Back to Basics

This necklace is a return of sorts for me, a return to the simplicity which made me want to start silversmithing in the first place: the Great American Southwest.

I will not bore you with the details, but I am having a heck of a time trying to ride the crests and dips of these creative gifts: the tremendous surges of energy when a new idea comes to me and the deep pits I find myself digging out of when the well runs dry.

I am learning balance in all things, not the least of which involves keeping the big tsunamis of inspiration gated somehow to allow them to stretch out and meet the cavernous dips halfway...

if that makes any sense.

When I was 17 I first saw New Mexico and Arizona by train and I was floored by the beauty I saw there. 

Blown away by the jewelry I saw, too - big sterling granules surrounding the bluest stones and the reddest coral... it was an awakening of several different kinds: geography and creativity.

I could have never anticipated the jewelry, though....

This necklace, comprised of Bruneau Jasper and an almond of Turquoise, is my valentine to the Southwest. To simplicity and starting back at the beginning to find myself where I am now.

In the shop this evening.

On a very light note, my custom list is very nearly complete: after I am caught up I will start taking orders again, making note of it in my shop announcements.