Today the air is warm, the sky a perfect unbroken blue . . . save for a pair of clouds stretching in parallel bands above the western horizon, the early harbinger of weather now predicted to change by tonight.
And this is why we put our faith not in official forecasts, but in the wisdom presented to us by this world’s illuminating skies.
It won’t be much, in all likelihood — a mere dusting of snow, if we’re lucky, with perhaps a bit more on the peaks. But it will be something, and it will deliver another gift besides: a badly needed drop in temperatures, one that will not put us where we need to be at this time of year, but certainly much closer than we are now.
Even now, the wind is rising, slowly but steadily, and I suspect the warm air has already given way to a chill sharp as a razor’s edge.
Our view of those skies is of course not unencumbered; it’s one webbed by the bare bones of the trees, skeletal branches weaving silvery braids that shiver and dance in the light. IN just these moments that I’ve been writing, the wind’s ferocity has increased sufficiently for me to hear it through the minuscule gap between the doors: no longer a faint susurration, it’s now a whisper turned moan turned howl and shriek. At a darker hour, it might be eerie, but now it just seems rapacious, as though by blasting its way between the trees and across the land, it consumes all in its path, like fire.
And still, the northeast sky remains resolutely blue, as though entirely unmoved by the wind’s battering force.
We can learn much from the skies, whether manifest in flawless fall clarity or webbed by the clouds of a gathering storm, or at any point between; learn, too, from what the time of day and angle of light and the colors that result can tell us. In this place, the short answer is “a very great deal” . . . provided one knows how to read them. But they also provide us with a certain reassurance, a reminder that some things do not change in any truly essential way, and in such strength and stability, they provide a model and guide for our own conduct, our own work — an illuminating gift from the skies each and every day.
Today’s featured masterwork is manifest as this gift — as illumination, as wisdom, as medicine, as power. From its description in the Belts Gallery here on the site:
Illuminating Skies Butterfly Concha Belt
Butterflies are small but powerful spirits, visionary and prophetic, who wing their way to our world across illuminating skies. Wings summons the spirit of Butterfly and of the skies it inhabits, across this silver and turquoise cascade of this traditional concha belt. Wrought in an old and archetypal style, it features twelve separate classic conchas separated by thirteen old-style “butterfly” conchas, with a pair of the latter flanking the buckle at either end. Each classic concha is cut and scalloped around the edges, entirely freehand; lightly domed, repoussé-fashion; and meticulously hand-stamped in a highly detailed traditional design of concentric ovals that repeats across each piece. The stampwork begins with hand-scored lines radiating outward into small sunrise symbols, all chased in a clockwise fashion around the inner oval. The next oval is formed of a flowering pattern separated by tiny hoops — three upward-reaching petals of light flanking small perfect orbs on either side, forming the last line of stampwork on the gently sloping domed portion of the concha. Where the doming ends to flare into the scalloped edge, Wings has detailed it with labor-intensive chasing, tiny accent marks creating perfect definition along the flowing line of the oval. Outward from the chased line, a larger sunrise symbol rises toward the edge of each petal-like scallop. At the center of each oval concha rests a small round cabochon of spiderweb turquoise, set in a plain low-profile bezel, each stone a shade of robin’s-egg blue matrixed with tiny coppery and inky blue-black lines, some with translucent wisps of spring green floating over the surface. The butterfly conchas are hand-stamped in a traditional flaring design, wings at top and bottom, their entire pleated surfaces domed, repoussé-fashion, to give them a three-dimensional appearance. The buckle is hand-scored inward from the edge to create a narrow border; inside the border, the center is hand-hammered with scores, perhaps hundreds, of tiny separate strikes of the jeweler’s hammer, then hand-scored outward from the center in a radiant motif. Along the outer border, tiny lodge symbols against a radiant sun repeat along all four sides, with slightly larger lodge symbols sitting solitary at each corner. At the buckle’s center rests an oval cabochon of beautiful robin’s-egg blue turquoise, probably from the Montezuma District, with a beautifully abstract matrix in bold coppery-red spiderwebbing. The belt itself is heavy brown-black leather, hand-cut, hand-split, hand-beveled along the edges, and hand-stamped down its entire length in a radiant sun motif. The belt is finished off with brown-black braided leather figure-eight ties that terminate in sterling silver tips with tiny globe-like ends. The belt is 52″ long and the leather strip is 11/16″ wide; the oval conchas are 2-1/16″ long by 1-7/8 inches high; the round center cabochons are 7/16″ across; the butterfly conchas are 1.5″ long by 1-1/8″ across at the widest point; the buckle is 2-5/16″ long by 1-3/4″ high; the oval center cabochon is 1″ long by 5/8″ high; the silver tips on the ties are 1-7/8″ long; the ties themselves are 7″ long (all dimensions approximate). Close-up views shown below.
Sterling silver; spiderwebbed blue turquoise (most likely from the Royston and Montezuma Districts)
$7,500 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Notes: Requires special handling; extra shipping charges apply.
The leather belt is a standard length; a hand-made belt in a specialty size may be ordered
(either shorter or longer) for an additional $325 charge.
It is a truly phenomenal work: a dozen separate conchas, all saw-cut with scalloped edges and stamped identically in deep concentric ovals, all the work freehand. The butterfly conchas that alternate with them serve to give the entire design added lift, as though even in havy silver and stone, it’s powerful enough to float skyward.
The buckle reinforces that impression, with a extraordinary cabochon of finely webbed turquoise seated at the center of hand-scored rays of light.
This is one of the most pwoerful works that Wings has ever created. It’s rivaled only, and the only perhaps, by the other belts on the site, both sold; this is the only one left in current inventory.
Over the decades, Wings has created an untold number of concha belts, from old-school rolled-dime links to classic ovals to hand-sculpted and -scalloped rectangles, some with stones and some with Watr Bird overlays. One consisted of hand-cut radiant conchas that resembled butterfly conchas turned horizontally. Of the two sold ones visible here on the site, one cosisted of conchas set with stones backed by tobacco; the other, of actual butterflies, each saw-cut. meticulously freehand.
And still, this one rises above them all for classic, traditional beauty, for consistency of detail, for talent and skill and sheer power.
I had occasion to interrupt my writing and venture outside, and sure enough, thanks to the winds, the air feels much colder than only an hour ago. The sun still shines brightly; on three sides, the sky remains a perfect clear blue. But we have learned to read the signs, and we are hopeful.
There is much to do before night fall, and dark comes early now. And so we turn once more to the work, even as we await a dusting of snow. And we thank the skies for there eternal presence, their gifts of illumination and wisdom, of medicine and power.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2022; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
