Scattered gray-bottomed clouds are scattered across a turquoise sky, scudding on the force of a cold metallic wind. The aerial blast is more of spring than winter here, but the cold is sharp as a razor’s edge and cuts all the way to the bone.
The wind is ferocious enough that even the crows are not challenging it much, preferring to congregate on the ground out of the path of its fury.
To unaccustomed eyes, the world outside the window bears all the surface hallmarks of a beautiful day: blue skies, abundant sun, plenty of silvery light. But we know this marks the beginning of the deepest days of winter and the hardest season of the year, the one in which winter and spring overlap. It is perhaps no coincidence that it is also a sacred season here; after all, what better time to turn inward and seek the refuge of sacred space? It’s a good day to spend by the fire, trading the chill of the icy light for the warmer glow of wisdom and illumination.
At times like these, it’s hard to remember that places of refuge surround us. There are spaces of sanctuary within and without, found in shelter from the wind and beneath the light of sun and moon and stars, found beside flames of piñon and cedar and the deeper fire that burns in an illuminated spirit. Today’s featured works, which together constitute an informal collection of seven cuffs, embody the fire, the light and the sacred space. Some are explicitly entries in his new informal Bands of Light signature series; others pre- and post-date it, but are of a piece with it, similarly stackable in style and with a spirit placed squarely within the layers of an illuminating sacred. All are found in the Cuffs and Links and Bangles section of the Bracelets Gallery here on the site. Each brings its own unique identity and spirit to the group, and each fits perfectly within the day’s (and week’s) broader themes.
We begin with the first, an old-style cuff wrought entirely freehand, each petal of the winter blossom hand-formed by Wings of ingot sterling silver. It’s a reminder to us that winter is itself a sacred space, the actual season of renewal and rebirth that the colonial world misidentifies with spring. From its description:
Winter Blossom Cuff Bracelet
In the high country, the winter blossom survives the early snows. Wings coaxes it into existence for every season with this slender cuff, its petals wrought of sterling silver ingot. The slim, spare band is utterly plain save for faint rounding at the ends, just enough to make the edges silky smooth, and the surface is given a highly textured Florentine finish. The focal accent consists of a flower formed of a flat round backing, center stamen and eight surrounding petals all formed of ingot ball beads, each made entirely by hand. Beads and backing are given the same antiqued Florentine finish, rich in texture and shimmering glow, like snow in the waning winter light. Band is 6″ long by 5/16″ across; focal bezel is 7/8″ across; small ingot beads are 3/16″ across; center ingot bead is 5/16″ across (dimensions approximate). Side view shown above and at the link.
Sterling silver
$1,025 + shipping, handling, and insurance
In the same vein, there are spirits of warmer winds whose work nonetheless shows up now, in the refuge of the winter snows — tiny bits of pollen scattered long ago, taking hold now within the beat of a butterfly’s wing, ready to grow strong enough to welcome real-world butterflies with the summer heat. This one, too, is wrought in a very old traditional style, the stampwork evoking the earliest Indigenous silverwork symbologies. From its description:
The Beat of a Butterfly’s Wings Cuff Bracelet
The earth turns amid light and shadow and the beat of a butterfly’s wings. The light and shadow, messenger spirits and their motion, too, all come together in this vintage-style cuff by Wings wrought the old way. It’s a single slender band of heavy-gauge sterling silver, cut to size and length and then stamped freehand in a tight repeating pattern of leaves and petals and rays of light that, together, form a motif that evokes that tiny but powerful spirit we call Butterfly, wings fluttering and limned with pure light. Each group of symbols is stamped entirely freehand, perfectly even and consistent, the strikes so deep as to displace the silver into gently undulating edges, the oxidation giving each line and divot a beautifully aged appearance that, together with its Florentine finish, makes the entire work glow. Band is 6″ long by 5/16″ across (dimensions approximate). Other views shown at the link.
Sterling silver
$425 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The third of today’s featured works was created alongside the second, and both share both a spirit and a stylistic family resemblance. Its task is to teach us to look for opportunities, and to find daily sanctuary on the path that opens for us between each sunrise. From its description:
Between Each Sunrise Cuff Bracelet
Between each sunrise, a new path opens to us. Wings calls the sun and the parting clouds and the silver-lit road together in this vintage-style cuff bracelet, stamped entirely freehand and wrought in the old way. It all begins with a narrow strip of heavy-gauge sterling silver, solid and substantial, cut to size and length. Wings trails a single stamp in a clouds-before-sunrise motif all the way down its length in an alternating pattern, the stampwork clear-cut, uniform, and impossibly deep, so deep that the displacement of the surrounding silver creates and natural ebb and flow to the edge of the band. The negative space between each oxidized triangular motif is clean and even, left lightly textured and glowing with velvety Florentine-like finish. Band is 6.25″ long by 5/16″ across (dimensions approximate). Other views shown at the link.
