Today was a special day for us, one of joy and emotion and much celebration, of song and dance and feasting and ceremony.
Now the guests are gone, the drum silent, the only song the distant one of silvery stars against a midnight-colored sky. But the day itself was perfectly, wonderfully clear, a cold wind having carried all the clouds eastward so that the earth might washed in gold and silver light.
By dawn, every cloud had already fled, leaving only violet mountains limned in gold with the silver Morning Star still high in the eastern sky. The stormy hues of night receded, turquoise moving in to take their place, birthing a day when blue skies blossom in the light.
In this week, there was only one choice for today’s featured work — one of Wings’s most recent pieces, a new work in an old traditional style. From its description in the Earrings Gallery here on the site:
Even when the days are short and the shadows long, earth and sky still flower into petals of light. Wings honors the blooms of the indigo hours, the subtle and essential glow of dawn and dusk, with his newest earrings, a traditional blossom design that shimmers in the shades of shadow and storm. They begin with the settings, an old traditional motif in cut freehand in the form of desert blooms, each dangling sterling silver drop an oval possessed of eight scalloped petals, all given a shimmering finish just slightly brighter than the softest Florentine. At the center of each earring, in a plain, low-profile bezel, rests an oval sodalite cabochon in brilliant cobalt blue, the hue as intense as that of Afghan lapis, the matrix as mysterious as the sky in a twilight storm. At the Four Sacred Directions sit small round cabochons of misty labradorite, silvery-gray with their own internal light; at the ordinal points sit quartets of bright rainbow moonstones, cool and clear and refracting spectrum, spectral blues. Earrings hang 1.25″ across by 15″ long (excluding wires); sodalite cabochons are 5/8″ long by 3/8″ across at the widest point; labradorite cabs are 3/16″ across; rainbow moonstones are 1/8″ across (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver; sodalite; labradorite; rainbow moonstone
$525 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The cold wind remained through most of the day, although not so cold as to prevent celebration. Now, though, it has assumed pride of place in the night, banishing every shred of warmth eastward. The mercury is expected to drop to fourteen overnight; meanwhile, the stars glow with such cold fire as to turn the Milky Way into a brilliantly lit arch directly overhead, a silvery road across the dark blue sky.
Not much will bloom here now, with winter near at hand. Still, there are always the evergreens, lush and ripe with golden cones. But even in this icy air, one thing flowers still, heavens opening like petals to embrace our world in cobalt and cornflower, turquoise and indigo. These clear days and cold nights are the time when blue skies blossom in the light.
For us, joy blossoms with them, and love, too.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owners.
