Aaaaaaaand

A fish. That's all for me today, folks. A rare three-post-er!!!!

Custom Wednesday

One of the last open-window days in the year.....ohhhhh, big sigh!

For your customizable pleasure this week: a lovely grounding mookaite with a really neat dendrite pattern in a beautiful teardrop with a background of cream, amber and peach.

Chrysoprase with dendrites and drusy vugs: a clear green stone that feels....psychic, if that makes sense!!

Convo me with any interest via the Metal Shop!!

Clearance

Well, I am full of organizational fire today, cleaning, cutting out pieces for gorgeous new big leather bags, preening the studio, readying for the possibility of a big show....

In that spirit I created a clearance section in the Metal Shop which has four rings and a necklace at drastically reduced prices to delight the organizational deal-lover in all of us!!

Shop on, my friends, shop on!!

A Different Approach to the Day

I live right next to some of the most beautiful country you could imagine: five minutes out of downtown Petaluma the hills roll in varieties of colors depending on the season:

Green for Spring

Gold for Summer

Brown for Fall and Winter

It is fall, and so the cow-dotted ground is the color of my favorite corduroys from childhood - a rich camel dotted in forest green.

Today in my desire to gentle the fall blues (as I had an incredibly important custom order to make that required my incredibly measured and sunshine-y energy)

I gathered up my orders to be mailed and drove off to Point Reyes, 16 miles toward the coast on a winding road with no consistent speed limit.

Jones and Janey stayed home, but I am sure they would have loved to tag along (can you see little Janey by the window???)!

Point Reyes is a tiny town famous for its fromageries (I couldn't think of an English word for it -  cheese shops... perhaps I could have just said 'cheese shops'?)

There is a bakery that melts my heart and a few really, really good restaurants that Anthony and I frequent with great affection and the locals are super kind and friendly.

Point Reyes was what the doctor ordered for me today and I came home to finish two pieces in process:

A custom order of great magnitude:

And a really neat-o Tigereye ring in size 8.25 for the Metal Shop:

The ring band says 'Warm Love' just like the title of one of my favorite Van Morrison songs: the stone is pure warmth with its fall tones and chatoyance and it came into my life in a fantastic and moving way.

I love when stones I set have secret stories and emerge from deep pockets in my heart where I have been holding on to them!

I hope you are all dreaming of boots and sweaters this evening as I am... and peacoats, too - this will be the first winter I've had in six years.

To most of you it would laughable that winter is when things actually go below freezing, but compared to the mildness of Los Angeles the frost and chill of Petaluma will merit a coat.

A yellow peacoat.

Yes!!!!

Fly Away Home

These last few days have found me writing songs again in a very big way, thinking about them in the shower, on my way to get groceries, while tooling and smithing....

I cannot tell you how good that feels: I was a fallow field for longer than felt comfortable but what I must remember is that it's not my time: it is God's time and if I need stillness and other pursuits before I can refill that well then so be it.

Six months of patience and then boom - two songs in one weekend!

Today I made joyous necklaces with peaceful turquoise and lovely tooled leather feathers in my favorite monochrome toffee rainbow.

The pieces are available now in the Leather Shop, two lucky feathers made by a girl who is feeling quite lucky herself!

(I bet that nap helped, too - don't you find everything feels better after you really let yourself have a few days off?)

Chorus

You picked me up, dusted me off

Put a little music in my heart

And asked me how I got so far without my faith

Well I don't know much these days

But I know I found my place

It's in your arms, cause when I'm in them I get 

Healed.

Breathless

Something I made today made my sentimental eyes tear up, a sure sign it was something pretty groundbreaking for me in terms of soulful design.

This time last year it was almost wedding time and I was so looking forward to Hawaii... how could I have known that going there would haunt me like this? 

The coral reef on Anini Beach, the sky, the breeze, the feel of paradise.... I awoke today determined to make something that would bring back the feel of the coral, the deep twisty thickets of sea life and the feel of the warm currents.

So I did, with near-trembling hands towards the end, kind of like the feeling I get at the end of a particularly good musical take "Just hang on and keep this feeling!!".... I made a memory come to life in my studio.

