The last day of the calendar year.
It arrived cloaked in a threadbare veil woven of clouds and light, but at the edge of the dawn horizon, we could just see the faintest hint, the first promise of a new world, waiting.
At this moment, the clouds have both dissipated and coalesced, forming and reforming around the silver radiance of the light. This old world, drawing down to its close and to the prospect of rest, cannot seem to decide how it wants to be remembered: In air far too warm for it, we nevertheless had a sun dog in the sky yesterday; on a day when the chance of any precipitation has remained steadily at one percent or less, suddenly the forecast suggests snow an hour from now.
We would, of course, prefer the world of the sun dog and the snow — the chance to remember some final beauty for what has been, through no fault of its own, a very bad year. I think it’s unlikely that we will have a chance to recall the latter; the prospect of snow seems thin indeed.
Still, it’s a sliver a hope — a ray of light, so to speak, at a time when we (and the world as a whole) so desperately need it.
And it’s a reminder that hope drives the world, drives our survival in it . . . and hope is found in the smallest, humblest, most unlikely places now.
Today’s featured work manifests this lesson — of finding hope, and light, in humble places. It’s a pair of old-style traditional tab earrings, long rounded rectangles of sterling silver incised with simple traditional freehand stampwork. From its description in the Earrings Gallery here on the site:
The Dawn Horizon Earrings
The dawn horizon is a shimmering line of silver, awakening beneath the last of the morning stars while the new day rises in the rays of the newborn sun. With these earrings, Wings evokes the aurora sky, late stars and early rays awash in silvered light. Each radiant drop is saw-cut freehand of lightweight sterling silver, edges rounded and filed smooth for comfort. At the center, a single long horizon line with only the faintest arc rests in the embrace of the last visible planets of the day, while long rays extend above the ridgeline, the first gift of the rising sun. Hand-drilled holes hold the sterling silver coil-and-ball-bead French earring wires securely. Earrings hang 1-3/4″ long, excluding wires, but 3/8″ wide (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver
$225 + shipping, handling, and insurance
I love this pair: for its simplicity of design, for its freehand styling, for its radiant symbolism — light, from last morning star to first star of night. The whole design bespeaks new possibilities, potentialities, new days, years, whole worlds within them.
In our world fracturing all around us, climate in collapse world-wide, whole cultures, nations, peoples subject to genocide now, we need a new day, and with it a new vision for what a world can be.
This world needs light in these very dark days; it needs hope. It needs to be reborn, and for that, it needs our help, our commitment, our work every single day.
There is a new world, waiting. Waiting for us to bring it into being.
It’s time to get to work.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2023; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
