Self-portrait: Week 4+2

This handmade pewter necklace depicts a human embryo at Carnegie Stage 6, approximately four and a half weeks into pregnancy (two weeks after fertilisation). At this moment of development, the primitive streak appears. This is the first line of symmetry that organises our bilateral body plan. It's the beginning of left and right, front and back.

I cast the pendant from an original sculpture in my Carnegie Stages series, which explores the elegant forms of early human development. Each piece captures the remarkable transformation from a simple disc of cells into the complex architecture of the human body.

The necklace comes on a black cord. It is a signed limited edition of 20 and comes in a gift box.

Pewter is an alloy of tin with antimony and copper. You can think of it as the reverse of bronze, which is copper with added tin. It's a lovely metal for making small sculptures with excellent detail and a beautiful silvery finish.

This necklace is part of my Carnegie Stages series, which depicts the elegant forms of early human development. Learn more on my website, read Philip Ball's review in Chemistry World, or see my interview with The Node about the inspiration behind the work.