Fascination with Wheels

You’ve probably been trying to guess what our other man-made inspiration was in Tuesday’s amulets. This one might have been harder to identify, as it was more in the form than from a literal interpretation of a source. Wheels themselves are man-made objects, but the form isn’t wholly absent from nature.  There is the underside of a mushroom, the cross-section of citrus fruit, and certain parts of microscopic organisms that have that round shape and ‘spokes’ of some sort. Our Tuesday amulets were formed like wheels, round with lines leading to the center. When searching for man-made inspirations in polymer, our penchant for wheels was readily apparent–not just in forms, but things with wheels as well. From cars and bikes to kaleidoscope and pinwheel canes, the wheel form pops up in polymer quite a bit.

And we don’t just show our wheels straight on; we also like to display their sides. A few years ago, a handful of bobbin necklaces started appearing. Bobbins are just wheels; they are more related to gears than what we put on bikes, but the basic form is the same, and it’s all man-made. This bobbin necklace from Dotty McMillan shows how fun the sides of a wheel form can be.

We,  just as other humans, do like our spinning things!