Today's All-New Masterwork

Photo copyright Aji, 2022; all rights reserved.

It was eleven days ago that I featured Wings's relatively recent masterwork entitled  Migratory Paths, a wide traditional cuff adorned with his trademark microstamping and a free-flying overlay of an entire butterfly, wings floating above the band. It was also a day when I caught a few shots of the red-tailed Hawk who shares this space with us, one leaping into the winds, a few stationary or in flight. Wings had been looking over my shoulder at the butterfly cuff, and he mused aloud, "I should do one with your hawk, or your eagle" [there's a golden who visits occasionally; a bald more rarely still].

And thus today's all-new masterwork was born.

It's called Eagle's Gift, and it is . . . utterly extraordinary. It's cut entirely freehand of heavy fourteen-gauge sterling silver, all of a piece, wings and tailfeathers also scalloped by hand, and microstamped in a soft and graceful flutter of feathers:

Photo copyright Aji, 2022; all rights reserved.

But this one has a secret, and a gift: a overlay inside the inner band, a single eagle feather, falling, formed of 20-gauge sterling silver cut and scored and stamped freehand, with its own overlay shaft formed of hammered sterling silver braid wire:

Photo copyright Aji, 2022; all rights reserved.

And because that shot doesn't how it properly, I want you to see the inner band from another angle, so that you can get the full effect of the graceful drape (and scalloping) of the wings:

Photo copyright Aji, 2022; all rights reserved.

It's a phenomenal example of traditional Indigenous silversmithing techniques and motifs, and it can be yours. The full gallery entry is here. Wings's main page is here. Orders via the site's Contact form. We will still need to make consistent sales to make it through this third year of pandemic and loss, especially with extortionate tax payments due over the months to come, so shares of the site links are much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2022; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.