Eagle Kachina

   Kwahu, the Eagle Kachina, represents strength and power. He is the ruler of the sky and can carry messages to heaven.  Kwahu is the overseer of all Kachinas, an honored guest who is given many presents. In the picture to the right my kachina is a part of a sectional bracelet with 3 coordinating southwestern bracelet tiles.
   This is the second of my 10 mask tiles that I am in the process of creating for Sarajane Helm's Mask Swap. All the little tiles have two holes in the side as pictured below and can be used for bracelets or necklaces. I will be creating other tiles to coordinate with the Kachinas and beads. This little guy has feathers left from both my owl cane and my Sunface kachina cane, along with a 'pine' accent around his neck made from left over palm fronds from my palm tree cane. The tiles that the bracelet is shown with are a new addition - a Southwestern Bear Paw cane that I made reusing an old Bear Claw cane that I will discuss in a later blog.  
    I always find it interesting how, when I start a new project it always opens up other possibilities and - in pushing myself - my experience and skills grow. When I started working with polymer clay about 15 years ago it was just for fun. I saw some cute items in a catalog and thought it would be a fun thing to try and jumped right in and made a very ugly face cane. Of course I was only using Sculpey III so it was terribly squishy.  I learned, practiced,  and got a bit better - tried making a few fairies from Maureen Carlson books, and taught a few polymer classes at Michaels before they changed their classroom format. And then put it away for most of about 10 years until 2009 when situations made me look for a alternate form of income. Long story and hopefully one with a happy ending. Maybe this little guy can take my polymer dreams to heaven as well.