Fewer than forty-eight hours ago, I was outdoors working with the horses, wearing a T-shirt and jeans, no jacket. The sun was bright, the air warm, and the periodic gusts of wind — coupled with the appearance of the year’s first hummingbird — confirmed that it was spring. We went to bed last night amid sporadic rain showers, smalls bursts of water giving new life to earth now more green than brown.
We awakened this morning to some two to three inches of snow.
The world here was still at first, as though shocked into silence by the cold white blanket. Now, though, a bitter wind is driving hard from the east, an occurrence so rare here that, most years, you can count such episodes on the fingers of one hand and have a majority of them left over.
Snow in April is not unusual here, although the circumstances of its arrival on this morning are a direct result of climate change. But this is a land of extremes, climate and weather alike and geography alike, a high-desert world of fire and ice.
It’s one of the inspirations for Wings’s collection in miniature, a set of complementary and coordinating but not matched works that he created two years ago as a part of his one-man show. He added to this collection this week, with the pair of earrings we featured here on Wednesday, manifestations of Grandmother Turtle mapping a world of fire and ice. It was a collection embodying the spirits of the interstices, the spaces between worlds, and thus especially fitting for this interstitial season, when neither calendar nor elements can agree, when spring has already assumed the reins but winter refuses to let go.
I had originally planned to feature only one of these works today, and follow up with the other tomorrow. But yesterday, Wings completed something new, not a part of this collection but not so different that it doesn’t bear a family resemblance of sorts, either. I’ll feature that work here tomorrow, and so today, we’re bringing you both of the earlier pieces in the Fire and Ice collection in miniature.
We begin with the cuff shown above, one of those works in which all of the elements come together immaculately. The stampwork is near-flawless — deep, uniform, even; the stones, an inspired combination, shine with their own elemental gloss. From its description in the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
Fire and Ice Cuff Bracelet
In the interstices inhabited by the elemental powers, Spirit catalyzes fire and ice, bringing them to life in our world, their full strength and power yet held back: a reminder that if we are careful, we may use their gifts rather than be consumed by them. Here, Spirit’s Eye traces the length of the band of this heavy-gauge cuff, accented on all sides by traditional symbols. At the center, two fiery garnet cabochons flank three larger oval stones: snowflake obsidian, representations of ice born naturally of the union of earth and heat and flame. Companion piece to the Fire and Ice solitaire ring in the Rings Gallery.
Sterling silver; snowflake obsidian; garnet
$725 + shipping, handling, and insurance
There was originally another cuff in this collection, too, one that hewed toward the fiery end of the elemental spectrum. It sold early on. Like the cuff featured here today, however, the ring remains in inventory. It, too, coordinates but does not match identically; every piece in the collection was created to have the ability to stand on its own as well as with its clan. From its description in the Rings Gallery:
In the interstices between worlds, the spirits and elemental forces afford us an occasional glimpse but do not admit us entry, lest we be consumed by their power. Yet Spirit catalyzes fire and ice, as in this solitaire, where earth and flame join to create a stone named for water frozen by the winter air. Conjoined lodge symbols trace the length of the band; the snowflake obsidian cabochon rests in a scalloped bezel. Top view shown at the link. Companion piece to the Fire and Ice cuff bracelet in the Bracelets Gallery.
Sterling silver; snowflake obsidian
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
At the end of a week in which we have explored themes of directionality and guidance, and mapping our world and the path by which we move around life’s hoop, these works remind us that weather and terrain often change. On some days, it’s vastly more difficult to navigate, owing to nothing more than the forces of Nature; the topography sometimes seems insurmountable. One can map the mountain peaks, but charting the whims of sun and snow, of fire and ice, prove much more difficult. On this day in this place, we traverse just such a threshold space: the space between heat and cold, summer and winter, fire and ice.
On days like this, it’s good to have a map, especially one drawn by the spirits.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2016; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owners.
