September first. First day of meteorological fall. “Official” fall, of course, remains three weeks off, but leaves and wind care nothing for calendars.
Or for any other human efforts at control. Yesterday’s forecast remained stubbornly insistent that we a zero-percent chance of any kind of precipitation, and yet we were granted two or three small showers.
And several cycles of an unforecast windstorm that sought repeatedly to spin up a tornado or three.
In the end, it did not succeed, but not for want of trying. As one haboob-like wall of dust coalesced behind our nearest neighbor’s home, blocking view from the ground to half the sky above the southeast ridgeline, the dust began swirling upward , spiraling, funneling around itself, higher than any dust devil could ever hope to fly, climbing, as it seemed, the right-hand leg of the rainbow arched incongruously over it all. What foiled it, I think, was the lack of any overhead clouds to catch and hold it; after all, the sun was shining brightly. But I have no doubt that it managed no small amount of destruction on the ground as it fought to be born.
Today, we have high heat and a slight breeze, with abundant sun illuminating a mostly bright blue sky. The leaves continue to turn apace, which is not to say on schedule, but rather, far too rapidly and far too soon. The one saving grace is that the wind’s sharp edge still feels like fall, and the land is beginning to don its fall colors, too: white and purple asters, golden cow parsley, and the even deeper gold of our dozen wild sunflowers: few, short, and close to the ground, yes, but defiantly alive all the same.
The weeks we are entering now are that gloriously colorful time of year, when we are blessed with the medicine of fall’s late flowers and turning leaves.
This week’s Friday Feature starts the new month off with three works that embody these gifts. Earrings all, this trio is manifest in the form and shape and shades of these late-year petals and the fiery leaves that embrace them before falling to a cooling earth. Each pair of earrings is wrought in a traditional style, but animated by a contemporary spirit, and all three are presented here in a way that shares their logical flow of style and substance (and season, too). And, of course, all three are found in the Earrings Gallery here on the site. We begin with the pair above (the photo repeated here to accompany the description), one that honors the flowering worlds born at the start of the summer season and thriving all the way through to harvest. From their description:
Flowering Worlds Earrings
Summer brings us the gift of flowering worlds, alive and fertile and awash in petaled light. Wings evokes orbs and blossoms both with these dynamic earrings, near-perfect spheres hand-milled in a profusion of wild blooms. Each dangling drop is formed from a bold sterling silver concha, ever so slightly oval in shape and fully three-dimensional half-spheres. Each concha is milled in a vibrant wildflower pattern reminiscent of ’60s “flower power” motifs, each flowing petal rising in sharp relief. The earrings are domed, repoussé-fashion, to provide extraordinary depth; delicate holes hand-drilled at the top hold sterling silver wires. Earrings hang 1-15/16″ long by 1-7/8″ across, excluding wires (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver
$475 + shipping, handling, and insurance
These are classic concha-style earrings, but formed as simply as possible: no stampwork, no stones, no scalloped edges, just a pair of perfect half-spheres, highly domed and hand-rolled in a gloriously looping wildflower pattern that rises in sharp relief above the surface of the silver. They are subtle, and seem almost muted, but in fact they’re anything but: on, they’re big and bold and the millwork catches the light as they dance.
The second pair shares this same hand-rolled imagery coupled with cutwork and coral. It also shares the same “Art Nouveau meets Flower Power” sensibility, at once graceful and bold, representing the first wild petals of the season . . . which are now those of the flowers of a high-desert fall. From their description:
The First Wild Petals Earrings
In a volcanic land of lakes and rivers carved through mountains emerged from timeless seas, of formations built atop ancient shell mounds, the alpine prairie flowers bloom with the first wild petals of summer. With these earrings, Wings summons spirits older than time to dance with newborn blossoms in the fiery shades of genuine sponge coral and the silver of the light. Each geometric sterling silver drop is hand-rolled in a brash, looping floral pattern, equal parts Art Deco and Flower Power and all summer medicine, then saw-cut freehand into a spoked pattern that honors the four winds and the sacred directions. At the center of each, bezel-set and edged with twisted silver, sits a bold round cabochon of sponge coral in soft rich shades of flame-red stippled with hi ts of orange and bronze and plenty of natural texture across the surface. Sterling silver jump rings link them to sterling silver earring wires. Earrings hang 2-3/8″ long, excluding wires, by 1-3/4″ across at the widest point; cabochons are 9/16″ across (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver; sponge coral
$625 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The sponge coral cabochons at the center of this pair are at once subtle and spectacular, bold crimson and fiery orange muted by their richly textured natural surfaces and ivory and bronze veining. We have precious little in the way of petals in their shade at this moment, but the woodbine stalks have gone bright red, awaiting the purpling of their berries, and the winterberries are a shimmery sunlit scarlet already.
And, of course, there are the leaves.
Most of the local wildflowers’ leaves don’t go red in the fall; they simply turn dry and desiccated, decaying as the plant itself goes dormant for another winter. The shrubs like the stands of red willow don’t have red leaves, either; the name refers to the color of their stalks, which are a deep brick-like hue, exposed once the green leaves go gold and then drop off entirely. Aspen leaves only occasionally show a little red here and there; mostly, they turn a brilliant gold, then a pumpkin shade, and finally brown.
But we have two fire maples, and in fall, they really do robe themselves in flame. And the smaller of the two has already been going red for the better part of a week now, as though eager for some fiery color after the long hot summer.
It is this bold spirit that animated the third pair in today’s trio of featured works. Brand new and completed only two days ago, they embody the return of flames on fall winds, mostly leaves gone gold and crimson, but perhaps a few late-flowering petals as well. From their description:
Flames On Fall Winds Earrings
Leaves robed in red and gold drifts and dance like flames on fall winds. With these earrings, Wings evokes the spirits of autumn, of scarlet leaves and low golden light eddying together on the chill whirlwind of an early dusk. Each long, dangling drop is built around a focal cabochon of vibrant Red Creek jasper, rich fall shades cut into long, beveled daggers inverted to hang gracefully from sterling silver earring wires. Each cabochon is set into a fully hand-made bezel, all edges saw-cut and filed by hand and shaped to hold the stones. Organic hand-drilled tabs extend from the top of each bezel’s backing, the better to hold the coil-and-ball-bead French wires. Earrings hand 2-5/8″ long, excluding wires, by 11/16″ across at the widest point (dimensions approximate). Other views, highlighting the meticulous freehand bezel work, are shown at the link.
Sterling silver; Red Creek jasper
$625 + shipping, handling, and insurance
This focal point of this pair is the two dazzling dagger cabochons of fiery Red Creek jasper, giant bold wedges of gold and olive, crimson and scarlet. Wings has inverted them here, so that they hang like teardrops from an autumnal sunset sky. But there is another aspect of this pair that is extraordinary: the bezels that hold them, saw-cut and filed entirely by hand, shaped gently around each stone. It’s incredible work, and it’s a reminder that what we do, the labor and commitment we invest, frames our world to thrive at its best.
There has been precious little of that thriving in recent years; drought and a climate already in collapse have seen to that. But we have an obligation to acknowledge that which survives, its beauty and power and medicine. And on this day, that means honoring fall’s late flowers and turning leaves, even if their schedule is not as we know it should be.
Their presence should inspire us to restore them to a healthy balance.
~ 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.
