Falcon Feather Amulet

For the latest piece in my Egyptian Gods series, I took some inspiration from Horus the falcon. Although I do love the look of the Wedjat Eye, I didn’t want to go with something quite so obvious, and instead looked to the falcon itself for ideas on how to capture this deity in jewelry.

The legends say that Horus’ eyes were the sun and the moon - the one that was plucked out by the usurper Set being the weaker moon. I decided I would try to recreate the look of real falcon eyes - shiny black orbs - each with colors representing those celestial bodies. Some druks and brick stitch would do the trick, but I didn’t want more than a pair of eyes. For the bulk of the necklace, I tried to recreate the look of falcon feathers, but with an Egyptian flair.

I chose a palette of turquoise, red, and gold, along with some light beige and black for stripes. The falcon eyes made the perfect connectors between a fringed amulet and straps of matching St. Petersburg chain. Rather than use a striped pattern for the whole necklace, I left the ends entirely black, which brings a little balance to everything.

This necklace turned out even better than I had hoped, with the exception of the druks, which didn’t quite translate into natural looking bird eyes. I do love the way their shape stands out against the amulet and chains, and I may keep the idea in mind for future constructions.

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