It has been a day of long-needed errands and necessary tasks, nothing that anyone wants to do, but things that must be done all the same. Now, with early evening, the lights are on and the fire is blazing, because a ferocious storm is bearing down on us rapidly. Actually, its leading edge is already here, which means a temperature inversion of twenty degrees, vicious trickster winds, and rain drops that here are hard and heavy but sparse, but so dense between here and the northerly peaks that it masks them entirely.
Today was a world of bright intense colors, almost preternaturally so, but now, as the daylight hours wind down, our world is wrapped in a fog of pure gray.
Last night was much the same, albeit neither so early no so fierce. We were granted only a smallish shower then, but enough to leave the skies shrouded in cloud cover until some small time after midnight. By the early hours of the morning, though, they had cleared into a flawless sharp black beaded with the silver light of the stars . . . or perhaps like obsidian, its glossy depths inlaid with diamonds.
At this moment, it’s hard to imagine clear night skies, but I suspect that we shall see them again in a few hours — and with them, the stars’ light, and all the spirits of the night.
This week’s Friday Feature consists of a quartet of works that embody both the spirits and the light. All four are found in the Cuffs and Links and Bangles section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site. We begin with the one that pays tribute by name to the old ways, to the traditions and teachings whose value is timeless. From its description:
The Old Ways Cuff Bracelet
In times of uncertainty and danger, it is by traveling the path of the old ways that we find our own way forward. With this vintage-style cuff bracelet wrought using multiple silversmithing techniques, Wings summons the substance and spirit of old ways and wisdoms that blaze a trail to a better world for future generations. The band is wrought of heavy nine-gauge sterling silver, cut to length and subtly shaped at either end for comfort. The entire upper surface is texturized freehand, using a single tiny divot-end stamp struck hundreds of times with a jeweler’s hammer, creating an old, rich appearance and feel. The side edges and the inner band are abraded lightly, creating a softer, more muted, yet no less antique texture against the wrist. At the center of the outer band sits a heavy-gauge overlay cut freehand in the shape of an elongated diamond, a symbol of the Eye of Spirit and signifier of wisdom and guidance from other worlds. At the center of the diamond, a pair of old-style arrows are stamped freehand, seemingly in opposition to each other: Follow the path of each, and they meet in the middle, keeping travelers firmly on the path of the sacred hoop. Cuff is 6″ long by 3/8″ across; overlay is 2-1/8″ long by 7/16 across at the widest point (dimensions approximate). Other views shown above, below, and at the link.
Sterling silver
$1,200 + shipping, handling, and insurance
I love the rich textures of this cuff: the deep divots embossed into its by hand, via hundreds of strikes of the jewelers hammer, left coarse enough to feel and buffed to an aged Florentine finish; the overlay, not merely Florentine but with a brushed silver effect that frames the old-style arrows perfectly; and the brushed silver inner band, still silky smooth but with just enough texture that the wearer will not forget its beauty or its power.
Or its medicine. After all, that is what the old ways give us now — medicine to heal our spirits as surely as it does our bodies and minds.
The second of today’s featured works is very similar in design, but the details are all its own. It, too, features an elongated Eye of Spirit overlay, with smaller ones at its center that evoke a Guiding Star; the band itself seems to rise and fall in the rhythm of a cosmic breath, as though the stars themselves would teach us the work of survival. From its description:
A Cosmic Breath Cuff Bracelet
Skies and seas are bound together by the waters of life and a cosmic breath: the dust of the Guiding Star and the scales of the Water Serpent all infused with the First Medicine that is lifeblood and breath of our world. Wings summons them to the circle with this cuff, wrought of heavy nine-gauge sterling silver, overlaid at the center with an Eye of Spirit of solid eighteen-gauge silver, saw-cut freehand and stamped at the center with its own Lodestar. The outer surface of the band evokes the animating power of the Water Serpent, a lightning-bolt arrow forming a repeating pattern of scales between the crescent edges of a body in full locomotion. Along the inner band, a flowing-water motif formed by Wings’s own hand-made stamp wends its way down the full length, forming a serpentine heartline, point at one end and fletched shaft at the other, to infuse the work with the blood and breath of life itself. The band is polished to a high shine while the overlay at the center glows with a mirror-like finish. The band is 6″ long by 3/8″ wide; the overlay is 3″ long by 3/8″ high at center (all dimensions approximate). Other views shown above, below, and at the link.
