Another Present!

This particular present was for my mother-in-law... Because my mother-in-law is awesome. 

(Yes, that is a link to her blog.)

...And also because I've been extremely inspired by her writing. She is an author who has been writing for years--and has been encouraging my own writing endeavors--and I really wanted to show her how valuable I find her words and her world. 

And so, I made her this:

The backstory:

For the past several years, she has been working on a novel/collection of short stories that is set in a fantastical world that is sort-of-kind-of-not-really-but-close-enough based on Imperial China. 

Her characters are delightful, and her world is made of gentle fable mixed with tongue-in-cheek humor and copious amounts of tea. 

Now, the birthday of her main character, Emperor Quo, was last week... So, technically, this necklace was made to show my support of all of her work.*

But, really, more than that--I wanted to show her just how much she inspires me. Just like Evensong's Heir inspired the Songbird Tribute Collection, I wanted to create something from her story. I wanted to give her a physical representation of the world that she has in her head.

And, honestly, writers sometimes can feel extremely isolated in their work--so much of our craft is done alone, shaped alone...

I wanted her to know that her words are loved.

...Now, maybe she'll just go ahead and get those words published! ;)

(Heh, not that I can talk--I haven't even finished the two sprawling messes that I'm working on!)

I am blessed, blessed, blessed to have such wonderful people in my life... 

And I have so much fun using my talents to celebrate theirs!

---

* - I should say that this is not the first time I've done this... I have also made her another story-inspired necklace, and wrote about it here. Just please pardon the iffy pictures--I was still learning about my camera and lighting and all the jazz.