Today has dawned sunny and bright, the mercury already into the fifties, although the breeze still has a sharp bite. But change is on the wind: As smaller bands of still-white puffy clouds gather around the peaks and horizon in most directions, the north tells a different story, clouds already consolidating into large banks, darkening as they grow. Despite the forecast having pushed the rain and snow back once more to tomorrow, we will begin to feel its effects by this day’s end.
And rain or snow, whatever comes will be welcome. Spring showers, March, April, or May either, are not much a thing here; we are far more likely to get snow, and more likely still to receive clouds mostly of dirt, driven on unceasing gale-force winds. And at this early stage, when winter still holds the edges of the calendar, the only flowers visible are a solitary dried bunch that emerged, mummified, from beneath the most recent snow — dried daisy fleabane, the whole bunch perfectly preserved by the cold, golden centers now as silvered as the leaves in the late winter light.
The green grass that has cropped up around this small sprig, though, reminds us that official spring is now just around the corner, its more fully actualized form to arrive not long thereafter. There will yet be snow, and there will be plenty of wind, and if we are lucky, there will be more rain, but the wildflowers are hardy spirits, and they will be here soon, irrespective of the vagaries of weather.
Today’s featured work embodies these seemingly fragile petals, and the hardiness of their spirits, too. From its description in the Accessories Gallery here on the site:
Summer Wildflowers Barrette
Summer wildflowers rise from green-tipped stalks to blossom and dance in the light. Wings summons these spirits of warmer winds in this barrette, hand-milled in a random profusion of silvery petals across a gently arcing rectangle of medium-gauge sterling silver. In the center of the barrette, a single round citrine rests in a saw-toothed bezel, a small wild sunflower amid the larger blossoms. The “stalk” is formed of an elegant silver pick made of sterling silver half-round wire, hand-stamped in a repeating pattern of directional arrows alternating with tiny sacred hoops down its length. At one end, the pick is anchored by an elegant oval peridot cabochon, beautifully translucent in the color of summer greenery, set securely into a saw-toothed bezel. The barrette is 3-5/16″ long by 1-3/4″ high; the citrine cabochon is 1/4″ across; the pick is 3-7/8″ long by 3/16″ across (save at the bezel); the peridot cabochon is 3/8″ long by 1/4″ across at the widest point (dimensions approximate). Another view shown below.
Sterling silver; citrine; peridot
$775 + shipping, handling, and insurance
This piece was, as I recall, named for the flowers of the season in which it was created, but the mix of silver and gold and bright spring green are all perfectly suited to this day, and to the weeks to come. As unseasonably warm as our highs have been, we can expect to see petals sooner than usual anyway.
For now, we await the petals, and the leaves, and the gathering storm. From beneath the snow, in the face of the wind and the rain, is a new world flowering, glowing and bright.
~ Aji
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