Labor-intensive.

Photo copyright Aji, 2022; all rights reserved.

I had a chance to get this shot yesterday, so I grabbed it. Click on it to enlarge, and you'll see what I mean. I've spoken numerous times of what's involved when Wings hand-texturizes pieces, particularly the kind of labor-intensive texturizing done with a single tiny divot-end stamp and hundreds of strikes of the hammer.

This is that process at work.

That tiny little space you see beneath his fingers, less than an inch? That's probably a hundred strikes right there. At the moment, he's planing on doing the whole surface that way; if he does, that will be upward of a thousand strikes before he's finished. He just finished a piece that was a birthday gift for one of the people dearest to us in the whole world, featuring an overlay of a buffalo whose mane and beard were texturized in the exact same way. One of these days, I'll build a #TBT post around that piece. This one he's working on now, when finished, will be offered up for sale.

And Spirit knows we need to bring in sales now, and the rest of the year. As I said yesterday, we just learned that both silver suppliers in this state have more than tripled their silver prices (for some types of silver, much more), which has left me pretty badly shaken. He's got enough for now to do what he needs to do, but nothing's going to change anytime soon, given that the justifications for it will be "supply-chain issues," "fuel prices," "war in Ukraine," and "inflation"; these prices are here for the foreseeable future. It's going to put a lot of Native smiths and jewelers completely out of business, and to make sure that Wings does not become one of them, I have GOT to make some sales. All the links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (priority is first and foremost, the other ladder);
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

We're still hoping to put aside enough for a new well when the ground thaws enough to drill in the spring, too, Nah, we've given up on the well. No one's available to drill before late next year at the earliest, and this year's tax burden means we would never be able to afford it anyway. But it's even more of a good time to make a purchase, because Uncle Sam is a vindictive colonizer, and my current stress levels about paying it all are off the charts. And there's lots of fabulous work, so please share all of the links. 

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.