Raindrop meets light, and whole worlds are born anew. In the raindrop itself, our own world appears upside-down, a result of the angle of the light’s refraction through its convex surface, but every raindrop renews also our own world, reviving it around us. With this bolo, Wings summons the beauty and power that a single drop holds for a land now gripped by record drought, reminding us that water and light are the First Medicines, by which our whole world lives and breathes, grows and flowers. The bolo itself is wrought in an old traditional style, one that combines the imagery of petals in full bloom with the radiance of the light. It’s saw-cut, scalloped, scored, and stamped entirely freehand, the cutwork following the arc of each tiny crescent at the end of every petal; the scorework that forms their ray-like edges is all created using a single short chisel-end stamp, chased repeatedly to deepen and extend each line. At the center, resting gently in a low-profile scalloped bezel edged in twisted silver, is a single giant raindrop, an extraordinary Skystone in a freeform teardrop shape. It’s the electric shade of blue that evokes the desert sky, finely webbed with black chert in what’s known as a bird’s-eye pattern. The matrix descriptor refers to the rounded shape that the web forms, and in this particular specimen, it’s included with fine diffuse water-webbing and shimmering patches of iron pyrite. The bolo, domed lightly by hand into a classic concha shape, is strung on a tightly braided black leather cord, with sterling silver tips that terminate in a molded saucer-and-ball-bead design. Concha, domed, is 2-7/8″ long by 2-1/2″ across at the widest point; setting is 1-3/4″ long by 1-1/4″ across at the widest point; cabochon is 1-1/2″ long by 15/16″ across at the widest point; cord is some 44″ long by 3/8″ thick; tips are 1-7/8″ long by 1/4″ across at the widest point (all dimensions approximate). Other views shown below.

Sterling silver; ultra-high-grade bird’s-eye Kingman turquoise with water-webbing; braided black leather
$1,800 + shipping, handling, and insurance

Full view, taken with flash:

Full view 2, with flash:

Bolo close-up in natural light, no flash:

Tips, with flash:

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