Yesterday’s storm materialized while we were away. It was, in fact, the same driving snow we encountered where we were, but by the time it reached our land it had gathered force and ferocity.
We chased the storm all the way home, but it moved with greater speed, leaving behind evidence of a brief but powerful blizzard: a couple of inches of new ground cover, surface carved by the wind into low-profile driftscapes, every tree and pole and sign lined on its southwest side by a strip of flash-frozen snow. As the road unfurled before us, so, too, did the turquoise sky in the wake of dark clouds swept eastward on the wind.
Now, as the light just begins to penetrate the atmosphere, it’s possible to see that the forecast has erred again; we are to begin this day, apparently, shrouded in clouds and fog. It will lift in few hours, and then we shall be back to the jagged cold of a clear winter’s day, all fierce winds and pale blues.
It’s hard to feel as though such weather is much of a gift, still less an expression of love. But the spirits bestow their blessings in unexpected forms, and this day will be no exception. The trick lies in finding the gift within the fury of the day.
For us, this will be another hectic day of appointments and tasks, but without the added pressures present yesterday. With a little luck, the sun will send the fog packing early and melt the ice that has, overnight, turned the roads treacherous. And despite the pace of the day, it will be a chance to spend time together under bright blue skies without the distractions of yesterday’s encroaching stresses. We do not have to move and work today in anticipation of the storm.
In the heart of the winter, that last is a gift in itself.
As we traveled late yesterday in pursuit of the turquoise skies, it reminded me to today’s featured work, one well in keeping with the week’s themes, and a throwback to 2011. It was a pair of earrings in a style that Wings has produced periodically, each rendered unique by virtue of the natural stones used and subtle alterations to setting design. At least a couple of pairs were rendered in simple post fashion, but these he chose to put on wires, giving them a slight dangling effect.
The design, of course, began with the stones. These were heart-shaped cabochons of what was likely Arizona turquoise; the color resembles the stone currently coming out of the Turquoise Mountain mine, although back then, such specimens were not as common. I would have guessed Kingman, given the mottled white matrix present throughout, but the golden-brown patch at the lower edge of the one on the right makes me think that’s less likely; Kingman is known mostly for clear sky blues and pale greens, usually with faint white matrix — or, in the very high-grade stone from that mine, fine black spiderwebbing. The two round cabochons at the top of each heart are an example of more ordinary Kingman, a shade that falls on the turquoise spectrum somewhere between a robin’s egg and the Crayola shade denominated “Sky Blue.”
But the focal point was the hearts, and the earrings had to be built around them.
It’s hard to tell from the photo, and the details are lost to memory and time, but the tab at the top is, for me, a giveaway: It tells me that Wings created one full setting to hold both stones, rather than two separate settings per earring. He does that occasionally, particularly when working in small, tight, fragile spaces. It creates stability and solidity: The fewer “joins” in such a piece, particularly where pressures of weight an motion will occur, the less opportunity there is for friction to cause an eventual break. And so, he traced the heart cabochons onto silver, then added a circle directly above each one for the eventual purpose of holding the round stones.
The next step, perhaps surprisingly to most people, was not to cut out the silver. He needed to provide extra room all the way around each stone — and between them — to admit the bezel itself (and, in the case of the hearts, the twisted silver that would edge them), Once he had sketched out the new edges, freehand. Then, at the top, he added a small round tab to each; this would serve as a “jump ring” to attach the earrings to the wires. Finally, he cut each setting out, all of a piece: round tab attached to round bezel back attached to heart-shaped bezel back, all three tiers in a single setting. He turned the backs over and stamped his hallmark on them, then turned them face up for the next step, the actual bezels.
Crafting a bezel for a heart is tricky. Too deep a “V” at the throat, and the cabochon won’t fit into it; too loose a one, and the stone will fall out of its setting. It requires working with the stone as you go to ensure that the fit will secure without being too small. It helps, of course, to have Wings’s depth and breadth of experience; he’s able mostly to “eyeball” such pieces, and do a quick check at the end for any adjustments needed. For this pair, he created a saw-toothed bezel for each heart, then repeated the process for the tiny round cabochons, soldering them all securely into place. Then, he took a fine strand of twisted silver and threaded it gently between the two cabochons on each earring, winding it carefully around the rest of the hearts, and soldered it into place, as well. He then oxidized the hallmark on the back and twisted wire on the front, and buffed each setting to a medium polish.
All that remained was to set each of the four stones and attach the wires. Heart cabochons sometimes require a little adjustment, bending the upper reaches of the bezel line inward or outward as needed. The same would have been true here of the smaller cabs, due to their proximity to the twisted silver. With saw-toothed, or serrated, bezels especially, it requires patience, because it’s very easy to bend or break one of the “teeth” in the process. They often have to be pried gently open a bit, then pressed inward to hold the stones securely.
Once complete, Wings had a pair of earrings wrought in Skystone: from the heart of the sky, and at this season, in the heart of the winter.
They sold almost immediately.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2019; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
