We were not granted the gift of snow for Christmas, although passing storms were visible on the peaks and slopes at all sides yesterday. The snow, the forecasters said, was due to arrive today, and just after dawn the sky was already turning that unmistakable shade of pewter, pale in the glow of a lightly-veiled sun. Then, bands of blue were still visible here and there, the violet of the coming storm alternating with the turquoise of clear swatches of sky.
Now, nearer to day’s end, the snows is heavy, the drifts deep, earth and sky the same pale shade of white.
The light today will be nothing if not changeable — ever-shifting, shimmering, radiant and muted by turns.
A perfect day, in other words, to introduce Wings’s latest collection.
It is not, strictly speaking, a new collection. Rather, it represents a resumption of an older one — a series of earrings in an eminently traditional style whose design honors the light.
There are six pairs in the current group, three of which were completed, as it happens, the day before Christmas Eve; the other three, today. The first three are a tribute to the light of an ordinary day: dawn, dusk, and the clear blue of midday that bridges them, all endowed by the spirits with special intensity at this season — a kaleidoscope of radiant winter light, all with the brilliance of the desert day’s pure clarity. The second trio are a tribute to light in more difficult circumstances — cold, wind, dark — and are given a more muted finish. All are found in the Earrings Gallery here on the site.
We begin with those that embody the dawn, the pair shown at the top of this post. From their description:
Dawn Light Earrings
Our days are born in the fiery golden glow of the dawn light, warm and timeless as flowing amber. In the third entry in this revival of his signature series of earrings that honor the light, Wings pays tribute to the illuminating fire of the sunrise by way of an old traditional style wrought in materials of an ancient spirit. Each drop is a perfectly circle domed from beneath, repoussé-fashion, t0 create a softly rounded concha. Across the front, an eight-pointed star extends to cardinal and ordinal points by way of hand-stamped spokes fanning outward around the center. Each spoke ends in a hoop whose task it is to link the lodge pattern, radiant with the literal and metaphorical light, that lies between each tiny circle. At the center of the starburst, in a sawtoothed bezel, sits a single round cabochon of intensely glowing amber, a radiant orb in the color and shape of a miniature sun. Tiny silver jump rings attach the earrings securely to sterling silver wires. Earrings are 7/8″ across (excluding jump rings and wires); cabochons are 3/16″ across (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver; amber
$350 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The second pair is bookend to the first — scarlet sunset to the other’s golden sunrise, colors that appear here even on days fraught with clouds and storm. From their description:
Dusk Light Earrings
Sunset here is as red as the willows, dusk light as translucent as flame. In the second of his newest entries in his signature series of earrings that honor the light, Wings summons the scarlet glow of the late-day sky in this traditionally-designed pair accented with twilight fire. Each drop is a perfectly circle domed from beneath, repoussé-fashion, t0 create a softly rounded concha. Across the front, an eight-pointed star extends to cardinal and ordinal points by way of hand-stamped spokes fanning outward around the center. Each spoke ends in a hoop whose task it is to link the lodge pattern, radiant with the literal and metaphorical light, that lies between each tiny circle. At the center of the starburst, in a sawtoothed bezel, sits a single round cabochon of intensely red garnet, the scarlet shade of the not-quite-night sky. Tiny silver jump rings attach the earrings securely to sterling silver wires. Earrings are 7/8″ across (excluding jump rings and wires); cabochons are 3/16″ across (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver; garnet
$350 + shipping, handling, and insurance
But the fires of dawn and dusk are the daily birth and death, small and temporary, of the light. Between, they are bridged by the brilliant clarity of pure blue, the turquoise of the Skystone held in such high regard by the people of this place. Even now, as the clouds roll slowly across the vaulted sky, bits of blue show through like shadows, a reminder that the storm may veil the light, but it can never extinguish it. The third entry manifests in this form, that which rules most of our waking hours. From their description:
Daylight Earrings
In the high-altitude desert air of Red Willow, daylight is the color of silver and Skystone, pure clear turquoise with a radiant glow. Wings resumes his signature series of earrings that honor the light with this small, elegant pair wrought in traditional materials and style. Each drop is a perfectly circle domed from beneath, repoussé-fashion, t0 create a softly rounded concha. Across the front, an eight-pointed star extends to cardinal and ordinal points by way of hand-stamped spokes fanning outward around the center. Each spoke ends in a hoop whose task it is to link the lodge pattern, radiant with the literal and metaphorical light, that lies between each tiny circle. At the center of the starburst, in a sawtoothed bezel, sits a single round cabochon of clear bright Kingman turquoise in the color of the midday desert sky. Tiny silver jump rings attach the earrings securely to sterling silver wires. Earrings are 7/8″ across (excluding jump rings and wires); cabochons are 3/16″ across (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver; Kingman turquoise
