I had occasion to be outside early this morning, and I was struck by the beauty of the day: For the first time in days, a perfectly clear sky, as deep a blue as any cornflower, only the faintest line of burgundy haze hovering just above the western horizon.
I walked inside and returned to my work in the kitchen. In less than five minutes, the sky had shifted from bright blue to a dirty gray, and the pall of wildfire smoke was fast moving in overhead. Now, our whole small world here is dim and grim — not dark, but decidedly gray, with a wan and dirty undertone of pale yellow, a mix of ash and dust and other particulate matter that lends the day an odor of things at once moldering and charred.
The world makes much metaphorically of storm and night, but it forgets about the other forces and effects that obscure the light. On a day like this, when the flowering blue has vanished behind a shroud of foul and suffocating gray, we need to remind ourselves of the gift, notwithstanding, that this earth remains — our mother, her locks of earth and water, medicine and sky, all braided with ribbons of sunlight.
Today’s featured work, all new and completed only this afternoon, embodies the maternal spirit, the elemental powers that make up her being, and the ribbons of brown and blue and silver that hold her braids fast. From its description in the Rings Gallery here on the site:
A World Braided With Light Ring
At home on Mother Earth, we are blessed to live in a world braided with light. With this ring, Wings weaves strands of earth and water and sky with ribbons of pure silver sunlight, never long distant and proof against the dark. This piece begins with an extraordinary high-grade cabochon of freeform boulder turquoise — likely Kingman, given its colors: rich and earthy golden-brown host rock shot through with patches and pools of perfect sky blue, a world in miniature dotted with flecks of iron pyrite that set the whole of it ashimmer. It’s set into a low-profile scalloped bezel, edged with twisted silver, then placed atop a band split by hand at the top and spread to hold stone and setting boldly aloft. The band is formed of wide, heavy-gauge sterling silver pattern wire, molded in a scored and braided motif that evokes an angular Art Deco sensibility and pays tribute to old local styles of Indigenous smithing. The band is 1/4″ wide; the bezel is 1-1/16″ high by 1″ across at the widest point; the cabochon is 7/8″ high by 3/4″ across at the widest point (all dimensions approximate). [The band is currently size 11; its detail work makes it unsizeable in its current form; a new band can be created in a different size for a $100 fee.] Other views shown above, below, and at the link.
Sterling silver; high-grade American boulder turquoise (likely Kingman)
$625 + shipping, handling, and insurance
[Note: Not resizeable; a new band can be created in any size for a $100 fee]
This work began its existence very differently: first, envisioned as the focal of a cuff; then as a ring, but with a decidedly different band in mind. But as is so often the case with Wings’s work, individual pieces evolve and assume their own identities during the creative process . . . and make their spirits clearly known.
In its final, true form, this ring became something else, as well: an homage to old styles of traditional smithing and design. The band’s spirit is wholly Indigenous Art Deco, a style that was popular here a century ago; the spectacular stone only adds to this timeless feel, capturing, as it does, the appearance of old freeform nuggets still embedded in the host rock, as though small patches of local rock captured willing bits of sky. Polished, the cabochon is nothing short of extraordinary, and perfectly suited to this place of small sacred lakes and great winding rivers, pooling stretches of water that wear the blues of the desert sky.
And those, too, are ribbons: ribbons of earth in the craggy cliffs and sandy banks, of rivers made of water and sky. And then there is Father Sun, the paternal spirit that warm and illumines our Mother Earth, braided with ribbons of sunlight. Even on a day as artificially gray as this, we know the colors will return to brighten our world once more.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2021; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
