Last week on my sporadically frequented social media accounts I posted a photo of some pieces I made to mark the beginning of another journey! Most of you know that I am deaf as a post (diagnostic terminology) and that I could have got a cochlear implant years ago.  I finally got it last week (and can I just say that I had underestimated just a tad how uncomfortable the post surgery period would be).  This is very much the beginning of the journey because an implant doesn’t amplify sound like a hearing aid does, but transmits an electronic sounds. My brain has to be retrained to recognise this sound and this will take time and effort and more of that later. THAT starts with my activation tomorrow.

Back to the post. I decided, as you do, to mark the various stages of this journey with my making and made these pieces over the days before the surgery.  I wanted to incorporate the motifs of shells because the cochlear is a shell shaped structure and the cilia, the nerve endings.  I chose calming, gentle colours because I needed to be calmed and gentled!

I used a ball stylus to hand etch the shell designs then applied layers of the gorgeous Pan pastels. Then I used several ball styluses (stylii?) to make the dot and cilia marks before applying more layers of pastel.  I used Cara Jane’s lovely surfboard templates to make the earrings and a brooch held with a magnet. More to come as I negotiate the slightly daunting road ahead but I know the negotiation will be easier if done creatively!