Woden in Winter

This year I've decided to create smallish (probably no more than about 3"x3") little beaded things that can be made into pendants if I so desire.  That's kind of vague, I know, but I think I'll really enjoy this kind of loose format.  The theme of these objects will be to represent a goddess or god from some belief system (probably mostly Celtic and Germanic Pagan, but certainly not limited to such!)  Sometimes the representations will be more literal than others (an actual figure) but sometimes not.  I'll just have to see where the shiny beads inspire me to go!

So, for January I've chosen to represent Woden (called Odin in Scandinavia) I used a small (about 2 1/2" long) piece of an ash tree (Fraxinus latifolia) as a base for my image. I was inspired by the rather rough unhewn types of images the Northern European tribes were supposed to have used to represent their gods. Woden's shamanic aspects are emphasized here with his fringed cloak and ornaments. I also made a sort of hood on the upper part of the figure. The cloak is peyote stitched from size 11 seed beads and the stones I used are black onyx, larvikite, and labradorite.