Verpstė jewelry dish (sun rays)

The idea behind these small jewelry dishes is "verpstė" - distaff, the main implement of women's work, passed on from generation to generation, closely related to the spiritual world of Lithuanians.

Before the advent of the spinning wheels in the 18th century, distaffs were the main implements for spinning. In the eastern parts of Lithuania and the western parts of Belarus, inhabited by Lithuanians, distaffs were used as late as the beginning of the 20th century.

The front side of verpstė is usually heavily ornamented, however the motives are pretty well defined. From what I saw in museums in Lithuania, the most common element is a circle with segmented stars (the others being circles with triangular small teeth and parallel lines going in all directions). The stars may be large and small. They may have four, six, eight or even more points, which may turn into flowers, petals, and other things.

I played with these ideas and this is the result.

According to Audrone Daraskeviciene, verpstė was most often gifted by a man to a woman he loved - similar to a piece of jewelry or a lovely perfume today:)