The Master of Deception
   Artist Statement

Repetition. Moving the hook in and out, over and under. Steady movement like the waves of the ocean. Soothing, calming, relaxing, repetition. The movement of my hands moving back and forth and round and round completing a cycle. My crochet hook is the tool guiding me through. This is on the surface.

Move deeper. Farther down into the depths of the ocean, where you find magnificent creatures hardly seen by man. The squid. Moving like a torpedo, it is ever changing in color and appearance. The Master of Deception. They camouflage themselves and wait in the depths waiting for their prey.

You see on the surface round crocheted components some in fine silver wire while are others are crocheted with colored wires. Some are just wire, while others have different colors of Swarovski crystals crocheted into the wire. Inside each crocheted component is dyed, felted wool that shows through the gaps in the crochet stitches. Thus, these components create the skin of the squid. The subtle changes in color and the way the squid makes itself shimmer before it attacks its prey.

The wearer is now the squids prey as it wraps it’s tentacles around the wearer’s neck. The squid takes the wearer in as if in a loving embrace, while its barbed suckers sink into its prey. The feeling of these barbed suckers can be created by the juxtaposition of the metal wire and the soft wool that touches the inside of the neck.

Through my repetitive crocheted components I have captured the essence of these amazing creatures. Through the use of color and materials the skin of the squid comes to life from the crystals on top, to the wire in the middle, and the wool inside creates the appearance of the squids skin. The squid glisten in the water with spots of color that are ever changing and through the combinations of materials and techniques; I am able to show their true identities as being the Masters of Deception.                

My neck pieces pull the wearer into the deep. The wearer is in a tight embrace and the squid has come to life. The cold metal like the cold touch of the squid’s skin, the wool so soft sucks you into the neck form and the beautiful crystals gives the glisten that everyone wants in a great necklace. Who could resist the embrace of the squid?