I've been using snakes as a design element for much of my Wytches project and I had this image stuck in my mind for a snake head dagger. So I photo bashed one together, but it was looking too literal and not interesting to me. I liked the forked tongue and the opal gems in the rough concept, but I decided to leave behind the literalness of the snake imagery for this one.
I traced the lines for the original concept, but allowed them to just remain as forms. I pushed the forked tongue into a more delicate, jewelry inspired play with curves. Even after this value design was finished I realized that I should drop the eyes and again just allow the form to be the statement. I think the solid white gems actually look more intense if you imagine them as eyes. They feel like they are in a trance or rolled back into the head, so something a little rare or less ordinary than simply looking out at you.
