Medusa was not the villain of the story.

She was punished and villainized for the wrongs and violations done against her, then hunted down and murdered for them. I grew up with the killer’s point of view, of the monster that turns you to stone, but never knew how she got there. She didn’t deserve to be the monster Athena turned her into. She should’ve been saved, protected, but instead, she was blamed for her trauma. I’ve always had an interest in her. I’m not surprised she came up.

The green rounds came in an order to the store in three sizes and I instantly saw that multi-strand piece in my mind. I had to get literal and get that little snake tongue on there, of course. The silver plated snake toggle, which I’d wanted to have a reason to use for ages, was a natural choice. The rest of the silver plated and sterling silver findings for the necklace came easily. I hope to someday find sterling silver versions of everything and remake this piece. Around the back I used two hole beads called SuperDuos and seed beads to stitch a squishy chain with Fireline. I learned the stitch from Laurel Kubby during her seed bead chain boot camp at Beadology Iowa, a store she co owns with her sister and my direct boss, Karen Kubby. I had the privilege to attend the class due to my employment’s perks. It is strung on Flexwire so that there is no stress on the thread. The earrings are simple. There are eye links slipped onto basic, sterling silver ear wires. Then, there are the slightly dramatic sharp ear wires (which you can’t see at this angle), also sterling silver, on the, slightly heavy, pewter Medusa head bead and coiled snake bead earrings. If worn in the right order together, one can be seen over the other. There is a bracelet in the gleam of my eye that looks like the stitched chain around the back of the necklace, but is still in pieces in my project bag.