Some weeks are good weeks.Some weeks are great weeks.This was a great week.It must be spring.
Bald eagle's back in the cottonwood treeThe old brown hills are just about bareSpringtime sighing all along the creekMagpies ganging up everywhere...[Ian Tyson]
I don't think I've ever appreciated daylight savings quite so much! The extra daylight in the lateafternoon has been a joyful shot in the arm for me. I'm finding the time to do everything I want to do.Winter tends to feel like a constant crush for time and daylight. Do you feel that way?I'm glad for the new season, it's almost upon us, you know. When Saturday clicks over into Sundayour hearts are going to perform a vernal stampede. The magpies will drop their gold and fly over to our outstretched hands as we stroll about commenting on how everything is coming up tulippy.
Even the naked lilacs will grinin the breeze, thinking about the purple and white poofs to come.Springtime really is sighing all along the creek.
You know, spring really is a mild mannered seductress. She makes you forget all about the thingsthat need doing -- taxes, chores, running a small business.She makes you go climbing with Sue in the afternoons.She makes you run four extra miles just because the sun feels so burly.She makes you whip up pots of iced tea.She's oblivious and makes you oblivious to your responsibilities.But I say, after a long, dark winter, we're all allowed to lose our sensibilities for a stint.It's only fair.It's only balanced.
Back to the stuff. I was highly distracted, all week long, but I managed to finish up a handful of projectsyesterday afternoon before I closed my studio up and took to the hills:
I made a new Saddle Ring. Well, two of them actually. One is mine, one is yours. There’s something so sweet and strong about this piece. It’s incredibly organic to the touch and to the sight. The main body of the ring is actually anticlastically raised making it beautifully tactile and very appealing to the sight. It catches the light in all the right places. Feminine details detract from the bulk of this piece — a fresh water pearl and the faint face of a poppy on the surface of the silver make this ring so delicate for the wearing. This ring is a larger size. I believe it’s around a US ring size 9.75 or 10. Perfect for a pointer finger which is where I have been wearing and loving my Saddle Ring.
A new set of Isadora Earrings for a woman who is cuckoo for teal. I haven’t anything but the very best adjectives in mind when describing these earrings. They are romantic, dark, light, a force of nature, tarnationally organic (NO. TARNATIONALLY IS NOT A REAL WORD.), musical in their movement and somewhat bold. They are quite long and the shank that the stone is connected to is beautifully bound up in sterling ribbon which is so romantic and Swan Lake and ballerinas.
I finally made a Rumors of the Sea Ring. I’ve talked at length about this series in the past so I won’t bore you here but I will make mention of the fact that this piece DOES have a freshwater pearl set inside the enameled dome. Also, all of my enameled pieces are fired multiple times and counter enameled for strength and durability. Gosh. I love this ring and this series. I may never grow tired of it.
Lastly I made a Raven Necklace. I know. You thought I made it through, free and clear of my raven obsession. Nope. Here’s another one! This beauty is built of sterling, 14 karat gold, fresh water pearl and ocean jasper. The pendant actually drops off an incredibly long, hand fabricated sterling bone that I’ve wrapped with sterling ribbon. I’ve balanced the asymmetrical nature of this piece using ocean jasper and leaf which makes for a lovely amount of independent movement within the structure of the pendant. There are so many details to this piece that I’m not sure what else to share with you. Look at the photos! I wanted this pendant to look like a specimen box, of sorts.
On the backside of the pendant is the Latin name for the common raven: CORVUS CORAX
And I’d consider this piece to be part of my Cabinet of Curiosities Series. It’s a bit creepy, a little bit dark, a little bit E.A. Poe (nevermore nevermore) and soooo unique. I really love this design. It feels great on. Musical and heavy.
RW and I have a shocking amount of packing and shipping to do which will probably carry
over into Saturday. If you don’t see them for sale today you’ll be able to find this new work up for claiming on Monday!
I hope you are all having a beautiful, Turkishly Delightful
Friday. I want to hop in Talulah and drive up the side of a mountain
with a cup of mint tea and a book about the American Buffalo
but I’m going to work instead.
Because I kind of need to.
Love to you all!
xxxxxxxxx
THE NOISY PLUME
Those rings make me sigh (with happiness, of course). I saw you wearing a saddle ring in a picture yesterday and I was hoping you'd make some for us too!
I've been cooped up in my office all week with the weather so gorgeous, I would die to sit atop a grassy hill and sip coffee in the sun. Alas, I kind of need to work too. Come on weekend!!
Have a good one Plumey!
oh MY. i want one of those rings…and in saying so i realize i'm only voicing the cry of millions who will read this post in the next few minutes! i don't care! i'm saying it anyway!
also, the ravensterlingdiorama is beautiful. i really appreciate the mysterious shadowy helena bonham carter work that you do. balances everything out.
happy friday – remember the voicemail you left me in which you sang "and ima packin' and a-shippin' and a'packin' and a-shippin'…"? well, you did. and it was hilarious. and it's all i can think about now.
loveyou.
…UNBELIEVABLE pieces…i love how you take an experience…a dream…a thought…a sketch…breathe enamel, silver, stone, life & light into it…& create a work of art…in the subtle hint of a poppy…deep within the rumor of the sea…& in the CAWcaw of a raven…all from the love & breath of your beautiful heart & soul…then share it with US…thank you…XOXO
I adore the raven!!!1
I realize this is off topic, but where did you get that great yellow T-shirt??
Yep. I'll add my voice to the cacophony (and this cacophony includes those of us screaming or gasping [oh my, that sounds so… ohh lala!] at our computer screens, or the fireworks going off silently in our brains, or that moment that we blacked out a little after reading your post…):
That saddle ring is so wonderful and huge and tactile and sexy, it hurts a little. It really does.
Hurts so good…!
😉
Wowza! I can't even decide what I like the best!It was a good week indeed!
Re: Raven obsessions: Have you ever read Raven's End by Ben Gadd? Sort of a Naturalists Watership Down from the point of view of ravens. I thought it was a great light read(it is intended I think for precocious children) and I am a bit biased as he is my neighbour. A curmudgeonly neighbour but I liked his book nonetheless.
*he also wrote the Handbook to the Canadian Rockies so he is a bit of stickler to naturalist's details. A little bit like you, non?
Plume,
That's one custom saddle… dreaming about roaming the wild mesa. Feminine, rustic, sleek, plus my birth stone! OVERLOAD!
I'm in love.
🙂
pretty bird…
Jillian, spectacular! The raven necklace is fantastic!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAA
AAA
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A
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speechless over saddle ring
*thud*
"'Tarnationally' is not a real word."
It is now!!!
I completely agree about Spring!! (Must use the capital, because she feels like a person…) Literally overnight the magnolias have sprung open and every living creature knows that today Spring has arrived. Dogs galore, squirrels everywhere. 70 degrees and perfect! Instead of chores, I sat up on the roof and soaked in the city and the harbor!
On another note, love love the raven necklace, but don't think I could ever wear it. Pittsburgh girl living in Baltimore ya know! So sadly, the Raven has a bad connotation for me…
That Ian Tyson record is one of the best albums ever.
True fact.
To all the ladies & Will:
Thanks for the Ian Tyson love and the spring love and the ring love and the raven love.
My Heart = Ten Times Larger Than It Was Yesterday
xx