I know you missed them…
I did too.
These nomads are larger than the original nomads and they’re equipped with big hearts as well as my soul tags. Perfect for pioneer women with windy wheat souls AND urbanites who crave wide open spaces.
xx
Prairie Woman Breastplate
February 4, 2011 by
There’s been this battle in my hands when it comes to what the heck to do with leather.
For a while, I’d shiver when looking at my leather bench, afraid to make anything except simple, bright belts to go with my belt buckles.
One of my dearest friends is a leather worker and it always seems like she’s already done everything, tooled every kind of design there is to tool, strung together every kind of bag one could make and crafted every kind of cuff there is in the world.
I’ve been paralyzed by her proficiency and terrified of dancing all over her tender little tootsies,
until now.
Finally, in the past few weeks, I have dreamed up something that combines leather and metal, something that really feels like my own and feels true to my heritage and my style. I’ve suddenly come into feeling free to sit down and create a bit, just a bit, with leather. I’ve realized, even more than I did when I wrote this, that creative freedom is ALWAYS mine (and yours), whether it is encouraged, or not. It isn’t granted by anyone but rather, it is inherent in us all, as humans — we all have a right to create, to express ourselves, to make with our hands and our souls even if that means our work overlaps the work of others technically and aesthetically. Our work and the honesty of our work is our own business.* I love discussing this topic and the idea of creative “ownership”, I could do so for hours really…I so often find myself utterly alone in my perspective that it makes for lively debate — stimulation for the minds! YEE HAW!
But back to the topic at hand, I’ve been making breastplates.
They are entirely handcrafted, including the fine silver buffalo ingots that are central to the designs. They have girth and sit, quite warmly, over the heart. On the body they feel protective, cozy, soft and powerful. In the hand, they feel like something beautiful you’d trade for a three month supply of pemmican, or a cured and lush bison hide.
They evoke rustic living, pioneering soul, a dash of native fortitude and a strong connection to the earth, animals and maybe even subsistence lifestyle — they’re just so unique, so rugged and lusty, so wonderfully organic.
More than anything, I have this grand sense, when I wear mine, that even though I have strayed far from the great Northern plains of Saskatchewan (my home), I can still hang the spirit of the prairies over my heart, like a shield.
They are stitched together by hand and tie around the neck with the softest turquoise suede. A total sensory pleasure to wear.
This is the first I’m offering, the original is my own.
You may find it in the shop, toute suite!
Happy weekend to you all!
I’m so excited to have most of my computer work finished for the day already (oh my gosh, it’s only 9:35AM). I’m going to head out to the studio and work on a few other diddies that I’ve had bouncing about my soul this week before retiring for the weekend. I hope you all have the most wonderful WONDERFUL day.
I appreciate having you in my world, so much.
I don’t tell you that nearly enough.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you for finding me.
With abiding affection,
The Plume
*This reminds me of something I was journaling about the other day. I was remembering the journals I kept throughout high school — the unhappiest time of my life. I’ve read over them and can hardly bear how dishonest they are. I wasn’t writing them for anyone but myself, but I didn’t know how to be honest with myself, even in private! Do any of you relate with this? When I flip through a currently tended journal, I’m astounded by how much I’ve grown as a girl who is simply able to be honest with herself, in private and in public. It feels good. I know that honestly is flowing out into all of my life and all of my work, I know that honestly expressing my emotions is healthy and it’s…well…it’s kind of exciting! Sometimes I feel all grown up…
The First Time is the Sweetest
July 29, 2010 by
I finished this at 2AM last night!
MY FIRST EVER BELT AND BUCKLE!!!
CAN I GET AN AMEN?!!!
100% handcrafted in every way! This belt features a hand cut, carved and tooled leather belt that has been antiqued and hand painted. The buckle was also crafted by me from sterling silver and amethyst. I feel compelled to once again remind you that a belt buckle takes one day of my life to create and is a labor of love in many ways. This buckle features two bison with pierced and patched hearts, one metric ton of texture as well as four amethyst cabochons. Like my buckles of the past, and many of my other pieces, this piece features a handful of word strips that utter:
Stay wild. Run free.
The leather portion of the belt echoes this sentiment and the entire piece is made to wear slung low around a part of a woman that measures about 37 inches. I can punch ONE MORE hole in this leather to snug the fit up a bit but NO MORE than that.
The belt has been equipped with two bomber snaps that allow you to remove the buckle if you wish to wear it with another belt or if you wish to wear the belt with different buckle. Versatility! YAY! Seriously, I struggled with how to antique this piece. I really wanted to use my chartreuse antique but sensibility won in the end and I selected saddle tan for the job — not everyone wears at least one piece of chartreuse green every single day like I do. See? I’m always looking out for your best interest (except for sometimes).
What people see when you’re going:
What people see when you’re coming:
This is my first larger scale effort in leather and I am so delighted by the outcome I think I’ll keep on with it. What do you think? Would you wear it?
I’m off to whip up some breakfast and a cafe au lait before heading out to the studio for the day.
I hope Thursday is treating you well, you smart little chickadees and chickadudes!
xx
P
Just One From the Herd
July 1, 2010 by
Tatonka.
American Bison.
I love them.
You should see my wide open heart when I travel to Jackson and watch them mill about at the base of the Tetons. I love this animal, this beast, this hunk of woolly flesh. I was born in Wood Buffalo National Park, Canada when my parents were stationed there. My father worked with wood bison and we even had an orphaned bison calf named Georgina who lived in our yard for a stint. I consider this animal to be one of my totems (my older sister does as well). I’m amazed by their size which is proportionate to the legends that surround them. They practically became a mythical beast and were brought back, slowly, from the brink of extinction and are now raised behind bars, for the most part, in North America. I think they represent the vastness of the great plains as well as the majesty of the boreal forests of Northern Canada. They’re a symbol of the wild West (and it’s still wild, to a certain degree). A symbol of final frontiers. They were killed by the thousands by the native tribes of North America as well as the white man for their meat, bones, hide and horns. They’re victims of poor stewardship by men of every color and they used to kill themselves by the hundreds while crossing riverbeds.
Their story, their natural history, is colorful and complex.
Their hooves make thunder.
Their breath is wind.
I refer to the buffalo constantly in my every day speech.
I say things like, “thick as a bison hide” and “Robbie, quit acting like a wild buffalo…”
There’s something about this animal that belongs to me, some unspoken understanding.
And while I’m small I be mighty.
And while they be mighty, they be small.
I craft them out of sterling, fairly often. I cut, with my jewelers saw, their careful shape. Humped, bearded, with that skanky little tail rising of of sturdy haunches. I set them with amethyst in their hearts, or pearls. They remind me to stay wild and run free. No matter how many other sterling ideas I come up with, I always return to the bison. I can’t help it. They call to me.
This ring is meant for a woman who feels the same way about buffalo. If it’s one of your totems, it’s meant to be yours. I’ve taken an concave sheet of sterling, textured it, and applied a bison form to its surface. This fellow wears a heart of pearl and a slash of gold across his back. The back of this ring face features more textural detail and patterning as well as one of my sterling bones. It’s rich with soul and something bigger than that as well — perhaps ghosts.
This ring is sizable.
It’s big and wide, just like the spirit of The West.
May it go to the perfect home.
xx
