Earnest, Delicate and Thoughtful...

...is how my heart feels today...

so it would be no mistake that the pieces I chose to finish this afternoon were the ones that had a blessedly big amount of the sentimental, sweet and soft in both their stones (or porcelains) and design.

They are ever so earnest, and so full of heart: can you feel it?

Gaspeite, delicious stone from Australia, with a little growing tendril on the back, pierced with a jeweler's saw...

Rose quartz and Onyx, delicate and nearly fragrant with subtle color.... I filed down a scalloped bezel for a more architectural appearance to the design.

In a size 9.5 I have the be all to end all of porcelain from around 1910: the patina is LUSH

the wear from the ages simply magical

and the color of the rose itself is just unreal.

This one's a wonder.

All three will be in the Metal Shop in a few shakes....

With love,

Allison

Me and Mr. Jones

Smooosh!!!!!!!

SALE

Two Fine Pieces

On Sale now in the Metal Shop!

xo,

S

Luna Progress

Going away for the weekend on a happy/sad trip to see Anthony's Parents-

Happy because we get to see them (and Beth!)

unhappy because they'll be gone for a long time to go take care of Mama 2's parents, her father is really having a hard time right now.

Ah, life.

I had some stone trouble today. A few rings didn't make the cut and so I feel heavy and tired.

Leather, however, sang a beautiful song and I listened.

Stitched.

Tooled.

Painted.

Luna moth clutch will be in the shop next week and the custom big bag will be finished around the very same day - I plan these things :)

Have a wonderful weekend and see you Monday,

Sunny

P.S. - Jenn2 - white balance exploration ahoy!!!! Looks a bit better, methinks!

Good Vibes

From me and Janey-sauce to Ms. Kelly:

We are hugging you from afar.

xoxoxo,

Allison

On Hold

UPDATE: Fridge to arrive tomorrow afternoon, food being eaten in strange and interesting combinations, based on how likely it is to spoil.

Just talked to one of my bestest girlfriends whose house in likely in foreclosure and wished to wrap my entire heart around her. May all of your troubles be trivial, friends, like mine.

xoxoxoxo,

Sunny of the Bay Area

Friends, neighbors, customers; lend me your ears -

or

perhaps lend me your refrigerators:

mine has broken down and left us with

coolers full of meat....

and the need to drink 3 glasses of milk in one night.

Having spent the better part of today getting a repairman in, hearing his message of futility and sourcing our next fridge, I am behind in my work.

Please know that if I promised you anything this week it will be delayed.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go eat 12 slices of swiss cheese before they wilt.

Love and Failed Compressors,

Sunny

Cosmic Love General

The medal for a Cosmic Love General is going in the Metal Shop in a little while -

a reward for valor and courage in the face of life :)

If you blow up the picture you can see texture underneath the leftmost swing bail: (it's applied in other places, too) I've done this once or twice before: applied silver dust with a brush and let it become part of the design:

sometimes when a design calls for a feeling of strength or grit, I like to take that literally ;)

This is a piece that packs a punch and I didn't want it to be 'sweet'.

It's for a warrior:

a woman who thrives and survives in the face of challenge with an incredible, grounded heart.

I cannot wait to see who she is!!!

xoxoxoox,

Allison

LAST CHANCE!

Leaving the Metal Shop in one week!

These beauties are on supreme sale.

After this coming Wednesday they will find a home in one of my brick and mortar boutique shelves!

xoxoxox,

Allison

Variation on a Luna Moth

Woe is me that my camera work cannot seem to pick up the gradual and painstakingly gentle shift from green to nearly yellow at the moth's head....

tante puis!!!

It's 105 degrees outside my house right now.

I am going to yoga: yin yoga. Restorative is the only way today, anything else wouldn't be gentle or nurturing, and I aim to nurture this body.

How do you nurture yourself in this heat, Ladies and Dave?

xo,

Allison

OMG!!!!

Ladies...

I am so honored.

So honored to make art for you.

I have to go sit down and drink lemonade, I am undone with gratitude (thank you) and wonder (holy moley).

Lord of the Dance (!!!!).

xoxoxox,

Allison

An Opal Valentine to a Volcano

I spent a great amount of time last week traipsing around land that was rich with wonder and beauty, built on the backs of the Cascade mountains, renowned and cursed with beauty that is born of strife:

Volcanic Beauty.

Hillsides and piles of trees like matchsticks tossed about by a child with wildflowers peeking out, the growth of thirty years' time at Mount St. Helens.

57 people perished when the North side of the mountain blew first outward and then upward in a spectacular show of the earth's might.

Nothing I can write about this mountain could ever express the way I feel... she is forever carried in my heart, along with the pictures and stories of terror and rebirth, a living Durga for the Pacific Northwest.

So smitten was I that as soon as my feet landed in the studio I got to work, diligently working out a design:

my requirements:

an organic representation of a cone in brass, with elements of both flat and round

Sterling granules to represent lava and pyroclastic flows

And on the inside, a Mexican fire opal of such wondrous red with a rainbow of moving light inside,

the earth itself.

This piece will be in the Metal shop this evening, along with the four custom orders.

It is a size 7.75 and can not be resized.

Kitteh Upside Down Cake

Delicious!!! :)

xoxox,

Allison

Custom Order News and other Morsels!

Hello Hello Readers One and All!!

I send you greetings from my couch with my travel-weary feet up

and my belly full of Petaluma's finest food.

My refrigerator is full of fruits and veggies from the farmer's market and I have plans for a late dinner of heirloom tomatoes and carrots with little more than ground sea salt, cracked pepper and a generous drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

Oh, and good olive oil!!

