So much of my inspiration of late stems directly from the chaotic surface of my workbench in the studio where half finished thoughts are splayed out in every direction like sun-wounded jellyfish on a beach.  Unrelated components lay there as testimonials of interruptions that have stopped me and the metal mid-sentence…a phone call from my mum, a text from a friend, a gaggle of house shopping folks to view the strawbale house and stare at my weird collection of skulls, turtle shells and houseplants…a dog barking at the UPS man, the insane daily scramble to get to the post office before it closes (it’s only open from 9-12:30 — excluding Saturdays) (mail delivery on Saturdays is one of the most beautiful things about America to me, since I am a true epistle-ophile) (not a real thing but you know what I mean).

There’s the litter of half formed thoughts on my bench top, the detritus of everything that almost made it into something bigger than itself.  This is the time of year I feel a self-induced pressure to button up the studio, gather all these broken thoughts and inturrupted ideas and complete them so I can end the year with a clean slate…time stamp the designs of this past year and move beyond them into newness.

I don’t think I ever have a sense of ‘Christmas Rush’ — I think I suffer dearly a strong sense of the tail end of a creative year and the need to clearly catalogue what happened and when in my creative life.  I want it all finished.  This year, there is the added complication of needing to pack up the studio and move it into the new house which is a notoriously discombobulating deed.  Things go missing even if I’m only moving my workspace a square mile to the left…things go awry.  It’s like socks and washing machines.  There are some mysteries we humans will never solve.

I am going to keep working up until the moment I have to put my tools in boxes and move them to my new light-riddled workspace at the farm but these are my final offerings for 2016.  They’ll be in the shop tonight, at some point…or if I suffer sudden fatigue (which happens every day now), tomorrow morning.  Oh dear.  Sudden fatigue just happened.  Tomorrow morning then…

Thank you all for your support in 2016.  I have a holiday giveaway for you that I will post in a couple of days.  I look forward to popping the cork on 2017, settling into work and life and a new home, feeling some of this unsettledness fizz away, delving deeper…going beyond-er…tending to my wee family which is still suffering from post fire season frazzle…

Eggnog.

*clink*

https://www.thenoisyplume.com/blog/2016/12/17/12428/

At long last, a return to trout!  

I love these little swimmers.  The selective satin finish and the blaze of 23K gold down the lateral line of these fish forms give the motif some really lovely yet delicate dimension.  I just listed a batch in the Etsy shop and they were snapped up quickly but I’ll list a few more tomorrow for anyone who is interested.

It’s been snowing and sleeting and raining here but cold enough for the ground to stay frozen so water is standing on the roads and trails.  It’s such a mess.  Poor Penelope never thinks to go around these road swamps when we’re out gallivanting.  Maybe her brains are frozen…or perhaps she is boldness incarnate!  Boldness!  Thy name is Teenie Weenie!

The house renovation plods on.  Here’s a glimpse at the kitchen though I believe all the drywall is up now and there’s nothing to give a girl hope that the end is near like fresh drywall, taped and textured and awaiting paint!The beams you see running through the ceiling will be covered in custom built fir casings to match the rest of the exposed cross ties in the house and the tile is pulled and being replaced with hardwood to also match the rest of the house.  The inset lighting is in and brilliant — everything is on dimmer switches and really nicely spaced out.  We wound up going to a custom cabinet maker in the city for our new cabinets — they’ll be walnut with a really lovely quartz counter top, slide in stove range and a huge farm sink in which one could take a bath.

Our renovation schedule is insane and we had to cancel our trip home to Canada for Christmas (which I am exceedingly sad about).  On December 29th all the hardwood floors we have installed (this is in progress currently) will be finished and sealed just in time for the new cabinets and counters to be installed on the 3rd of January so that we can move in on the 9th and 10th…painting is happening sometime in there, as well, and I have to get the studio packed away and shuffled into its new space, thank God this is the last time I will have to do this for a long while.  I can’t stand moving the studio.  It’s no small torture.

Why the insane schedule you ask?  Well, the strawbale house just sold!  We’ve got to get the heck out of dodge!  I’ll be honest, the strawbale house was shown a few times which was quite disruptive for me since I work from home.  I’m glad that’s all over (and that’s no offense to the realtors who were showing it, they are really lovely people).  Sadly, the strawbale house will become a vacation home.  I say sadly because I really feel this structure is terribly unique and it needs someone living in it full time, taking care of it, loving it, keeping nature from moving in and taking over.  It needs landscaping, trees planted, noxious weeds eliminated, tender loving care of the grounds.  I would have loved to see it go to an artist…it’s so well suited for hermity living and the river is such an inspiration and a constant source of beauty…it’s such a quiet, calm space.  Rob tells me I have to be ok with it.  And I suppose I do have to be ok with it.  I’ve cherished living here though, it’s been more than an interim home for me, it’s been a sanctuary…and I guess I would want the next person who lives in it to have the same sense of wonder and that we have had while living in this home.

So long, strawbale house.  It’s been swell.

For my next shop update I have finished three Morrisonite rings.  These are such beautiful stones and I’ve honored them with simple but heavy sterling settings that hold orbits of 14K gold.  I love to set landscape and picture jaspers for obvious reasons but Morrisonite is considered the KING of jaspers and I tend to agree with that sentiment.  This jasper is capable of holding such rich hues within the poetic and orderly chaos of its molecules.  These colors are wet and bright, like oil paints squeezed from the tube onto a palate.  The saturation is glorious.  I consider Morrisonite to be a “painterly” jasper — abstract expressionism brought forth by the rugged hands of our Earth.

I also want you to know that some life details have me traveling for two full days this week, unexpectedly, so I have pushed my shop update back to December 7th, noon, MST.  I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Thanks for being here.

X

 

Icon Rings ::: sterling silver and chrysoprase ::: bound for my shop update on December 7th, noon, MST.

https://www.thenoisyplume.com/blog/2016/11/29/12396/