Sterling silver
$1,200 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The scales pattern that repeats down the band of this cuff is not the one that Wings usually uses to signify their shimmering beauty. This is serpent and storm as one, arrow wrought as lightning bolt and repeated within the graceful arcs of a powerful animating spirit. It evokes the act of respiration, yes, but it is also insistently directional, reminding us that there is a path for us, and there is a purpose to what we do.
The similarities found in the third of today’s featured works lies more in the details than in the form and shape. The Eye of Spirit appears at its center; stars show themselves, too. But the glow of this one shows through all the phases of the moon, our nearest light in the nighttime sky. From its description:
Through All the Phases of the Moon Cuff Bracelet
The Eye of Spirit and the stars guide us through all the phases of the moon. With this cuff, Wings pays tribute to the wise celestial spirits, to Grandmother Moon and distant stars and the ways they allow us to reckon time and being. The band is formed of heavy-gauge sterling silver half-round wire, convex on the outer surface and flat beneath. At four intervals along its length, he has filed groups of six grooves each, lines etched freehand deep into the silver’s surface, wrapping around to brush the underside with a feather’s touch. In between, directional arrows meet to form elongated Eyes of Spirit: at the center, edged with waning and waxing crescent moons facing each other; along the sides, centered by such moons paired back to back around dancing stars. The ends are rounded and filed smooth, with the arrow motif flanking tiny solitary stars. The whole is polished to a near-mirror finish to catch a more earthly light. Cuff is 6″ long by 5/16″ wide (dimensions approximate). Other views shown above, below, and at the link.
Sterling silver
$1,100 + shipping, handling, and insurance
I love the pairing of stars and crescents on this one, but the feature that really makes the cuff is the wraparound scorework, parallel lines hewn impossibly deep to frame the gifts of the spirits the other stampwork signifies. It’s wrought of a heavy gauge without being heavy; solid, and a work of substance, without weighing down the wearer’s spirit.
In that, it is not unlike the fourth and final work that this week’s Friday Feature comprises, one that echoes the imagery of the other three, albeit in slightly more spare and subtle form. This is, in one respect, perhaps the simplest of the four, and yet its symbolism is powerful, calling us to a reckoning not merely of where we are or where we must go, but of what is required of us to save the world that has given us life. From its description:
Reckoning Cuff Bracelet
Reckoning our world by the elemental spirits is how we know both our place in it and the path ahead. With this cuff, Wings places the illuminating power of such spirits squarely at the center of traditional symbols of guidance and direction. At the center sits a triptych of visionary power, three Eyes of Spirit in one, flanked by elongated, hand-wrought directional arrows pointing toward the band’s ends and thus, inward toward each other around the hoop. He honors the four winds and the sacred directions by way of diagonally angled lines scored freehand all the way around each side of the heavy half-round wire band, and with a quartet of tiny sacred hoops at either end. The scoremarks wrap all the way around the inner band, between smaller directional arrows and echoing lines of hoops. Each edge of the band is traced with a repeating pattern of flowing-water motifs, drawing together the powers of wind and water and light in a single cosmically-oriented arc. Cuff is 6″ long by 5/16″ across on the underside (dimensions approximate). Other views shown above, below, and at the link.
Sterling silver
$1,000 + shipping, handling, and insurance
This cuff, too, features wraparound scorework, but here, it’s wrought on the diagonal, and coupled with the tiny hoops at the ends and the old-style arrows reaching out from the center, the whole hints at an old traditional Art Deco sensibility, a style from the heyday of so-called Southwestern Indian jewelry and art.
This cuff is so simple — deceptively so — that it would be all too easy, at a glance, to mistake its design for something basic. That would be an error. Each element is carefully chosen, from the decision to create arrows rather than use single stamps to the number of scorelines and sacred hoops at the ends and along the inner band. Like its three siblings here, it’s a work meant to embody wisdom and guidance, illumination and protection, power and medicine.
As I write, this first wave of the storm cells shown on the radar map moving in from the west is now passing through. It’s still raining, and steadily, but no longer with the ferocity or velocity of a fe minutes ago. The clouds now conceal the peaks entirely, but they are dark to the east and lighten steadily around the northern sky to the west. There is probably more to come, but it’s unlikely to be driven with such force.
It’s early enough still that we could also see clearing by full dark, but I doubt it. Instead, the new sliver moon will likely descend unseen, and the stars will assemble into their constellations in secret, the latter waiting for the early morning hours to show themselves.
But that is their gift: They are there, in place, whether we can see them or not. We can sleep secure in the knowledge that our world holds its place, revolving beneath the stars’ light, and all the spirits of the night.
~ 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.
