In extreme lands and climates and seasons, earth and sky conspire to create a medicine of storm and light. With this necklace, Wings honors them all, weaving jewels of other Indigenous cultures with those of our own to create an extraordinary whole. The pendant, a show-stopper in its own right, is built around a giant focal teardrop of incredible Koroit opal matrix, small blue flashes refracting from the brecciated ironstone and sandstone boulder host rock that embraces them. [*Note: There is a fracture in the host rock that Wings has repaired; this is common with natural brecciated material.] The boulder opal cabochon is set into a scalloped bezel on an extended backing, on one side enlarged and scalloped freehand to accommodate the cascade of jewels, all set into saw-toothed bezels and all chosen to pick up all the colors of opal and host rock alike: chatoyant tiger’s eye and cobalt-blue lapis lazuli, smaller golden rutilated quartz and periwinkle iolite, and smaller still, a tin citrine and another, slightly more violet iolite — raindrops in the storm alternating with drops of pure sunlight. All around the edges of all seven stones, radiant motifs are stamped freehand at the very edge. The lightly flared slider-style bail is stamped with the imagery of medicine’s wingéd spirits, Thunderbird and Water Bird. The beads that hold it were also all hand-selected to pick up the shades and spirits of the gems: four tiny round smoky quartz to hold the bail and thence to serve as separators; finely-faceted citrine rondels that catch and refract the light; ultra-high-grade royal lapis doughnut rondels, the richest of blues, so flawless as to be virtually devoid of any matrix at all; gemmy freeform golden carnelian nuggets to add texture and the glow of many suns; lapis lazuli rounds in a slightly lighter shade of blue, marbled with bits of calcite and shimmering pyrite; an alternating anchors of translucent iolite rounds and diamond-cut sterling silver accent beads. The whole pendant, including bail, hangs 2-5/8″ long by 1-3/8″ across at the widest point; pendant only hangs 2/18″ long; bail is 5/8″ long by 1/2″ across at the widest point; boulder opal matrix cabochon is 2″ high by 7/8″ across at the widest point; tiger’s eye and lapis lazuli cabochons are 5/16″ across; golden rutilated quartz and larger iolite cabochons are 1/4″ across; citrine and smaller iolite cabochons are 3/16″ across; bead strand is 24″ long, excluding findings (all dimensions approximate). Other views shown below.
Pendant: Sterling silver; Koroit blue opal matrix in brecciated ironstone/sandstone boulder;
tiger’s eye; lapis lazuli; golden rutilated quartz; iolite; citrine
Strand: Tri-ply foxtail plated with silver; sterling silver findings
Beads: Smoky quartz; faceted citrine; royal lapis lazuli; golden carnelian;
lapis lazuli; iolite; diamond-cut sterling silver
$1,500 + shipping, handling, and insurance
SOLD
Pendant with bead strand:
Pendant close-up:
Full view of strand:
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