Something new in the works.

Photo copyright Aji, 2024; all rights reserved.

Something new in the works [along with all the rest that are in the pipeline; this is the biggest crop of new works consecutively in years]. I caught some shots of him scalloping that bezel by hand, snipping each V out of it freehand, no marks, no measurements, no guides. But I thought showing it next to the stone it'll hold would be good, since it's a material new to him: It's called river jasper, and it's a speckled, almost shimmering mix of greens, shades of raw emerald and teal, in an incredible curving freeform teardrop-ish shape. It's going to be the focal of a cuff, and it's going to be fabulous; if you like greens, this one's for you.

It's been a day, but it's been right in line with everything else this week, and this week has been a horror show. I am at least feeling slightly more human than yesterday — not a lot, but where I was yesterday is a very, very low bar to clear. That's mostly due to the fact that I got some sleep overnight. But I think tomorrow might be another one of those days [like most of them lately], so probably best to assume that everything will be late then, too. I got part of the bureaucratic and medical stuff done that I needed to do; now I have to hope I can finish it all up tomorrow.

It's getting up to 55 degrees or so in the daytime again, which is not good even if it is comfortable. But the lows are still in the teens, which means wind chills in single digits still, too.  The bomb cyclone/atmospheric rover combo currently battering the West Coast is not supposed to reach us until Tuesday, be here for three days, and then usher in a more seasonal cold, and that's good . . . but that cold is an issue locally for less fortunate folks, and it's why some of us are doing the work we're doing [although in my case, it's mostly from home and online; other folks are doing the harder stuff out in the streets]. As I said, some of us met on Saturday to try to figure out where we could put a dent in this mess. This was very introductory, but that was the point: figuring out what exists [very little] and what doesn't [nearly everything] and where we might be able to fill in a few of those gaps. I'll have more info in the days and weeks to come, but for now?  Go here, buy something, or several somethings, off the outreach group's wishlist, and you will literally be saving a life, probably more than one. It's not really possible to overstate how bad it is out there, nor how great the need is. I've sorted it in their Priority order, but they've given out so much stuff this week that they now have new priorities: hand warmers, snacks, tarps, duct tape, two-person tents [only $22 each!], the safety stuff like flashlights and pepper spray; they also need large-size men's stuff, socks, and large- and extra-large-size dog stuff, like collars and harnesses and dog coats, further down on the list.

And then there's my own actual work. WE NEED SALES. As always at this time of year, I'm already putting in 12- to 16-hour days every day, 7 days a week, because the work won't wait, and for us, being able to help anyone else starts with us making those sales, of course. But beyond that? I also am finding myself unexpectedly under the gun on another front; besides needing to bring in enough in seasonal sales to repay a big chunk on our '24 taxes, the election has made the need to replace my laptop NOW absolutely mandatory, before the end of the year, because the price, already hellish for the one I need, will skyrocket at the first of the year. So if you're contemplating buying? Now would be a really, really good time. Our laptop is our whole work, everything, and it fails me on the daily now.

Today's #TBT feature is from one of Wings's longest-running [and most whimsical] signature series, his winter holiday tree pins. This one dates back to 2010, as nearly as I can tell, and it's set with garnet, turquoise, and lapis [regarding shape, think the trees in the storm at Christmastown in the '60s stop-motion version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. So for tonight's inventory selections, it's the two holiday tree pins in current inventory [no reindeer yet, but there might be more soon]:

• "Resin, Berry, Bough." a little tree pin with branches and stampwork that seem to smile, set with stones in the three colors of the name, amber, carnelian, and jade, here; and
• "Evergreen Twilight," in the same style, but set with the jeweled colors of dawn and dusk, onyx, garnet, and moonstone, here.

There's more on the way very soon; he's got something like four more cuffs [an incredible one posted here Saturday], a couple of pendants, several new pairs of earrings [again, one, a small tiger iron pair, done yesterday and slated to go up by tonight, really, this time, or not, depending on how long I last tonight], and eventually all the new coils he'll need for holiday inventory. And I need to sell them all, because I still need to make sales weekly for us to catch up on the year and cover all the stuff still in the pipeline that needs covering [laptop, roof next year, more medical, always prepaid taxes, etc.]. So: GO BUY! Links are here:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (Priority is the liquid soaps and Amazon cards, 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 before it ends, 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.