lioness

behold her, single in the field
yon solitary highland lass
reaping and singing by herself
stop here, or gently pass

and here she is ... the lioness

although not written about a lioness, these words by william wordsworth (stamped on the back) describe her perfectly. she is regal and majestic and alone. she answers to one. she takes care of herself. unlike their cousins who live with many others in a pride, mountain lions are solitary creatures. they are strong and solid and independent. i've been working on a design for her for a while now. this bracelet, which is kind of like a half cuff, fits the theme perfectly.

it features a hand-cut lioness, mounted on a hammered and distressed plate. she wraps herself lovingly around your wrist, offering you strength and protection. on one side of her there is a beautiful, high-domed owyhee jasper, depicting a high desert mesa where you would see her, the lioness, roaming, reaping, and singing. there is also a round willow creek jasper in a tawny color, very much like a mountain lion's coat.

and the second desiderata piece, a necklace

this piece contains his line "be yourself. especially do not feign affection" stamped on four sides of a silver bar. at the center of the necklace is a beautiful prehnite with epidote oval. it is a gorgeous apple green with thick black epidote crystals suspended within. dangling from the oval is a lovely teardrop shaped golden rutilated quartz.

p.s. susie, if you're reading this, will you e-mail me? (silversparrowdesigns@gmail.com) i have tried several times to leave comments on your blog and i can't!

valentine's day rose

my friend brandon is a blacksmith. he sometimes makes steel roses. for his girlfriend, for valentine's day, he wanted to make a sterling silver rose. i told him to come over today and i'd help him out. it turned out to be a much bigger project than either of us anticipated.

however, after about 6 hours, here is the finished project.

it was almost dark by the time we were done,

so i couldn't get very great photos, but it was badass!

solid silver. heavy. gorgeous.

raven thoughts and max ehrmann

i finished two new bracelets yesterday! one is the "raven thoughts" bracelet.

as you know, i love conor oberst. in his song "if the brakeman turns my way", he says:

when panic grips your body
and your heart's a hummingbird
raven thoughts blacken your mind
'til you're breathing in reverse
all your friends and sedatives mean well
but make it worse
every reassurance just magnifies the doubt
better find yourself a place to level out

a bit dark, i know. but also hopeful. and real. this bracelet is inspired by that song. the back says "rise up. soar above raven thoughts." in native american mythology, the raven is a symbol for change and transformation. the Raven is also said to be a keeper of secrets, and can assist us in examining areas in our lives that we are unwilling to face, or secrets we keep that harm us – the raven can help us expose the truth behind these (often distorted) thoughts and wing us back to health and harmony. very powerful.

the raven is hand-pierced from a thick sheet of silver, then soldered onto another sheet of silver to create the negative space image. the stones in this bracelet, from left to right, are prehnite, onyx (inside the raven), rutilated quartz, and spectrolite. spectrolite is a very high grade labradorite. while it appears black in the photos, it actually has an incredible rainbow sheen to it.

this is the spectrolite; it s amazing!

and here is the first in the desiderata series!

the desiderata, by max ehrmann, is one of my very favorite pieces of literature ever. it feels to me that every one of his lines is so poignant and so exact and so timeless. i try to read it everyday, to remind myself of what is. i have decided to devote a series of pieces to it; each will have clips of his poem and a prehnite with epidote stone somewhere on it. i am so excited!

this piece, just in time for valentine's day, contains his line about love, "neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass". so beautiful, it is stamped on the inside. on the outside is a gorgeous prehnite with epidote sheild-shaped cabochon. this stone is mesmerizing! a rich apple green, with such a lovely contrast of thick black epidote crystals running through it. the cuff itself is solid and heavy, and has been gently hammered and distressed, oxidized and buffed. the stone measures about 1" x 1" and the bracelet is 6 1/2".

two years ago today...

two years ago today, the sweetest little junebug came into our lives. she was almost a month early. she was quite jaundiced and had to be on one of those bilirubin blankets. she was so tiny and so precious and so amazing.

and now, at two, she astounds me. now that she has mobility and language, nothing's going to stop her! she is so inquisitive and insightful and has a lovely sense of humor. she is gentle and patient and has the sweetest little manners. with her big ol' eyes (which she got from her aunt traci) and her curly hair, she is the most darling thing in creation. here are some shots of her from the last year...

junebug's b'day party!

although her true birthday is on monday, we celebrated yesterday, with some presents in the morning and a lovely family ski adventure in the afternoon.

i think her favorite gift was the pink ukelele from her uncle scott and aunt tiff, handpainted with her name in it!

for the ski, we were joined by some great friends...

zane, annabel, hazel, june, and maya

little princess juniper, in her balloon-festooned sled throne

beautiful megan and her tiny baby corben

the group, organizing and motivating

clay and kayla

so happy!

dear "uncle" sam

we had delicious cupcakes made by the new bakery in dolores

thanks, everybody, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JUNEBUG!

taxes!

i really, truly, sincerely LOVE having my own business. except, of course, when tax time comes. you may have noticed that i haven't been here, on the blog, lately. nor have i listed any new items lately. no siree. i have not been out in my studio, except late at night to complete orders that need to be shipped immediately. i have been doing everything that my right-brained self rebels against: organizing and sorting and counting and calculating and analyzing... a.k.a taxes. here is my very professional system:

i intend to finish all of my calculating of expenses and mileage this weekend, and then turn the whole shabang over to the dear lady who will take all of my bits and pieces and turn it into a refund!

on a happier note, i did take junebug out to a lovely local restaurant, the farm, for her birthday date yesterday. (her birthday is monday. we are having her little party tomorrow.) she loved it!

and here are the girls this morning

and the dogs, wishing that we were skiing rather than taxing, but making the best of their time together

p.s. i am planning a very special series, based on the desiderata, all with a common stone (wanna guess which one?). as soon as i am done with all of this paperwork, i can start it!