DANCING BEAK TO BEAK, Fred and Ginger the Dancing Penguins

My dear friend Connie Johnston, a retired math teacher, had always wanted to go to Antarctica. She was going on a cruise ship and knew she needed jewelry so consulted me, the jewelry queen, of course. I decided that besides the classic pieces she chose, she really needed a penguin necklace so I designed Dancing Beak to Beak. This is the back of it, with Jeeves the Penguin Butler bringing fresh fish to the festive while in the background, among the icebergs, the cruise ship sends music out across the aurora borealis. Connie's trip in 2003 was her last. She had a heart attack while on the ship in the Antarctic and died later in Brazil, so the penguins have come back to roost with me. She was very very proud of this necklace as I was since it was the first peyote picture amulet bag I ever designed. I used Swarovski ice cubes in the fringe and scattered across the pack ice at the bottom of the necklace. The pattern is available from on Bead-Patterns.com both as an amulet bag and also as a flat peyote necklace with the whole scene showing.

BEAK2 BEAK 2 The Tango Penguins Dec. 2005

Although I never do the same piece twice if I can help it, another dear friend who learned to tango on a cruise boat asked for the penguin necklace for Christmas. As you can see, this isn't the same. It's less sculptural at the top but more colorful and although, because the fringe is not fanned out, it doesn't look as lush, in person it is full of Swarovski bling and sparkles like ice bergs. The ice bergs are not as prominent in the water because I used the icy delicas, which didn't show up as strongly. Also there's a sort of a tangoish asymmetry to the bottom of the piece. The big difference between the tango penguins and Fred and Ginger, the original dancing penguins, is that these penguins of course are tangoing, as you can tell by the rose in the lady penguin's beak. I am assuming Jeeves the Penguin Butler swam out to the cruise ship on the back of the necklace to fetch her the rose. Otherwise, I have no idea where she'd get one in Antarctica.