Eyes of Common: Poor Number 10

 

The debut collection of the baby-faced, new-kids-on-the-block label 'Eyes of Common' was named 'Poor Number 10 and this collection was allegedly inspired "by love and heartache, bikers, tattoos and the ‘80s, amongst other themes and images."

This sweet crossbones necklace immediately reminded me of pirate maps and searching for long lost treasure. The thin band ring in sterling silver is just the right thickness to compliment the double crossed bones which don't seem formidable at all. The ring isn't so thin that it's uncomfortable, unlike my skull ring from Karen Walker but the design doesn't detract from the main bone motif. I'm going through a bit of a phase concerning skulls and skeletons at the moment.

 

A motif I've been clamoring to get my hands on is a dream catcher necklace in a precious metal, but all the pendants and necklace that I've searched for on eBay aren't up to my standard. Fortunately from the Eyes of Common debut collection there is a solution to my first world problem. The threading at the centre of the net resembles more closely a spider's web with the crude looking straight lines and hexagonal motif, but I do like the beaded effect of string towards the bottom end of the catcher and between the feather. The pointed end and sharp barred edge of the feather strangely reminds me of a knife. If you are interested in dream catcher's in jewellery, D_Luxe also have a netted dream catcher necklace (gold or silver) as well as a separate necklace of four feathers.

 

One of my favourite good luck charms when I was ten was a horse shoe, but rather than bringing me good luck I seem haunted and a bit doomed by it. I later came to the dramatic conclusion that horse shoes are only good luck when pointing upwards as this photograph indicates and that being downwards they attract bad luck. Fortunately you can have it pointing which ever way you like and the design is quite sweet and minimalist. Silver seems to be the more appropriate precious metal to use for this particularly ring, especially for the Bohemians out there that love turquoise as well as suede and fringing. This piece could do well stacked against others in an attempt to channel the  American Indian style.

 

The jailbreak ring fittingly features a harmonica to play the cliche blues on as well as the grim motto of 'We Ar All Alone' / 'Wear All Alone'. It's a present you'd want to give someone best described as a realist or a pessimist. This must be one of the rings that was described as belonging on the fingers of a classic rock guitarist and or poet.

 

I've seen many brands take on the common motif of a curled up nail in a perfect circle tried by many brands that use silver as their prime medium but it never really caught my eye well, but I do like the craftsmanship on this ring by Eyes of Common. I think it's the clean design, symmetrical curling of the silver nail as well as the grooves in the nail which are then accentuated by oxidation and the burn, rainbow effect at the tip of the nail. Not something that I would personally buy but it's the best execution by far of this design.

 

"Eyes of Common was formed in 2011 by Midnight Youth drummer Aidan Bartlett and Stephen Marr hairdresser Donielle Brooke after a realisation that the duo's constant jewel adventures and taste in precious metal could become a collaborative journey.

Both Auckland-based designers were already established in their own respective industries before their intense fascination with jewellery and the lost wax process compelled them to start their own label. After filling their scrapbooks with sketches they decided on their first collection 'Poor Number 10' and released it mid-2011. It has since been stocked at boutiques all throughout New Zealand.

The vision for Eyes of Common is to create unique, real quality jewellery using only traditional precious materials. Each collection is a progressive and cohesive range and tells an underlying story." 

- Eyes of Common website

 

I have many found memories of breaking wish bones with my older brother as well as the same tired wishes I would make. It always involved my crush of the month and mooning over consummated love. Not once did any of my wishes on a wishbone come true but seeing it cleverly incorporated into the design of the peace symbol did spark back a lot of memories and leave me with a mild pensive feeling. There certainly is a lot of originality within their designs and this is something I have not previously seen on the New Zealand silver jewellery seen. It's always nice to be reassured that a new brand will bring new ideas and execution of similar symbols and themes.