The stone in this is an incredible cut of Sonora Sunrise with a near-metallic band running across the blue and a delicate tomato red at the tippy top.

The chain is luxe, the work is from my heart, from my memory and ties in one of the loveliest experiences I've ever had.

In the Metal Shop soon!

Moonstone Lunar Landscape Earrings

Two lovely, generous rounds of Moonstone round out the unfinished circle of these Lunar Landscape Earrings...

Caught somewhere between waxing and waning

and filled with the glow of blue fire.

In the Metal Shop this evening.

An interesting spin on Custom Wednesday....

Update: the ring has been claimed!!

Well, there are two custom orders that I finished in a state of bliss today.

I love when these days happen: all design elements flow into each other and the previous day's work still stood proud under scrutiny.

I am super excited to show these pieces to their beloved owners!!!

I also wanted to show you guys something: a new twist on Custom Wednesday as I don't really have time to introduce a new set of stones to you this week:

I have made a ring top with the stone gently resting on the bezel so you can get the idea of what it would look like set - I know some of you mentioned this would be a really beneficial thing to see: a completed project sans a few details - like in this case, a ring band and the oxidizing and brushing I prefer for finishing pieces.

The design is a take on fifties Mod, with squares and lighthearted granules and all manner of symmetry and angles.

The stone is a pristine cut of Queensland Agate in a color I can only begin to describe as Orange Juice.

It feels nourishing and humorous in your hand and glows with its own agate-y inner light - just delicious!!

Whoever writes first with interest and a ring size will be its proper owner!!

Have the happiest evening and know if you were right here I would offer you some good Vanilla Rooibos tea and some earnest conversation!!

Southern California Dreaming

Last night we were watching the kinda adorable movie "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" and there was a screenshot of Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood and I burst into tears....

burst into tears the same way I used to when my NYC besties would call and say, "I'm in that bakery in Queens" or, "I just got back from Central Park"...

I would lose it, because I missed my experiences in that fabulous place. Missed the adventures and the hungry young twenty-somethingness that you can never quite experience again after you graduate from Ramen Noodles and and peanut butter sandwhiches for all your meals.

I miss Los Angeles.... I miss the smells, the sights, the way the light hits your eyes in this really lovely way... but the kicker is this: if you told me I could move back tomorrow I wouldn't bite.

I would consider it, hesitate and then stay here voluntarily.

Because Northern California is healing something way down deep in my soul

Because I don't belong there anymore, and sometimes that is the most painful feeling: the missing combined with the knowledge that even if you could return you know you would be worse for wear in the end.

I am finding my feet here in Petaluma, becoming a part of the Yoga community slowly, surely and with huge love in my heart.

Shopkeepers know my face and greet me with big, lovely smiles of recognition...

Streets are becoming familiar.

I am on the right path, indeed. Today I decided to make a couple of classic designs for the leather shop, as my way of revisiting Los Angeles in terms of the creativity it gave me and the designs it inspired.

Update-aliciousness: Wow!!! Thanks for making homes for these heartfelt creations and with such speed!!

That makes me AND Los Angeles very happy :)

I love you, SoCal.... I really do.

I'll be there for a week at the end of October to play a bunch of Gigs in Redlands and one in LA proper.

I will drink in the sun, drink in my dearest friends and allow myself to experience its beauty with the happiness of a tourist and the heart of a lover.

A Day At the Beach

Today was a day of making: custom orders in process galore and something special for the Metal Shop: a Labradorite ring with tremendous chatoyance in the most spectacular shade of blue, blue, blue.

But yesterday....ahhhh, yesterday:

It was a day of finding

Of giant sea vegetable wonderment

Of moody sky and incredible fog and big, loud waves to shake out the cobwebs in your soul and clean house in your head.

It was also a wealth of natural beauty on the ground: bits of agates and jaspers and lovely flat beach rocks I collected for my best friend (and some beach glass for me!!)

It was 65 degrees and overcast in Boedga Bay.... meanwhile, 18 miles away in Petaluma it was...

90 degrees and Sunny at 6:00 PM!!! :)

I hope you all had delightful weekends that refilled your wells and found your very spirit refreshed!!

And What a Glorious Caturday it Is!!

