Blodeuwedd

The Owl — Flower Maiden to Goddess

A Canon Piece of the Hairy Growler Collection

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Where story becomes form

Some pieces are made.

Others arrive slowly, as though they have been waiting within the metal all along.

Blodeuwedd belongs to the latter.

Handcrafted from reclaimed sterling silver Crown and Half Crown coins more than a century old, this owl emerges from history itself — not simply shaped from silver, but revealed through it. Each coin once moved quietly through everyday lives before time softened its details and removed it from circulation. Rather than allowing that history to disappear into melt, the silver is given another existence.

Here, it takes flight again.

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Blodeuwedd — The Transformation

In Welsh mythology, Blodeuwedd was created from flowers — a woman formed from the living world itself. Her story, told within the Mabinogion, is one of beauty, autonomy, betrayal, and transformation. For choosing her own path, she is changed into an owl: solitary, wise, and bound to the night.

She becomes neither punishment nor redemption alone, but something more enduring:

understanding.

The owl carries this dual nature — flower and shadow, innocence and knowledge, life and consequence existing together.

Blodeuwedd is not simply a symbol.

She is change made visible.

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A Canon of the Hairy Growler World

Within the Hairy Growler collection, certain works come to sit quietly at its centre.

Blodeuwedd is one of them.

She gathers together the essential elements of the craft:

• reclaimed historic silver

• myth rooted in landscape

• hand engraving as storytelling

• transformation rather than decoration

Many pieces walk nearby paths — hare, fox, moon, and woodland forms — but Blodeuwedd stands as a witness to them all.

Where the hare begins journeys, the owl understands them.

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Made Slowly at the Bench

The necklace begins with historic silver coins carefully fused to create a single working surface. The owl is drawn directly onto the metal before being cut entirely by hand using a traditional jeweller’s piercing saw.

Each feather is carved and engraved individually.

No casting.
No duplication.
No shortcuts.

Every necklace differs slightly, guided by the character of the original silver and the moment of making. Signs of the coin’s previous life are intentionally preserved — quiet traces of time carried forward.

The reverse holds its own hidden detail, known only to the wearer.

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The Presence of the Owl

Across cultures, the owl stands between worlds:

• wisdom gained in darkness

• protection through awareness

• transformation through experience

Blodeuwedd embodies these meanings fully — a figure born of spring flowers yet destined for night flight, reminding us that identity is not fixed but continually becoming.

She is both ending and beginning.

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A Note from the Woodland

In Hairy Growler folklore, the owl is the Witness — appearing not at the start of a journey, but when understanding arrives. Where other creatures move through change, the owl watches, remembers, and carries knowledge forward.

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Specifications

• Material: Recycled sterling silver Crown & Half Crown coins (c. 1880–1900)

• Technique: Hand cut, carved & engraved using traditional tools

• Size: Approx. 140 mm * 130 mm

• Catch: Hairy Growler shepherd’s crook clasp in sterling silver

• Options: Optional engraved initials and companion charm

• Origin: Handcrafted in Cambridge, England

• Each piece: Individually made — no two identical

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Time Horizon

Once carried through another century as currency, this silver now lives differently — worn close, gathering meaning with each passing year, and slowly becoming part of a story still unfolding.

Once, this metal moved quietly through countless hands.

At the bench it was given pause, reshaped not to erase its past but to continue it. Now Blodeuwedd takes flight again — no longer spent, but kept — carrying memory forward into another life.

And the story moves on.

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Blodeuwedd has come to sit at the heart of the Hairy Growler collection — a piece returned to again and again, where myth, material, and making meet.

(as seen in the wonderful ‘Owl Book‘) Take a peak inside