girls everywhere AND when turned in this direction it also makes a 'C' which stands for my name, Casey.
Key-This represents Ethan holding the 'key' to Lena's heart and basically to her soul. I just like the idea that keys represent opening something that may be familiar or unfamiliar in our lives.
Heart-A huge part of the story is about the relationship and love between Ethan and Lena and I am a big believer in love and the relationships in my life are very important to me, platonic or not.
Green Stone-In Beautiful Creatures Lena is described as having bright green eyes and what do you know, I also have green eyes so this was the perfect addition!
{Above} (Medium: oil pastel)
