Rocking now.

Photo copyright Aji, 2024; all rights reserved.

More giant squash. Those plants have loved the rain; they're absolutely rocking now.

I hope everything comes to fruition before the first hard freeze. That's not far off, though, very clearly; I think it got down into the 30s last night, after all that wild rain. We had small fires in both woodstoves in the early evening to take the chill off, because that kind of rain is cold. You get a 20- to 3-degree drop between pre- and post-storm temperatures with these.

Today was glorious, all bright blue skies and barely above seventy. But you can feel winter just in the offing here; it feels as though it's planning a very early arrival. I'm glad we began stocking up on firewood early in the year, because we're going to need it.

We're going to need to switch gears with Wings's work, too. Last week's monster check cleared today with that evil agency, so I can quit thinking about that . . . and switch to thinking about how we're going to pay next year's, natch. We need a good holiday season to do that, and we didn't have that last year, but I need to find a way to make this one better. One big thing is that, where in the past we'd usually mark October first as the start of the holiday creative season with regard to Wings's work, we're already in that mode this year. Speaking of rocking now, he's been turning out new inventory at a good clip the last several weeks, but he needs to build it up a lot more before the holiday shopping season really gets under way. One change this year, I think, is that he won't be doing much in the way of commissions. It's one thing if folks want a basic cuff or pair of earrings or pins or barrettes with specific stones or whatever, but the last several years, we've been seeing a switch from folks shopping the site to wanting sometimes really elaborate or highly specific commissioned pieces, and . . . he's tired. I mean, flat-out exhausted, and so am I, and I have to be involved just as much because I'm the intermediary between the customer's desires and what he produces, and neither of us has that kind of energy right now. It takes A LOT out of both of us, and there's a lot lower profit margin most of the time because of all the extra work involved, and It's one of the reasons our sales margins have been low at the holidays lately. He warned me after last winter that he was done with commissions for a good while, so be warned: Except in limited circumstances [and if you're a regular client, you already know what those are], it's going to be just existing inventory for the foreseeable.

Speaking of which, there is a ton of new work on the site from just the last few weeks [with three or four new bracelets in the works currently [one shown above, a wristband], and some collectible items coming soon] the top item brand-new on Sunday: 

• Completed just over the weekend, an all-new wristband, here;
• One extraordinary new belt buckle set with an incredible Skystone, here;
• Another new vintage-style cuff with a mysterious Skystone, here;
• Three new pairs of earrings in his gemstone-bead series, here, here, and here;
• Three new cuffs from last week, two set with incredible turquoise focals, one solid silver; go here, here, and here.
• Six pairs of new concha floral earrings in the Earrings Gallery here [larger are garnet, golden rutilated quartz, and malachite; smaller are amber, carnelian, and iolite];
• Art Deco Labradorite cuff here;  
• Triangle wire youth bangle here; 
• Art Nouveau vine pattern-wire youth bangle here; 
• Small Art Nouveau pattern-wire bangle pair here; 
• Malachite butterfly/leaf-wing earrings here; 
• A big solid silver classic cuff here; 
• Ten new pairs of the gemstone-bead earrings are also up in the Earrings Gallery;
• And another new cuff is also here. 

There's more on the way very soon. And I need to sell them all, because I still need to make multiple sales daily for us to catch up on the year [and that's just breaking even] and cover all the stuff still in the pipeline that needs covering [roof, more medical, etc.]. So: GO BUY! PLEASE! Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Amazon cards are probably most useful at this point); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

After such a grim year, this one already far worse than the last, we really need to get what's left of 2024 onto a better footing, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2024; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.