Fierceness, Om and The Inevitable Sadness of Leaving

Today I had promised to work on some custom pieces, but I have been so down from saying goodbye to that wonderful mother of mine that all I had the energy to do was finish two pieces I had been working on for a little while.

It's always kind of inevitable: the leaving is just as amazing as the arriving, just on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum: a bittersweetness comes into your day, makes everything kind of feel like twilight.... and you start tearfully wondering why you left home at all back at 18... and then you laugh at your adorable pity party and throw your heart into your work.

And work I did, and I am not done at all: I will be working on custom orders this evening to be done on Monday.

I wanted desperately to make another Tiger Grrr Necklace and also work on something that is its beautiful opposite: An 'Om' necklace, to temper the fierceness and balance out the fiery leonine energies of powerful femininity.

Behold:

For the Om necklace I wanted to emphasize its clean lines and draw the eye onto the center where the gorgeous blue Moonstone fire is waiting to calm and nurture the eye and the whole spirit.

Both pieces are in the Metal Shop and awaiting their women.

In other news, I had my first tomato (yay!):

Jones remains cute as can be:

And I will miss that Mommy of mine until November 24th when my whole family gathers in Minneapolis for Thanksgiving.

Sigh.

It's Wednesday!!

UPDATE: the Banded Jasper has been claimed!

xo,

A

And you know what that means - stones!!!!

In looking through my collection I realized I have just that: a collection. 

Nearly one thousand stones: a result of over two years of avid collecting and some happy learning.

I can spot some pieces from a mile away and my thirst for lapidary knowledge is great. Huge. Overwhelming.

I see myself as a kind of stone steward, here to match people with their own piece of deep earth for the best purposes: healing, growing and excelling.

This Wednesday marks the first week of trying this new system. I won't be able to list every Wednesday if I'm crazy busy in other areas of life.

Pieces that are picked out this week will have a delivery date of three weeks from the time we get a final idea of what they will become a part of.

Without further Ado, here are the two pieces for this week.

The first is a spectacular piece of Malachite, with deep green banding so intense it looks black. This stone is the very soul of dramatic coloration.

Malachite is said to promote an adventurous life and fuel the imagination, which is no wonder looking at its amazing landscape - it feels like caffeine in your hand.

I could not seem to get a picture without some sort of reflection from the light of day: it has a high mirror polish and no white: that is just light reflection.

The size of this stone is 40mm X 30mm.

The next stone a jasper with beautiful banding, so beautiful in fact that it looks like the rings of growth in a tree: one ring for each year.

The banding is so subtle at the top of the stone as to be nearly invisible, but it is indeed there: little tiny rings of cafe au lait.

I could not find this particular stone's meaning in my little book of Healing Crystals, so I will simply tell you what I feel when I hold it:

longevity

peace

groundedness

It feels really, really good.

The size of this stone is 24mm round (roughly one inch)

Again with these stones it is first come, first serve, and I will update on the blog when they have been claimed.

Convo me with your interest in the Metal Shop!!

Sunrise, Sunset

Sunrise, sunset

Sunrise, sunset

Swiftly fly the years

One season following another

Laden with happiness and tears

                -- Fiddler On the Roof

Every sunrise is also a sunset, and this is what gives life both its bitter and its sweet.

There is no separating the joys and sorrows we experience into black and white:

it is more like technicolor, a stunning display we cannot imagine ourselves without.

This necklace includes an incredibly high-quality cabochon of Queensland Agate in true sunshine shades of cherry orange, deep sunflower and cream.

It has a little companion sun (with little sun rays!) whose center is a lovely oval of Brazilian Jade with natural yellow color.

This necklace honors the amazing dance of life: sunrises, sunsets, hello and goodbye.

With one of the last little vintage Japanese cherry blossom cabochons, I made a necklace to be a sweet treat:

While I made and finished pieces in the process of being made (Sunrise, Sunset) and created new pieces my Mama sat in the big comfy studio chair and read her beloved newspaper,

peppering me with questions such as, "Do you believe in God?"

and statements such as, "That Beyonce is a class act!"

I am so going to miss her when she flies away on Thursday night!!

These two pieces will be in the Metal Shop later tonight: we have a date with the ice cream parlor and we're on our way out the door!