Pendant

I was initially inspired by the symbol used to represent the Philosophers' Stone, which was said to transmute base metals into gold, and thought to hold the key to eternal life. The idea then grew into making a piece that contained alchemy symbols and movement. The centre hollow sphere contains the alchemy symbols for silver and gold, the square contains the four classical elements and the triangle the three primes. The remaining outer circle contains a selection of mundane elements. Although strictly speaking the transmutation doesn't in effect change base elements into precious metals, as I have started off with fine silver, I have represented it by using small amounts of rose gold at 18K to change to yellow gold at 24K by painting the symbols around the piece. Keum boo is used to represent the symbols for gold and silver on the sphere in the centre. The sphere, square and triangle all move freely within the outer frame, being riveted into place through the centre, as the pieces are rotated they transform into many different geometric sequences.