The precipitation forecast for yesterday evening appeared only in the earliest hours of this morning, and then arriving not as snow but as sleet. It has shifted since to snow, but the final result is likely to be only a slight dusting on the surface of a warming earth.
Our first thaw has already come and gone, and despite the small snows forecast repeatedly throughout the days and weeks to come, we hover now at the threshold between deep cold and a growing warmth, a world transfigured by a new sun against the last of the winter light.
Today’s featured works, all new and an informal collection in miniature, capture the feel of these tentative days, when winter remains unready to loose its grip even as an early spring seeks its own birth. Each of these three works coordinates with and complements each of the others, but none is an exact match, and each is capable of standing entirely on its own.
We begin with the necklace, a cascading strand of receding snow and emergent earth and the sun that lights and warms it all. From its description in the relevant section of the Necklaces Gallery here on the site:
First Thaw Necklace
The first thaw is a dance of snow and sun, of a warming earth and a newborn green. Wings brings together all the colors of this threshold season in this necklace, a cascade of soft color and gentle light. The focal point of the strand consists of eight glossy, chunky nuggets of translucent yellow quartz, each fabulously freeform in shape and lit from within by the shades of an early sun. Between each nugget rest small round orbs of refractive green garnet, shimmering in the light, Moving upward toward either end of the strand, single round beads of old brass set off each new segment: first, picture jasper, marbled like a sandy earth; the, hand-carved African bone beads in barrel shapes, half varnished in the rich shades of spring mud at thaw, the other half the near-pure white of the retreating snows, all alternating with the bright jade of the first blades of grass. Beads are strung on high-grade tri-ply plated foxtail held with oversized sterling silver findings. Necklace hangs 21″ long, excluding findings (dimensions approximate). Designed jointly by Wings and Aji; coordinates with A New Sun earrings and The Last of the Winter Light coil bracelet. Another view shown at top.
Beads: Yellow quartz; green garnet; jade; old brass beads; picture jasper;
varnished and plain hand-carved African bone beads; ocean jasper
Findings and strand: sterling silver findings; tri-ply silver-plated foxtail
$375 + shipping, handling, and insurance
There will, of course, be more warming weather before the next snows arrive, now slated for the latter part of the weekend to come. The earrings, an embodiment of this temporary warm-up, are forward-looking — a fall of pure sunlight and nascent green. From their description in the relevant section of the Earrings Gallery:
A New Sun Earrings
At winter’s end, a new sun caries the world into spring. Wings summons the pale fold light and the nascent green of the threshold season, drawn together in these earrings’ jeweled cascade. At their centers of each dangling drop, a pair of large focal beads of glowing yellow quartz, each rendered into a highly polished nugget, flank a single small sphere of brilliant grass-green jade. Toward either end, old brass beads set off both the sunlight shades of the quartz and the shimmering shades of the round green garnet anchor beads. Each is strung on sterling silver wire, and hangs suspended from sterling silver earrings wires. Earrings hang 2-3/8″ long, excluding findings (dimensions approximate). Designed jointly by Wings and Aji. Earrings coordinate with First Thaw necklace and The Last of the Winter Light coil bracelet.
Sterling silver; yellow quartz; jade; old brass beads; green garnet
$155 + shipping, handling, and insurance
But as we know from hard experience, winter’s hold here is a long one. The first thaw may come early, but it will not cede the land fully to spring for many weeks after the calendar has insisted on its departure. The third piece in this informal series captures the cyclical nature of this process, a dance of snow and sun and season that refuses to be bound by the dictates of a piece of paper on a wall or a way of reckoning time from half a world away. From its description in the relevant section of the Bracelets Gallery:
The Last of the Winter Light Coil Bracelet
Snow cedes space to sun as the lat of the winter light gives birth to a world newly green. Wings draws snow and sun and shades of grass together in a spiraling hoop with this coil bracelet studded with ancient materials and glowing gems. At its center, four focal nuggets of chunky yellow quartz quartz glow in the sunny embrace of old spacer beads made of bright brass. Extending outward from the center, marbled earthy picture jasper alternates with more brass rounds and alternating segments of varnished brown and ivory African bone beads in the shades of snow and a fertile soil, interspersed with jade rounds the color of the first new blades of grass. Toward either end, shimmering green garnet flows into round ocean jasper anchors, tiny bits of snow and ice in retreat, revealing the rich earth beneath. Beads are strung on plated memory wire, which expands and contracts to fit nearly any wrist. Designed jointly by Wings and Aji. Coil bracelet coordinates with First Thaw necklace and A New Sun earrings.
Memory wire; yellow quartz; old brass beads; picture jasper; jade;
varnished and plain hand-craved African bone beads; green garnet; ocean jasper
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
For now, world and weather alike remain indecisive, capricious, allowing aspects of their identities to trade places seemingly at will and whim. We shall have many more freezes, and many more thaws, before sun and earth settle into their ascendant angles. The last of the winter light still presides, and with it, at least for this day, a new fall of snow.
But a world transfigured awaits us, and already, it beckons us over the threshold in anticipation of sharing its gifts.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2020; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
