It’s Christmas Eve: Air cold and silent and momentarily clear, snowclouds amassing around the horizon, awaiting the winds to drive them over this plot of land at the foot of the peaks.
It will be a busy day today, and yet, one not especially focused on the trappings of the impending holiday. Only one or two tasks yet remain. If, as predicted, the snow flies tonight, we will be safely ensconced indoors, wrapped in warmth.
Most of Wings’s work is timeless, not susceptible to fashion or fad, nor limited by the seasons. But in the past, he used to create a collection of pieces each year in the weeks leading up to the winter holidays, his signature series of Christmas tree pins, tiny evergreens wrought in silver and stone (and augmented by the occasional reindeer pin) to mark the season for those among our customers who celebrate at this time of year. It’s been a while since he’s done so; in recent years, the number of commissioned pieces on his workbench at this season have increased drastically, and they take priority, of course. But he’s already talking about the possibility of making a few of these in advance for next year’s holiday season. For today, I thought it would be apt to look at some of the Christmas trees he’s created in just he last few years
There have been many, many more than these half-dozen, and every one of them has been unique. Their individuality is not surprising, considering that he draws all the templates freehand; even on the rare occasion when he reuses a template, freehand cutwork ensures that no two are ever identical. But beyond the shape of the tree and the angle of the boughs, he takes pains to ensure that each is decorated differently, using stamps patterned in traditional symbols to create garlands and ornaments and tinsel, then adding tiny jeweled ornaments in the form of gemstone cabochons.
The three pins pictured singly here were all created at the same time, at Christmas in 2012. The one at the top of this post was called Spruce, for the colors of the cabochons that decorated it: dusky green jade, blue lapis, malachite in brilliant banded green. Together, they blend into the color of a lush blue spruce.
The next one was called, simply, Evergreen. The tiny tree’s classic shape was unmistakable, needing no real description or explanation. The choice of cabochons proved popular, however: As I recall, shortly after the pin sold, we were contacted by another client who’d seen it on the Web site and wished to buy one with similar stones. It really was a symbolically beautiful combination: onyx representing the rich black earth of the soil; turquoise, the color of the winter sky; and jade, the hue of the evergreen tree itself, sustained by and connecting the other two elements.
The third pin from that year was a bit of a departure from his usual style.
It wasn’t the slightly avant-garde shape of the tree or the angle of the trunk, which lent it a small sense of abstract motion, as though blowing in the wind. The difference lay in the ornamentation, selection, matching, and placement of the gemstones.
Wings began with a small oval cabochon of denim lapis, one so aswirl is misty, smoky wisps of white that it gave the stone a slightly opalescent look. Surrounding it, he placed an oval blue opal triplet at each of the Four Sacred Directions, fiery bits of winter light. The pin’s name was, simply, Blue Light, a nod to the blue-white strands of lights that bespangle holiday trees, and to its own boreal glow, one that evoked images of the great forests of the north, and of the lights that the north wind sends dancing across the sky. It found a home with a dear friend who lives much further north than we.
Those three were his most recent iteration of his signature series of Christmas tree pins. There have been so many more over the years, some we thought to capture on film, others whose images now reside solely with their wearers. I did find an exceptionally clear photo of a small series he created some six to eight years ago: tiny silver trees whose shapes give every appearance of snow-laden boughs spangled with tiny jewels, much like the animated trees of Christmastown in the old children’s television special, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. If you recall, the great storm in that story blew some of the ornaments entirely off the trees, shattering them. These were more fortunate.
The tree pictured at the top was a classic shape, boughs slightly upturned. Tiny chased half-diamonds formed the base of the trunk; blossoms and Morning Stars scattered across the body of the tree served as ornaments; a four tiny gemstone cabochons created the classic ball-shaped Christmas ornaments: sky blue turquoise; chatoyant pearl-white moonstone; warm orange-red coral; and pale green gaspeite. A stamped Morning Star served as the treetop star.
The two lower pins were designed to look as though they were covered in snow, branches heavy, sloping gently downward. At left, tiny stampwork stars, each embraced in a corona of rays, served as the basic ornaments, the tree topped by a stamped Morning Star. The jeweled “ornaments” consisted of glossy black onyx, lapis lazuli in deep indigo, and soft green jade. The one on the right was decorated with blossoms and hearts scattered across the surface, topped with a Zia-style sun symbol in lieu of an ordinary star. The gemstone ornaments were elemental: turquoise the blue of the winter sky; earthy black onyx; and a radiant moonstone the color of the light.
In years past, this small signature series has always been one of his most popular at this season. It’s a way to wear a bit of holiday spirit without defaulting to the kitsch of spangled snowman sweaters and blinking light-bulb earrings, symbolism with a distinctly indigenous twist, sufficiently subtle to wear year-round. And, of course, these are works that may be commissioned any time of year, even in years like this when none are currently in stock, with gemstone ornaments to suit individual tastes; simply inquire via the Contact form at left.
For the remainder of this day and night that are sacred to so many, we wish you peace and joy and safety in the winter weather, with perhaps a little evergreen brightening your own view.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owners.
