In hindsight I think the antecedents to this work include:

• I re-shingled part of my roof several weeks prior. I'd never done any roofing or worked with asphalt shingles before. It introduced me to a whole new set of manly materials.
• Having small shingle samples lying around begging to be used and my my longstanding penchant for making arty wearable pins, buttons and badges.
• Fluxus. Just the idea of using asphalt shingles as the gemstones in a necklace strikes my Fluxus funnybone. It's the sort of everyday, low art, turn-things-upside-down idea that is often found in Fluxus work (e.g., George Maciunas's collection of animal dung).
• The format of my last major badge-project--for the Akron band Half Cleveland: a series of objects strung together on a bar of wire.
• Working with sandpaper and the idea of "grittiness" on a consulting project that explored the grittiness of the city of Detroit and how this grittiness influences its creativity.
• All the work I've been doing with wire lately--wrapping things in wire and using wire as a way to connect objects together.