Completed just today, four incredible new works by Wings.

Photo copyright Aji, 2022; all rights reserved.

I said I might have four new pieces for you tonight, and here they are: Completed just today, four incredible new works by Wings. It's three pendants and one ring, and of the pendants, I don't think I could choose a favorite if my life depended on it. They're all unique, and all absolutely extraordinary in very different ways.

First up is the one shown above, and I honestly cannot stop looking at it. This one is called The Dance of a Desert Sun, and it's nearly indescribable. The entire pendant is all one piece, all cut freehand, and with the stones bezel-worked onto the surface. At the top is a positively gel-like square of golden rutilated quartz, sunny yellow included through ice. Beneath is a ribbon skirt of Apache sage rhyolite, and yes, it is a regional form that naturally occurs in those "red desert landscape" effects. It's edged on all sides by five fiery garnets, four shimmering pink mussel shell cabs, and five coolly chatoyant gray moonstones, and it is a phenomenon unto itself. You can read its full description here.

The second work, also a pendant, bears stylistic resemblances, but color and feel are completely different:

Photo copyright Aji, 2022; all rights reserved.

This one is a flower; it's also earth and sea and sky. It's called In the Sky's Embrace, and again, it's a single backing, cut and scalloped freehand to follow the arc of what would eventually be sixteen small stones ringing that fabulous outsized chrysocolla at the center. That focal stone is unusual for chrysocolla, which normally has some bright sky-blue turquoise-like shades in it. This is all greens, spruce and emerald marbled with jet, and it's as mysterious as the forest and ocean depths. Around it are arrayed the clear desert sky shades of the Sleeping Beauty Skystone, along with the stormier thunderhead hues of lapis lazuli. It's also pretty phenomenal. You can read its full description here.

And then there's the third pendant, where the stone is almost everything:

Photo copyright Aji, 2022; all rights reserved.

This one is built around what is perhaps the most extraordinary specimen of modern Morenci turquoise I've ever seen. The one is called, simply and aptly, Sky Medicine, and nearly the whole of it is that fabulous stone. The cabochon is actually an even deeper blue than it renders on my screen here, and don't let the computers fool you: There's not an ounce of green in the matrix; it's all iron pyrite, ranging from flecks the color of bright silver to shadowy dustings that look almost like jet. It's the freeform egg shape you see here, courtesy of the master lapidarist from whom we acquired it, with only a scalloped bezel, twisted silver, and a pair of handmade sterling silver ingot "raindrops" for adornment. You can read its full description here.

A couple of things about the pendants: These are far more complex than the ones of a few days ago (or, in the case of the third one, built around an ultra-high-grade [and thus ultra-high-cost] stone), so the price points are naturally higher. Also, as each individual description notes, each ships with an 18" sterling silver snake chain, but they're sold as pendants, no beads or more complex accessories.

And speaking of complex (again), here's the fourth work, the ring:

Photo copyright Aji, 2022; all rights reserved.

This one is another two-stone ring, but it's quite a different from the rest. This one is a spiral ring called Rising On the Smoke, and it's a tribute to transformative spirits: Water Serpent (the coiled body, made of heavy sterling silver half-round "wire"); Water Bird (stamped in pairs, freehand, down its convex surface); along separate halves of the inner band, flowing water and Butterfly. It's wrapped twice on the underside, once at the top, and each end terminates in a fabulous faceted rainbow moonstone that refracts plenty of blue. It's currently a size 13 . . . but it's sizeable! Wings will simply detach the bezels, rewrap it to the appropriate size (with more coils, accordingly), and then solder them back into place and reset the stones. You can read its full description here.

One other thing: I really cannot emphasize enough how badly we need to make sales right now. We have a couple of huge (for us) must-pay expenses due now (this year's last tax payment plus quarterly for next year) at the same time as we both have a bunch of very costly medical stuff that needs to be done. If I could sell all four of these pieces and the five others from the past week (three pendants, pair of earrings, wristband)? We'd just about be able to cover all of it.

Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. And given the desperate need to make sales now, 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.