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Writer's pictureNadine Bennett

A swim keepsake: my Memphre pendant

Updated: Aug 18

On September 5th, 2023 I became the first Canadian woman to complete In Search of Memphre ("The Search"), a 40km/25mile swim crossing Lac Memphremagog from Newport, Vermont to Magog, Quebec. This was my very first solo marathon swim, and something I'm proud to have accomplished. I wanted to create something special to remember the swim by. Here's the pendant, my second piece in fine silver - Memphre at Owl's Head.


Memphre is the fabled lake monster that lives in Memphremagog, which stretches 40km from Newport VT to Magog QC. Memphre's story started as an indigenous legend on the Quebec side of the lake, one that cautioned of a dark serpent creature lurking beneath the water, slumbering under Owl's Head Mountain, which we passed by on my swim. Today, Memphre is celebrated on both sides of the lake.



For me, Memphre represents freedom and an adventurous spirit, so who better to give the first making of this piece to than the amazing Lynne Cox, whose own swimming adventures have inspired so many of us. If you've never read "Swimming to Antartica", go, now. We met up in Quebec City a few months after my swim, and had a lovely time time chatting about swimming, community and inclusivity, our experiences. I wanted her to have it.



Here's the start of the design in terra cotta, which was then baked and sanded until it was perfect. I then made a silicone impression, which I then used to create the piece in metal clay. I fired it using a mini butane torch.



Here's Memphre bathing in liver of sulphur, which creates a patina on the surface. It wass starting to turn yellow, then it went deep gold, purple, blue. If I'd left it in longer, it would have been black. I pulled the piece out of the liver of sulphur just as it was passing from purple to blue. I rubbed the piece with a polishing cloth afterwards to bring out the silver again, with a little of the dark patina staying behind in the crevices. Finished piece, just a tiny amount of the patina is left to gives the shapes a little depth.



After I gifted it to Lynne, I made a few more for some special people, and one just for me. I had chosen a September date for the swim because I was hoping for chilly weather and cooler water, instead we got a heat wave for the final third of the swim. So I learned to set a stone for the first time, a tiny 3mm citrine cabochon. In folklore, citrine represents the sun and is thought to be a joyous stone that brightens up the lives of those who wear it. I love it.



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