Just done.

Photo copyright Aji, 2026; all rights reserved.

That right there?  Is a full-sized horse trough, and that's less than an hour's worth of rain in it. Two hours and a big lull in the storm later, and it was over half full. We have another lull now, and we're supposed to get snow overnight, but who knows?

I'm exhausted, in pain, and fed up. We have half a dozen big cash expenses coming up, and no sales. Money lent that I was assured would be repaid today? Of course not. And I am doing all of this impossibly late tonight because it has been one goddamned derailment after another all day today, and what everyone else wants matters more than my own work, as always. I'll be back to it all tomorrow, but right now? I'm just done.

Nothing makes me feel even the slightest bit better [yes, I sais steroids, but there's the steroid headache to contend with, every damn night], and yet I have to maintain this pace. I'm already under unspeakable pressure this year, never mind the need to make up for the last two terrible ones. Our floor for sales and breaking even is making a minimum of one sale per week for the year, and we're still two weeks in the hole now. I don't have enough hours in the day as it is, and I can't afford what's been happening to me. Regardless of side effects or disease progression, I've got to do something to bring in sales. We need to bring in a lot more, because it's grim. Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here [priorities are the LaminaSaver, because apparently Miika's out of it again; and the rugs, to replace those destroyed 2 years ago by the leachfield collapse and ensuing septic disaster];
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

And we do still need to make those regular weekly sales, so please share all of the links. We really do need to begin this year on a better footing than the last two, and so far, it's been impossibly grim.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2026; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

Friday Feature: Love In the Low Winter Half-Light

Photo copyright Aji, 2026; all rights reserved.

It's our Friday Feature at The NDN Silver Blog, with a trio of related works that all embody the haunting beauty of dusk at this season, strung with colors perfect for this week to honor love in all its forms. It's three from Wings's signature series of gemstone-bead works, a necklace, pair of earrings, and coil bracelet all created to coordinate ins substance, shade, and spirit, all embodying the beauty of love in the low winter half-light.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. It's a new calendar year, and we very much need to make this a better year than the last two have been. That begins with a minimum of one sale a week, without fail. It's February already and we're still more than two weeks behind on what, it's become clear, is going to be a hard and costly year.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2026; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.        

Newest iteration.

Photo copyright Aji, 2026; all rights reserved.

The dragonfly cuff, newest iteration. What you can't see in the photo are the two wholly separate dragonfly overlays on either side. This one is big, and it's going to be costly [and phenomenal]:  all freehand stampwork, hammerwork, cutwork, overlays, bezel, etc. Might be done on Saturday; might be Sunday.

I woke up this morning a little before six, to find that it had rained. Not in the forecast, although you could smell it on the air at midnight when I was out putting the heated frisbees in the feral dog's house. Trouble was, you could also see stars everywhere, so I didn't think we'd actually get anything. But on the southeast slopes, there was a faint new dusting of snow this morning.

Labs are in, and everything falls within normal ranges [story of my life; sero-negative for lupus and RA for literal decades, while all the joint and tissue damage proceeded apace, but no one would treat it because . . . sero-negative, so now I have a half-century of unnecessary damage and constant pain], except . . . wait for it: BG. Which was 100.  Which is absolutely fine.  Yes, it's high for me, because my norm is 70s-80s, but I am not remotely prediabetic. What I AM is on week #3 of a steroid burst for my autoimmune progression, and steroids raise BG in everybody. So yeah, I'm more than a little annoyed at the label when it has nothing to do with reality. Next week, I think, will be the last week of upping the steroid dose like this, at least for now, so it'll drop precipitously and very, very rapidly.

I'm annoyed by everything right now, because other than the steroids, nothing makes me feel even the slightest bit better, and yet I have to maintain this pace. I'm already under unspeakable pressure this year, never mind the need to make up for the last two terrible ones. Our floor for sales and breaking even is making a minimum of one sale per week for the year, and we're still two weeks in the hole now. I don't have enough hours in the day as it is, and I can't afford what's been happening to me. Regardless of side effects or disease progression, I've got to do something to bring in sales. We need to bring in a lot more, because it's grim. Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here [priorities are the LaminaSaver, because apparently Miika's out of it again; and the rugs, to replace those destroyed 2 years ago by the leachfield collapse and ensuing septic disaster];
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

And we do still need to make those regular weekly sales, so please share all of the links. We really do need to begin this year on a better footing than the last two, and so far, it's been impossibly grim.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2026; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

#TBT: Love of the Earth, to Nurture the Tree of Life

Photo copyright Wings, 2026; all rights reserved.

It's #ThrowbackThursday at The NDN Silver Blog, with a #TBT work that dates back just over thirteen years, to January of 2013 — a pair of earrings in one of Wings's classic Tree of Life designs. It's a pair perfect for a winter's twilight, a manifestation of the love of the earth, to nurture the tree of life in all its forms.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. This work will never be duplicated exactly, but if the general style speaks to your spirit, simply inquire via the site's Contact form; Wings can create a version uniquely your own. It's a new calendar year, and we very much need to make this a better than the last two have been. That begins with a minimum of one sale a week, without fail, and it's already February and we're still more than two weeks behind.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2026; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.    