Sterling silver
$425 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The next three cuffs are all explicitly wrought as entries in Wings’s new and intermittent, mostly informal signature series Bands of Light. Aside from minor variances in the hammerwork and dimensions (the latter always an issue with metalwork cut freehand), the distinguishing features of these are designed as a secret between cuff and wearer: a single matching stamp at either end of the inner band, identifying its particular spirit and sharing its power with the person whose wrist it encircles.
We begin with the one that, to y mind, is the most powerful, a reminder to us that there are other worlds beyond the one we can perceive, all interconnected by an interstellar glow and the light of ancestral wisdom and spiritual illumination. From its description:
An Interstellar Glow Cuff Bracelet
An interstellar glow connects our world to the universe that holds us all. With this cuff, Wings links stars and planets, nova and nebulae, in one silver namesake band of light. One in his new signature series of small stackable cuff bracelets, Bands of Light, this slender crescent of hand-hammered silver glows with the fire of a comet’s tail, blazing a path across space and sky. Its slim band is wrought of eighteen-gauge sterling silver, not heavy but full of substance and spirit. The outer surface is hammered freehand, refractive like the rays of stars in motion. The inner band is stamped once at either end with a Guiding Star, a mariner’s compass that points to all of the Sacred Directions, then oxidized and buffed to a soft Florentine finish. Band is 6″ long by just under 3/8″ across (dimensions approximate). Views of inner band and current group shown at the link.
Sterling silver
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The second of this trio overtly shares that same stellar beauty and spirit, reminding us that there is light even in the deepest hours of the night, a stardust shimmer that still allows us to see. From its description:
A Stardust Shimmer Cuff Bracelet
A stardust shimmer lights even the darkest night. With this cuff, Wings summons the glow of distant stars into a single crescent of silvered light. One in his new signature series of small stackable cuff bracelets, Bands of Light, this slim band of hand-hammered silver glimmers like the shine of a thousand stars in the clearest night sky. The narrow cuff is wrought of eighteen-gauge sterling silver, solid but not heavy. The outer surface is hammered freehand, textured and refractive like the diamond beads on the blanket of the dark; the inner band is stamped once at either end with a single five-pointed star, then oxidized and buffed to a soft Florentine finish. Band is 6″ long by just under 3/8″ across (dimensions approximate). Views of inner band and current group shown at the link.
Sterling silver
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The third of this eminently stackable trio seems, by ordinary human reckoning, to be more a cousin than a sibling to the other two, one that delivers a sunrise radiance to the sanctuary of a new day . . . but what is the sun if not a star? From its description:
A Sunrise Radiance Cuff Bracelet
A sunrise radiance warms and illuminates our whole world. With this cuff, Wings forms and shapes the rays of the dawn into a lasting arc of gleaming silver light. One in his new signature series of small stackable cuff bracelets, Bands of Light, this slender arc of hand-hammered silver evokes the refractive rays of the dawn, emergent from the clouds of night. The slim band, wrought of solid eighteen-gauge sterling silver, has substance without feeling heavy. The outer surface is hammered freehand into a rippling, textured surface; the inner band is stamped once at either end with a single motif representing the rays of a sunrise above a row of clouds, then oxidized and buffed to a soft Florentine finish. Band is 6″ long by just under 3/8″ across (dimensions approximate). Views of inner band and current group shown at the link.
Sterling silver
$325 + shipping, handling, and insurance
And finally, we come to the last, but by no means the least, of today group of seven silvery strands. This one embodies all of the others combined, manifest in a small crescent of pure substance and even purer spirit — the arc of the light given corporeal form. From its description:
The Arc of the Light Cuff Bracelet
From a rainbow of color to nearly pure white to shimmering silver to something invisible to our eyes, the arc of the light is always present, and always illuminates our path. Wings recreates the path along the arc itself with this small glowing crescent, a cuff hand-milled in heavy-gauge sterling silver. Cranked by hand through and old-fashioned rolling mill, the strand’s silver is displaces into two deep channels on either side of a sloping apex, its center spine standing out in sharp relief. Smaller peaks serve as borders, creating parallel range of peaks and valleys, all running with a river of pure refracted light. The inverse of the grooves are perceptible on the inner band, the ends are shaped, rounded off, and filed smooth, and the entire arc is oxidized and buffed to a shining antiqued shade just a bit brighter than classic Florentine. [Note: This cuff is designed for a small wrist. The outer band is a very scant 6″ long; the inner band is closer to 5.5″ (dimensions approximate).] Other views shown at the link.
Sterling silver
$385 + shipping, handling, and insurance
I own two sets each of seven bangle bracelets, designs wrought in a number sacred to my own tradition. Perhaps that’s why I can’t help but feel that these seven belong somehow together — stacked like bangles, yet open to motion, air, and light. Each fulfills a different role i our understanding of our cosmos, and in our recognition of places of refuge for body and spirit.
Together, they remind us that the complexity of our world is a good thing, even as it sometimes seems insurmountably difficult to navigate or comprehend. We live within the layers of an illuminating sacred, and its gifts are greater than the sum of its parts.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2021; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
