A Night at the Circus

At the moment I am busy designing a pendant which is inspired by the circus and which utilises the technique of cannetille. 

The circus's of the 1880's (and for a few decades) had side shows which show cased "freaks" and unusual people, as well as tattooed woman, which I have chosen to use as my inspiration. 

Their entire bodies were covered in intricate traditional tattoos. People found this fascinating. Not only were tattoos uncommon (even more so on women) but in this very conservative time, seeing woman baring flesh was risky and controversial. 

I love these images because they show how people, and in particular woman, have always tried to challenge society and their views of how we should look and how only certain people can do certain things. I think these women were very brave for doing what they did. 

I also particularly love the intricacy and immense detail that their tattoos had. 

My aim is to make a beautiful piece of jewellery which brings one of these intricate tattoos to life.

   

A poster for a Circus side show attraction, La Bella Angora.
This image was found on a blog, which doesn't have much information. This site, however,  has more information about the history of these side shows.
  

After looking at many different traditional tattoos, I chose this one as my main reference and my point of departure to start designing my pendant.