This is the second installation in my Sagebrush statement necklace series.  It features a gorgeous cut of plume agate.  I’ve been calling this stone the “Genesis” stone.  It’s utterly cosmic looking and the plume itself holds a flashing stream of pyrite that catches light just so.  It speaks to the beginning of all things, but also, the small beginnings we face every single day as humans.  The spark that leads to combustion and creation.  The simple effort of getting out of bed in the morning.  The repetitive motion of inhaling and exhaling.  The birth and death of our cells.  Our hands and the work they do.  The daily rejuvenation of our spirits.  Genesis.  The Beginning.

When I finish a large statement piece like this I usually take a moment to count how many solders built the piece, I like to have a quantifiable sense of what went into the making of something.  I like to sit back and remember every hammer strike (as it happens, each sage leaf in this piece was struck about fifty times with two different hammers while texturing and forming).  This piece contains 142 solder points (large and small) — the sage leaf fringe required 82 of those solders.  That’s so much work, so many small things that build a beautiful whole.

+Of The West+