Bare tundra.

Photo copyright Aji, 2026; all rights reserved.

Look at all that bare tundra.  In early February. Meanwhile, our esteemed governor has courted a DARPA-contracted corporation to build a fucking quantum computing center in ABQ [and they're doing it] in a state without enough water for the most minimal basics. The pols are going to be the death of us all.

God, I'm tired. I have felt so unremittingly awful for so long [months, now] that as soon as I have a couple of days where I feel slightly more human, I have no choice but to overdo it, and now I'm completely wiped out again. I'm so sick of this. Of everything, including this stupid genocidal society that wants us all dead.

And there's not going to be any break in the workload for me. We are nowhere near where we thought we would be now, or where we need to be, and I have to change that, because we have huge expenses coming up over the next two months, and right now? Absolutely no way to cover any of it. So I'll be over here killing myself with the workload, with everyone else piling on, and I'm getting to the point where some people are very soon going to be dealing wth another side of me. I don't work for you, I don't answer to you, and if you want anything from me at all, you best learn very fast not to jerk me around, because it won't end well for one of us, and that one will be you, guaranteed. I am kind, I am actually quite nice most of the time, but don't ever mistake that for me being your fucking doormat.

I'm already under unspeakable pressure this year, never mind the need to make up for the last two terrible ones. Our floor for sales and breaking even is making a minimum of one sale per week for the year, and we're still two weeks in the hole now. I don't have enough hours in the day as it is, and I can't afford what's been happening to me. Regardless of side effects or disease progression, I've got to do something to bring in sales. We need to bring in a lot more, because it's grim. Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here [priorities are the LaminaSaver, because apparently Miika's out of it again; and the rugs, to replace those destroyed 2 years ago by the leachfield collapse and ensuing septic disaster];
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

And we do still need to make those regular weekly sales, so please share all of the links. We really do need to begin this year on a better footing than the last two, and so far, it's been impossibly grim.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2026; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.

For Love of the Winter Night

Photo copyright Aji, 2026; all rights reserved.

Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, with a masterwork wrought in old-school Indigenous Art Deco style with a fabulous old stone, like our twilight world now sitting at angles to the night. It's a focal in shades of rose and crimson and mulberry and black plum, framed by handmade ingot work above some of the finest freehand scorework you've ever seen, the whole an inspiration for the work needed for love of the winter night.

The post is here. Wings's main page is here. Inquiries via the site's Contact form. It's a new calendar year, and we very much need to make this a better year than the last two have been. That begins with a minimum of one sale a week, without fail. It's February already and we're still two weeks behind on what, it's become clear, is going to be a hard and costly year.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2026; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.        

The famous cuff.

Photo copyright Aji, 2026; all rights reserved.

The famous cuff that last week was going to be finished by Saturday. Trouble is, as with so very many pieces, it keeps undergoing design shifts as he works on it, and so it might be done this weekend, if we're lucky. To be clear, that's a good thing: He has always said that his work is best when he lets Spirit guide his hands, rather than trying to force an initial idea one something that clearly wants to go somewhere else.

Also, he didn't get as much studio time today as needed. We did finally get labs done. His were just the standard annual stuff that he always has done as a baseline; mine were . . . something a little more, shall we say. And I now have a very sore bruise in the crook of my left elbow, which is absolutely absurd, because my veins will pop out perfectly beneath a harsh glare, never mind a tourniquet. But this one hurt, and it took longer than it should have, and here we are.

Anyway. I don't have any strong feelings about the results, other than that if there's a way for them to explain these months of abject misery in a way that can be fixed, I want them to do that. I mean, it's not like we can afford for me to have enforced downtime. I've got to get this fixed, because this year has already gone drastically sideways and I have GOT to bring in a lot more than what we've been doing, and I can't do that if I can't even function enough to get things uploaded and live in a timely manner.

Because we don't have anything like the sales we need this year, never mind to make up for the last two terrible ones. Our floor for sales and breaking even is making a minimum of one sale per week for the year, and we're still two weeks in the hole now. I don't have enough hours in the day as it is, and I can't afford what's been happening to me. Regardless of side effects or disease progression, I've got to do something to bring in sales. We've made two this weekend, which at this point are an indescribably blessing, but we're so far in the hole from this ear so far plus the last two years of utter crap that it's only the barest floor. We need to bring in a lot more, because it's grim. Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here [priorities are the LaminaSaver, because apparently Miika's out of it again; and the rugs, to replace those destroyed 2 years ago by the leachfield collapse and ensuing septic disaster];
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

And we do still need to make those regular weekly sales, so please share all of the links. We really do need to begin this year on a better footing than the last two, and so far, it's been impossibly grim.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2026; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.