It has been a day, and in the course of all the upheaval, it feels as though we have had a half-dozen different days, with every single type of spring weather, telescoped into this one.
It began with sun, and the usual post-dawn chill, warming up slowly but consistently thereafter. By late morning, however, the winds were already wreaking havoc, and such momentary warmth as we had been granted vanished summarily. The wind began to move the clouds in from the northwest, and with every veiling of the su, the mercury seemed to drop twenty degrees . . . and then the cycle predictably circled around, blowing the clouds apart and leaving us with our coldest-turned-highest temperatures as we went about our evening chores.
Now, in evening, the clouds are returning; the winds are calmer, if nowhere near still, but the mercury is falling once more. The forecast predicts that the rain will arrive around eight o’clock this evening, turning to light snow overnight, and the weekend will bring us winter’s return.
It seems somehow apt, if ironically so, on what has been a day of firsts: first chokecherry bird (otherwise known as an evening grosbeak), an entire month late; first meadowlark (and with it, the first official day of spring here, despite the cold), almost a month late; and first hummingbird (way ahead of its usual migratory cycle), two full months early. It appeared as I walked outside to begin my evening chores, the telltale humming buzz attracting my attention; I turned my head just in time to see it pull up to the place where we hang the feeders, stare a moment, then zoom away.
Needless to say, Wings was dispatched to retrieve a feeder from where they are stored, and it has been filled with home-made nectar and hung already. It’s going to be a cold and wintry weekend, and his tiny body will need the fuel.
The commonalities all these birds share involve wood in some way: the chokecherry bird landing in the aspen outside the northwest corner of the house as I walked beneath it; the meadowlark singing from a rustic wooden post in the fence on our southern boundary; and the hummingbird seeking his perch from the wooden deck overhang, where Wings has installed three small sets of branches broken off from various aspens by high winds, natural seating for these tiny spirits.
Meanwhile, the swallows first appeared two nights ago, the pear blossoms are continuing to open daily, and the lilacs seem ready to bloom two weeks early, too. This is a blossoming land, remnant winter notwithstanding, in spite of the upheaval of our usual patterns, and seemingly in defiance of them all, too.
This week’s Friday Feature consists of two all new works that seem particularly apt for this week — not this generic week in the cycle of a year, but this particular week in this particular year, with its distinct manifestations of spring, or lack thereof. We have new leaves and new flowers, appearances by birds very late and exceedingly early, a stray dragonfly and a couple of equally stray butterflies, with a moon now a few days off full that has spent as much time behind clouds as exposed, and climate and weather that cannot make up their minds whether they should be holding onto winter or reaching for summer. Both are among Wings’s newest, two of the three cuffs that he completed only last week, and both are found in the Cuffs and Links and Bangles section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site. We begin with the one that features the imagery of a flowering radiance, beautifully framed by Wings’s expert freehand wraparound filework. From its description:
A Flowering Radiance Cuff Bracelet
Spring and summer bring our world alive with a flowering radiance. With this slender traditional cuff bracelet, Wings honors both the petals and the light that filters through them. The band is formed of heavy-gauge sterling silver half-round wire, convex on the outer surface and flat underneath. It’s stamped freehand, end to end, in an alternating pattern of giant three-dimensional sunbursts whose rays wrap around the edges’ arcs and smaller classic blossom motifs. Edges and undersides are filed freehand in a wraparound pattern in four places: at each end, and about a third of the way up the band on either side, all lines deeply incised to give the band a rich texture and make the surface of it pop. Band is 6″ long by 5/16″ across (dimensions approximate). Other views shown above, below, and at the link.
Sterling silver
$1,175 + shipping, handling, and insurance
I love this one. The surface stampwork, alternating giant petaled sunbursts with smaller traditional blossoms, is beautifully simple. But it’s the filework that makes it, wraparound silverwork that incises deeply, adding spare and elegant texture in a nod to old-style Art Deco geometry. It’s the perfect detail to set off the simplicity of the basic design, and each incision’s high polish catches and refracts the light.
The second is wrought in similar fashion, from the same substantial gauge of sterling silver half-round wire, but without the filework. This one, however, has a mix of etchwork and flowing stampwork on the inner band for texture, and where the first one channels the petaled glow of daylight, this one is all the flowering of luminous night. From its description:
Luminous Night Cuff Bracelet
In the alpine desert, living close to the sky brings with it the gift of luminous night. With this traditional cuff, Wings summons the spirits of midnight skies and honors their powers of illumination in a darkling world. This bracelet’s slender, elegant band is wrought of heavy-gauge sterling silver half-round wire, convex and the outer surface and flat underneath. Here, Wings has stamped it end to end, entirely freehand, alternating a specially-designed three-dimensional starburst stamp whose ends wrap around the arc of the edges, with tiny classic five-pointed stars dancing between their larger cousins. The ends are rounded for comfort and filed smooth, the inner band etched lightly for texture. The inner band is also traced with a flowing-water motif via Wings’s own hand-made stamp, here evoking the crescents of the moon’s phases. Band is 6″ long by 5/16″ across (dimensions approximate). Other views shown above, below, and at the link.
Sterling silver
$1,125 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The stampwork along the inner band is not visible in this second shot, but you can see the warm glow of the etchwork, which Wings kept light and subtle. The stampwork on the outer band is also a simple, classic design, one that alternates the blossoming beauty of newborn stars with the less flamboyant twinkle of those already well-established in the cosmos.
These are old-style cuffs, wrought slender but solid and substantial, and still lightweight enough to make them stackable. And given the coordinating patterns on the outer surfaces, they seem meant to go together in just such a way.
It’s the way the land and light go together now, in these unsettled days when it’s impossible to predict from one hour to the next what the elements will give us. It’s just as impossible now, it seems, to predict what migratory friends will arrive, or when.
It’s inducement, then, to be always ready to receive them.
After all, this may be a blossoming land for us now, but for smaller, more fragile spirits, our protection will be needed.
That applies to the earth, as well.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2024; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