 

Skulls being traditional motifs associated with graves and decay remind us of our own mortality, but occasionally a skull or skeleton piece of costume jewellery is crafted that looks neither threatening nor grim. It's also difficult to not over do things and make a skull look comical but the little oxidised beak of this bird skull made of Sterling silver as well as nasal cavities, empty eye sockets and hanging jaw bone makes it look almost endearing. The bird skull as well as large eyes also remind me of all the time I spend playing junior basketball for a club named the 'Vermont Vultures'. I sustained many bruises as well as a few wood burns from the court but still am happily reminded of my healthier days be looking at the rounded off break of this bird's skull.

 

Baby, it's Magic

Being alone in the house for much of the day means I can burn candles in my room to make it smell good, waste away much of the day on blogging sites and type and write to my heart's content. If I had any sort of real motivation I would clean my room and make it look nice and tidy as well while listening to music but due to my slight OCD tendencies I feel I need to get through a whole lot of tabs open in my Internet browser. Still, it'd be nice to make my room a nice, clean space where I can practice music again and somewhere I enjoy relaxing rather than just a place where I sleep and study. Goodness knows I need a place where I can actually use my tripod for photography, too bad I lack the motivation to decorate my room with picture frames and photographs with candles and cut-out from Vogue magazine on the walls.

At the moment my occult admiration and behaviour has only lead me as far as candle burning, I haven't yet given myself some biro tattoos yet, although that may be the next step or wearing a lot of lace and black. At a sort of hippy store I saw a plethora of white festival dresses and I felt drawn to them, only the store was closed at the time. I should be careful not to become such a lover of magical things but it's rousing my interest and all the novels I'm reading at the moment have to do with witches and wizards! I'm a big lover of science fiction and fantasy, I make no secret of that. Maybe soon it will be reflected in my personal style, I have my eye on some zodiac medallions even if they're not my astrological sign as well as ear wraps featuring dragons. This strange mood has either evolved from boredom, or suppressing all interest in things mythological and cosmic for the last year or so.

My next purchase at work after my next pay comes through will be a wooden hand model which I can put my rings on when I'm not wearing them- it may also be fun to take some different photographs of the different ring combinations I wear day to day. This photograph is magnificent, I love the contrast of the red-orange lighting as well as the sleek black plastic hand and thick silver rings. I spy some shaped in a pyramid stud, large shield motifs and an Egyptians style ankh. There are some great stores that have that sort of Egyptian styled ring but I can do better to search on eBay rather than pay their ridiculous marked up prices.

One of the activities I was most looking forward to while away on schoolies was to play around with sparklers in the backyard and take photographs. Alas, we missed our opportunity and that never happened. Probably due to our reluctance to play around with matches more than we needed to but I still can't shake the fact I missed an opportunity to imitate a photograph in this vain and style with bright stark light against a dark and foreboding background.

 

The best effect filtered and added on to a photograph is the speckled sort of fairy dust effect that imitates the stars speckling over the black night's sky. If I was to ever invest in Photoshop it may be for a purpose such as this or to digitally change the colour of my hair and have a tentative guess at what the results may be if I were to do it for real. The long trailing skirt made of a silken material as well as the black velvet top with puffed shoulders and a  bejewelled neckline goes so well with the pink pastel mass of curls on the models head and the natural setting. This is how a modern, 21st century fairy should look- bewitchingly beautiful with a fantastic melding of colours and a long trailing midnight blue skirt. I bet American Apparel manufacture a dress of a similar bright cobalt blue colour.

 

The final bit of whimsy, teenage mysticism that I'm caught up in is the simple combination of messy bedraggled hair and white, whether that be cropped and loose jersey white singlets or some of the festival inspired and light white dresses I spied the other day. I usually avoid white things especially when I'm out and about say in the city where I'll end up sitting on the ground at one point, but at the moment I'm lured in by the clean, pure colour of white. The contrast of the soft streaked sky and clouds as well as the bony arms in the air completes this photograph.