$350 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Of course, on a day such as this when the weather forecast has proven more right than anyone guessed, natural light needs a bit of help. Fire is one of the four elements, but it is also the only one we humans can create ourselves. Nonetheless, it, too, is a natural phenomenon, and its light as organic as the rest. The fourth pair in this series embodies the red of the flames’ heat and glow. From their description:
Firelight Earrings
The spirits have granted us the gift of firelight, a glow to illuminate our surroundings even as it warms body and soul alike. The fourth in this, Wings’s signature series of earrings that honor the light, honors the blessings of the fourth element, fire, in traditional form around a less common jeweled spirit. Each drop is a perfectly circle domed from beneath, repoussé-fashion, t0 create a softly rounded concha. Across the front, an eight-pointed star extends to cardinal and ordinal points by way of hand-stamped spokes fanning outward around the center. Each spoke ends in a hoop whose task it is to link the lodge pattern, radiant with the literal and metaphorical light, that lies between each tiny circle. At the center of the starburst, in a sawtoothed bezel, sits a single round cabochon of changeably crimson carnelian stone, not entirely opaque nor entirely translucent, but as mysterious as flame itself. Conchas are polished to a soft Florentine finish; tiny silver jump rings attach the earrings securely to sterling silver wires. Earrings are 7/8″ across (excluding jump rings and wires); cabochons are 3/16″ across (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver; carnelian
$350 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Cold is not, of course, the only tribulation to which we earthbound beings are subjected routinely in a place such as this. The wind here is an elemental spirit, too — fierce and angry and mischievous by turns, a trickster capable of all manner of chaos, from simple mockery to catastrophic destruction. Wind and earth work in concert, even at this winter season, to wrap our world in a veil of dust, and on some days, this conspiracy creates its own mysterious form of light. The fifth pair of earrings in this collection honors the offspring of this ferocious union, one with its own harsh beauty that pierces even as it obscures. From their description:
Dust Light Earrings
This is a place of extremes, of harsh weather and harder winds that create a mysterious phenomenon of dust light, our world illuminated in shades of earthy silhouette behind a veil of sand and smoke. Wings’s fourth entry in his signature series, revisited, of earrings that honor the light evokes the hazy shimmer of such magic in traditional silver form and jewels of chatoyant dark. Each drop is a perfectly circle domed from beneath, repoussé-fashion, t0 create a softly rounded concha. Across the front, an eight-pointed star extends to cardinal and ordinal points by way of hand-stamped spokes fanning outward around the center. Each spoke ends in a hoop whose task it is to link the lodge pattern, radiant with the literal and metaphorical light, that lies between each tiny circle. At the center of the starburst, in a sawtoothed bezel, sits a single round cabochon of luminous tiger’s eye, each glowing with earthy fire like sun and moon behind the desert dust. Conchas are polished to a soft Florentine finish; tiny silver jump rings attach the earrings securely to sterling silver wires. Earrings are 7/8″ across (excluding jump rings and wires); cabochons are 3/16″ across (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver; tiger’s eye
$350 + shipping, handling, and insurance
And then, of course, there is the night. At this season, darkfall arrives early and departs late, bookending daylight hours of stunningly short duration. The sixth and (for now) final pair of earringss in this resumption of Wings’s series evokes the icy distant light of the night sky: the blue-white of the stars, impossibly distant and just as improbably bright. From their description:
Starlight Earrings
In the darkest hours of the night, the cosmos illuminates our path with the icy blue-white glow of starlight. Wings summons the spirits of the stars themselves in this sixth entry in the revival of his signature series of earrings that honor the light, Stars appearing in their most ancient traditional form, animated by the cold blue fire of adularescence. Each drop is a perfectly circle domed from beneath, repoussé-fashion, t0 create a softly rounded concha. Across the front, an eight-pointed star extends to cardinal and ordinal points by way of hand-stamped spokes fanning outward around the center. Each spoke ends in a hoop whose task it is to link the lodge pattern, radiant with the literal and metaphorical light, that lies between each tiny circle. At the center of the starburst, in a sawtoothed bezel, sits a single round cabochon of luminous rainbow moonstone, the cold clear fire of night refracting the blue of ancient galaxies. Conchas are polished to a soft Florentine finish; tiny silver jump rings attach the earrings securely to sterling silver wires. Earrings are 7/8″ across (excluding jump rings and wires); cabochons are 3/16″ across (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver; rainbow moonstone
$350 + shipping, handling, and insurance
With this series, the design itself evokes kaleidoscopic beauty: the form and shape of the cosmos’ own sacred geometry, every spiraling, shifting, radiating color and light. On a day such as this, skies fast going from blue to gray to snowy white, their hue and fire are especially welcome — a reminder, always, to carry the light with us.
~ Aji
Note: An earlier version of this post included only the first three pairs, with a note acknowledging that three additional pairs would be added when completed. This, the final iteration of the post, features all six pairs of earrings.
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2018; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
