Trophy Wife Trophy (0.67251047e): DESIGN and TECHNIQUE

There were two main factors which converged to germinate the idea for the Trophy Wife Trophy: a grouse foot brooch and cast resin hand.

I think I've had this brooch for about ten years and I have worn it on my coat for at least six. I like it so much because most people find it horribly creepy. (For the record, I am vegetarian but I don't have a problem with things which are already dead - ideally naturally, but I can ethically cope with antiques.)
My attempts to research grouse-foot brooches were largely fruitless, it being usually categorised alongside (Scottish) sporting and hunting related jewellery and of little interest to jewellery historians.
These brooches are often engraved, sometimes feature a large stone and date from the middle to late nineteenth century when all things Scottish were fashionable.

Under normal circumstances, I would not advocate using a piece of jewellery as a starting point for another piece of jewellery. In this case, however, I wanted to re-imagine this type of brooch to fit in with my Spider/Baby narrative; this is where the cast epoxy resin hand came in and I found myself imagining the surrounding situation which would lead to a doll's hand being mounted in a brooch of this style. I didn't  have a clear design before starting the piece, but knew I needed to construct an engraved silver mount for the hand. This needed to connect to a ring on the hand via a stem which formed the base for the brooch pin.
For the engraving on the mount, I settled for a compromise between traditional scrollwork and the numbers I often incorporate in my artwork and jewellery.

Here a couple of process shots once the mount was constructed. The hinge was problematic, as I originally wanted to make the pin in stainless steel (the mount is quite heavy and I wanted the pin to be robust), but after two failed attempts I settled for very heavily work-hardened sterling. I had intended that the hand should be wearing a miniature Cras Tibi ring, just visible here:

It took me some time to decide what it was that the hand should be holding - especially as it needed to connect the ring to the brooch stem (and without soldering). With such a representational subject matter, the object needed to fit into my narrative parameters whilst also making the most of any unavoidable wider symbolism. I made a spider.

The spider's cephalothorax and legs are made from silver, with the abdomen carved from buffalo horn. I went for a greater degree of anatomical accuracy than I have done previously, and fabricated the cephalothorax using press-forming and repoussé to create a hollow form. (Incidentally, I used the same die for press forming the spider as I did for the tooth settings in Chain Dentata.)
This spider just looked too big for the hand, and caused other technical problems as a result.
(So I patinated it and played with it:)

Some time later, I made a second spider. A smaller spider should inevitably be male (the first spider is female - no palps), so shorter legs and a smaller abdomen. I'm not sure when exactly the relationship between the male spider and the hand became evident, but it dictated that the ring needed to be a wedding ring which the spider was holding. 

Miniature wedding and engagement ring. 18k yellow gold and 0.05 ct diamond.

Another post is required to explain the relationship between the components in the finished brooch.