ocean jasper

Springtime Sighing All Along The Creek


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 tree
The old brown hills are just about bare
Springtime sighing all along the creek
Magpies ganging up everywhere...
[Ian Tyson]

I don't think I've ever appreciated daylight savings quite so much!  
The extra daylight in the late
afternoon 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 Sunday
our 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 grin
in 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 things
that 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 projects
yesterday 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.

I’m not sure how many of these pieces I will get listed in the Etsy shop today.

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

Bonjour bonjour!

I’m about to hop over to the Etsy shop to pop some new items on the shelves. This week has been a bit of a wash in the studio for me since I ran out of metal on Monday and have been working on leftovers since then. Leftovers are perfectly good projects that are left by the wayside when I find myself distracted by a totally new idea — my workbench is a maze of half finished projects which is a very poor use of resources but sometimes I have to drop what I’m doing and leap in a different direction or I’m afraid I’ll totally pass over the tip of a new idea. I should try to control myself more but I’ve found that the chaos of project tailings actually acts as a fertilizer for my right brain. All that sterling nitrogen gets new growth booming in infinite directions.

This is the saddle ring I made Monday afternoon, on a complete whim, with posting ladies in jodhpurs in mind. I imagined a ring with an extremely wide, sterling face. The band on this ring tapers into a really comfy fit inside the finger. I’m a big fan. I find myself trying this ring on repeatedly whilst in my studio. It’s so big and smooth and cold. I reckon there’s even a bit of a medieval edge to it which is what inspired me to make a pair of these rings:

This is my take on the Claddagh Ring, which in Irish tradition is a ring that is given as a token of love or is worn as a wedding ring. They usually feature a crowned heart which is held by a pair of hands. If you follow the link above, you’ll see that mine actually looks NOTHING like a Claddagh Ring but I kept thinking of the Claddagh design while sawing the components for these rings. RW is quite smitten with this design because the applique resembles a pair of kissing swans which reminds us both our segment of life lived together in Alaska. Tres romantique! (TRES MOSQUITOS)

WE’RE JUST A PAIR OF TRUMPETER SWANS:

MAGNIFICENT IN FLIGHT,

MONOGAMOUS AND WHITE

I’ve also got a Soul Garden Ring with a beautiful slab of ocean jasper. This cabochon features slightly irregular orbicular patterning. They are quite ruffled and rather resemble poppies instead of the regular round, cosmic spots one can find in ocean jasper. Right pretty.

I have a handful of other goodies that will wind up in ye olde shoppe in a short while. Before I get listing I HAVE to find a pair of armwarmers I know I have some in my mitten basket by the front door…or perhaps they are in my bag of tights on the wall in the bedroom. At any rate, my wrists and fingers are freezing (not to mention really banged up after climbing last night). I might have to turn the heat up in the house — I HATE doing that in September. I feel like I should be able to tough it out and simply throw another sweater under my down vest and chug another pot of tea. I’ll not keep you from your daily duties by continuing this rambling! I hope you’re cozy, wherever you are. Adieu! Adieu!

Plumesicle

I had this delightful little note arrive this morning!

The thought of people being accosted for their plumage made me smile!!!

“Just thought I’d drop you a line to say hello and to tell you that I am wearing my “Up From The Earth” necklace today (and I do wear it frequently and adore it) and a lady stopped me in the middle of RUSH HOUR on the subway to ask about it. I gave her all the details, but it’s too funny, she came up to me and grabbed me by the arm and literally stopped me and demanded to know where I got it. I found that hilarious as I was rushing on my way to the office and she scared the @#$%^&* out of me! I just gaped at her and said: “Pardon me…?” I thought she was crazy (a very well-dressed crazy lady of about 50, too funny), so she repeated her question: “WHERE (insert emphasis here) did you get this gorgeous necklace?!” Finally I realized her passion for jewellery (it takes one jewellery junkie to know one), I laughed out loud and pulled her to the side to tell her all about Etsy and about The Noisy Plume. I hope she breaks down the barriers of shopping through the Internet (yes, it’s quite common that people mistrust the Internet to shop for anything, even in the Toronto Financial District) and pays you a visit.“

[From M. in Toronto]

Thanks toots! You made my day!

:::EDIT:::

Well it was a short and sweet shop update today over at The Noisy Plume!

Thanks to everyone who came out to support me — whether you took something home or not, your presence was felt!

Love to you all and happy weekending!