September baseball ... inspiration!

If you're a fellow crafter or artist, have you ever felt inspired by something that seems totally unrelated to what you do? Well, I guess by both the title of this post and by the question I started out asking, you can imagine that I have. In fact, I've been trying to come up with a design inspired by my new favorite sport, baseball. I always regarded baseball as totally boring, and yet somehow I got sucked into it while my husband followed his favorite local team. Last year by the time the world series came around, I found myself totally intrigued by the sport, and I even watched the series between the Yankees and Phillies, even though I was a fan of neither team.

Despite enjoying watching baseball (I have barely missed a San Francisco Giants game this season!), I often find myself paying attention to the sometimes piles of necklaces the players often wear. Sometimes I'm amazed the things don't smack them in the face as they run the bases, make spectacular jumping or diving catches, or even while pitching. In fact, some of the pitchers have the most interesting things dangling around their necks. With some of the windups these guys employ, I wonder how those necklaces hold up.

What I've seen them wearing are various types of twisted or braided necklaces (I presume these are lightweight), but for some, I've seen heavy chains. Perhaps one of the most interesting (and inspiring) necklaces I've seen on a player is a necklace frequently worn by Giants starting pitcher, Barry Zito. I'm still trying to figure out what it's made with, but it looks like some kind of black cord (leather?) and silver beads or beads of some kind. Sadly, you just never get great closeup shots of these guys during the game--at least ones that show what I'm trying to see! (And I have to imagine I'm one of the few paying attention to details like that).

Byzantine & leather men's necklace

I find Zito's necklace interesting because it's the only one I've seen thus far that doesn't look totally "cookie-cutter".  It isn't a large heavy chain, and it isn't a team-colors twisted or braided cord. It's got some style, and that fascinates me. I don't often see men wearing necklaces, but when I do, often it is chains or sometimes strings of heishi-style beads. So, when you see a guy wearing something that's still very suitable for a guy, but has some style and says something out of the ordinary, I'm intrigued. Go figure. Of course, I suppose it isn't any surprise that the guy wearing the most interesting piece of jewelry is Barry Zito--the same guy who's responsible for Pablo Sandoval's "Panda" nickname, and the same guy who convinced Aubrey Huff to use the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" for his walk-up music. He's definitely a kindred creative spirit.

I wish I could finish this post off by saying that I've actually come up with a baseball-inspired design. But I can't, because I'm still working on it (d'oh!). But I promise, one is coming, and hopefully very soon. I do have some pretty cool stuff for men in my Etsy shop already, though -- including a pretty unique necklace that combines chainmaille and leather (see above photo).