I found a perfect puff of lichen on a mountain the other day and was compelled to make some of my own with copper, sterling and 23 karat gold. I love the result, though my pieces aren’t nearly as delicate, complex and beautiful as the real thing! It’s still fun to mimic the forms and textures I see in nature — I believe such work pays homage to The Creator. What forms and textures have you seen lately, in your complex concrete jungles and hushed rural havens, that inspire you and beguile you?
On a magical bike adventure last night I marveled at the organized order that forests form. To glimpse between trunks is easy, but to behold the beauty in the trunks themselves, I found refreshing.
Kokie!
You’ve the heart of a poet!
beautiful
love and light
Thanks, sweet beauty. x
wow! just wow! inspiration really is all around us, isn’t it?
It sure is.
We must keep our eyes, hearts and souls open.
Dear Jillian,
I am fascinated with lichen, mostly with its silver color. I am also impressed with your new shop, my goodness, it is like magic in the woods!
And, I do indeed live in a cement world of straight lines…I look at everything from many different angles, superimpose, remove layers, look at negative space…I have to say that the layers of palm and the body of palm are fascinating, they match the angular world we live in.
xo wish you were here for a coffee that I must drink alone now
Mona! Good day I say, good day!
You do live in a world of angles….it’s true. I love that you take time to really see into it.
Wish I could have been there for coffee. Some day.
x
Breathtaking!
Thanks, you beauty!
I’m likin’ the lichen.
I’m likin’ your likin’. x
if ANY silversmith pays homage to the Creator while mimicking nature, it’s you.
and that’s one reason i love you and your work. so very much.
i live in the midst of the Creator’s handiwork. this you know. just last week i got lost out on the hillside, studying lichen on trees, tiny ferns and wildflowers on the forestfloor. i carry all this in my heartpocket when i go into the town for my career work. sometimes i actually carry bits and pieces with me and keep it close-by to remind me i am God’s hinterland hobbit and my home is out there in the alpine.
work on, sweet girl: you are just getting started on a wonderful new venture….
I try, sister, I try. 🙂
I do know where you live and right now must be a beautiful time of springing forth into the summer months for the little forest your home is nestled in. Hug a patch of fireweed for me. xx
Seriously? This collection is ridiculous, as is ridiculously GOOD! I mean, what else can I say…actually I could say a lot about it, but my eyes are longing to look more so I’m leaving a fast comment and going back to look at the pictures again.
Sierra, thank you for being so kind. xx
so great to be inspired by what nature provides. the owls have been finding me lately, peering down at me from their forest perches, and i think it’s a sign of my next creature to make.
I think so! If you make an owl, it’s going to be BEAUTIFUL.
You had me at copper (lichen dangles). They look good on you. I cannot stop admiring aspen bark! I feel like peeling some and writing a letter on it! Can you create something using aspen tree trunks as inspiration? Of course you can!
I’m going to make myself a pair of lichens….unless I make myself a pair of something else first! HA HA HA! Lots of good stuff going on in Miss Maple right now. That’s for sure. I’m actually still out there working tonight, the light is awesome at 9:30PM and my living room is full of smokejumpers watching a basketball game (bit of a man-barn in there).
YES! You can make something inspired by aspen trunks! You can do ANYTYHING!!!
Your work is always so beautiful Jillian!
Colour has been inspiring me lately – must be all the dying with nature’s colours I’ve been experimenting with recently.
x
J, You are so kind. Thank you. Oh gosh! Natural dying! I’m actually taking a class in ten days with a friend of mine! I can’t wait.
Hello! i love these! And finally learned a new word in english, lichen I mean. In finnish it’s jäkälä. Is it ok to pin yous pretty pictures on Pinterest?
Maiu, I love the Finnish word for Lichen. I wish I could hear you say it. It is alright to pin my photos on Pinterest — in fact, I appreciate it! And thank you in advance for linking your pinned image to my blog and giving The Noisy Plume credit for the shot. 🙂 Thank you for asking!
Yesterday I spied tender swirling vine tendrils snaking around a wrought iron post. Hypnotic, really.
Lichens also make my heart skip a beat. Yours are very beautiful too.
I was romanced by the same thing the other day. There’s a rack of caribou antlers on the garage wall here with a virginia creeper climbing up it. Just whimsical and pretty in every way!
Shut the front door! Is there no end to your mellifluous metallurgy magic? How on earth do you do it?
HA HA HA!!! Bless you, you sassy thing!
I love your work at the best of times, but when there’s copper involved I LOVE it.
Here in Hampshire its elderflower season. The scent beguilingly fills our house before the boy submerges them in vast vats to make champagne or cordial or jam. Whilst he’s weighing out sugar and lemons I’m entranced by the perfect formations of those tiny flowers. Nature is so sweet.
Ooh lady! I’m glad to hear it.
And, for the record, the fact that you have a man who makes champagne for you…and cordial…..just made my heart and soul chatter:) RW loves to make jam. And I love to watch him in the kitchen as he buzzes about. Nature is sweet and so are you. Thanks for being here! x
Indeed, we’re lucky lasses!
Those are stunning!!!
Thanks Emmy!
Gosh, that’s pretty, J.
We drove out to a little island beach tonight around dusk. Long roads with fields on either side. I thought (and said, repeatedly, just to be on the record about it somehow) that the side of the road — with the Queen Anne’s Lace and the nigellas and the poppies and the weeds and the grasses and the fences and the rocky ditches — that’s the spot that I truly love. The road at the side of the meadow. I can never recreate it on my own, very manicured, property. But if I had my way, the entire place would look like that spot at the edge of the gravel — daisies and cornflowers and clover.
I love the arrangement of wildflowers too. Even if I cast the seeds out, by hand, into the spring wind and dirt, they never look as perfectly (un)arranged as those fields of flowers on the hillsides and roadsides.
Wow, these are absolutely beautiful! I especially love the earrings.
The trail in the wooded park across the street from us is covered little in bits of lichen and branches after a good storm rolls through. I always love going there after a storm to breathe in the damp air and see what new treasures grace the forest floor.
It’s been hot lately though, and I’ve found myself mesmerized by water and the patterns it makes when the sun (or moon!) light hits it. Thank you for sharing your beautiful work!
Keely, thanks for sharing your beautiful thoughts! I’m equally romanced by water right now. It’s everywhere I look here and it runs wild. Just perfect.
REALLY gorgeous!!!!
And you too!!!