As promised: Wings's two new latest works.

Photo copyright Aji, 2023; all rights reserved.

Yes, I know I promised these yesterday. They were in fact done yesterday, and I even got the photos taken, but I had too much going on with the hacking nonsense to get the descriptions completed and get them posted here. 

Nonetheless, as promised: Wings's two new latest works.

First up is the cuff, all solid nine-gauge sterling silver, with gorgeous freehand stampwork chased all down the band:

Photo copyright Aji, 2023; all rights reserved.

This is Desert Honeysuckle, a tribute to an indigenous flowering vine that we have here. It's a lot hardier than ordinary honeysuckle, and blooms from spring to fall, provided the day happens to be warm enough. No stones on this one; the stampwork is enough, made in part with Wings's own hand-made stamps: the long, flowing arcs of the vine on the outer band, and the smaller linked S-curves on the inner band.  Those vines on the outside? I said they were chased, which means that the stamp is applied repeatedly, deepening the pattern, and linked together all the way down each segment.  It's a huge amount of work, and it's beautifully applied here. You can read the cuff's full description here.

The second work is a pendant, all saw-cut and stamped freehand. It's one that Wings began a long, long time ago, a reconceiving of the naja-style crescent, built around Turtle, the squash blossom, and the stars. Yes, really:

Photo copyright Aji, 2023; all rights reserved.

 He had set it aside, I think, because he couldn't bring together all the elements in his head and transfer them to three dimensions the way that he was seeing them. That changed this week, and this is the result. It's called The Gravity of Stars, and it's extraordinary. Classic crescent shape, but here, domed lightly, like a concha, repoussé-fashion, which gives it incredible depth and a sense of [very slow] motion. The ends, which I think he originally envisioned to hold cabs, are stamped in deep [and deeply oxidized] 8-rayed starbursts.  Grandmother Turtle sits just below than hand-rolled bail, the sun's rays beneath her, and a geometric, styllzed squash blossom opening below. To the sides are stars, forming and reforming and falling in their own gravitational pull, and three separate repoussé starbursts, each hand-made of sterling silver ingot and rising in sharply textured relief, are overlaid individually to join the upper elements together [and looking at al of it now, I see a Water Bird, or perhaps a Firebird, rising, wings spread, within the whole]. ships with an extra-long sterling silver snake chain. You can read its full description here.

Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. We will still need to make consistent sales in this fourth year of pandemic and loss, and just breaking even means making at least one sale a week,, but it's urgent now. If I cold sell both of these, I'd feel much better about yesterday's mess; if I could sell both of these plus today's featured earrings, I think we'd be on solid ground again, so shares are much appreciated.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2023; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.