This morning in The 'Luma I took a yoga class and ended up having a good cry at the end, which happens every once in a while (it kinda tells me I must be doing something right, heart opening and all) and it's all well and good

only

in Shivasana, my beloved teacher played my song "For the Weary"

and the tears started flowing with renewed vigor.

When she introduced me to the class after we bowed forward, I pretty much had my head in my towel, crying the tears of a weary traveler.

I felt extremely embarrassed!

Side Note of Destiny: I am about to embark on the making of an album that will take a long time to make: 12 compositions, all of them with at least 12 vocal parts, some up to 40.

Like a choir.

Of me, myself and I

(and Jillian, you come over here and give me some harmonies!!)

and oh dear oh dear this is going to be huge

and it's going to require a lot of me and a lot of soul.

I am setting aside two hours a day for its realization. I will keep you updated!

Ah, YES - Custom orders ;)

Ahem: I will be listing four in the Metal Shop

and

Two in the Leather Shop on

Monday, August 23rd at 6:00 PM Sharpie.

They will take up to 4 weeks to complete depending on the order, so your patience as a wonderful customer is a requirement: I know we'll dream up some incredible pieces together!!!

There.

Now you know, and knowing is half the battle!

Love,

Allison

Postcards from the Road

Greetings from me, Sunny, and a host of characters on the road in Oregon and Washington!!

Fine Old Machines...

Puppehs...

kittehs...

mothers and daughters...

a chilly hello from Mount Rainier...

Sulphur burps from St. Helens....

Oh my gosh blueberries...

These two remarkable parents...

The blue blue waters of Crater Lake

and from my heart, a hearty dose of fond missing: I cannot wait to catch up on all of yours doings and goings!!!

The adventure has been painfully good, the Well chock full of inspiration

the faraway friends I've met - STUNNING- in their warmth and beauty, both inside and out....

so much to share with you all when the time is right!!

In the meantime, sending love and greetings from a different kind of paradise,

Shine on (!),

Sunny

When I Return These are on the Benches

This beautiful Luna moth will be immortalized on leather in a round clutch (my Father 2 took this photo (my f.i.l.!))

Ooooh, I cannot wait to paiiiinnnnntttttt her!!!!!

These stones will become a part of something shiny and sterling.... from the left, staggered we have:

Ocean Jasper

Open Centered Natural Agate Drusy

Rare black and green malachite

Mexican fire opal with purple and green fire (oh, y'all....woo! It's hot!)

Agua Nueva Agate

Turn of the Century porcelain painting

Amethyst Chevron

Huge honking purple amethyst drusy

And due for a good cabbing I have chosen this amazing slab of Amethyst Sage Agate

And this looker: King Cobra Jasper, long one of my favorite stones out of India.

I am so excited to be on vacation.

I am also already excited to come home :)

Thank you for a whirlwind 11 days since my return from Los Angeles and I am thrilled to think that when I come home there shall be uninterrupted making for months

(with visitors, of course!)

Back on the 23rd with four (yes, four!) custom order listings in the Metal shop

and

maaaaayyyyybe 1 or 2 in the Leather shop :)

I will be taking pictures from the trip and posting them here when I get home

and I will post a notice on the 22nd letting you know exactly when on the 23rd I will be listing custom orders -

last time they were gone in ten minutes, so I think these may go quickly, too!

I adore you and thank you for allowing me to share this space with you!

xoxoxox,

Allison

Extraordinary pieces

I am holding to on to the last piece of this rare Laguna Agate, but I wanted to offer the other piece to you, my wonderful readers and supporters: it's a miraculous stone.

It contains the colors of fire, the sun and fields of yellow wildflowers..

it is pristine.

I've paired it with a perfectly matching piece of carnelian and set it in an intergalactic sterling home: it is the Comet Ring.

Its band is actually three bands joined for a perfect size 8.

Holy Moley. It's a sight to behold an a doooozy of a stone to feel in person: it practically speaks English.

It certainly speaks like a healer would.

Remember when I had three custom orders available in early July? Well, a very patient and lovely young lady is about to have her just desserts :)

I am off to the Metal Shop to list the ring of Destiny and finally complete last cycle of custom orders.

Amen.

oxoxoxox,

Allison

Hear Ye Hear Ye!

Shops close tomorrow evening (Tuesday the 9th)before I leave for the Pacific Northwest to sing at a wedding and see the sights!

The shops will re-open on the 23rd of August.

After I return there are no more scheduled trips out of town, which means creative immersion here I come!!!

By the way, when I was filling out customs forms to mail packages today, I noticed the date was 8/9/10 and I was made really strangely happy by that fact.

xoxoxoxox,

Allison

Something Special for the Shop Tonight

Mental Path:

A. Thinking of our fast approaching two year anniversary I was wondering where we'd go when my mind wandered back to Monterey, CA where we spent last a weekend last October bopping around tide pools and feeding seagulls out our hotel window....

Ah.

B. Tidepools.... I love tidepools!!

C. Get out the hammer - tidepools there shall be, in sterling, of course!!

And so a day later here they are, in three sizes, all languid and limpid and gorgeous.

I recently made the switch to Liver of Sulphur for my oxidation and my oh my, there is such a difference - viva la stench!!!

Don't worry, the earrings smell great: the LOS itself is a doozy, but they get a nice fresh bath afterwards and the brushing process makes them clean as a whistle.

Hop on over HERE and see them for yourself!

xoxoxox,

Allison

Pudding Cake

Please allow me to preface this amazing recipe with a few notes, just for clarity's sake:

1. It's actually meant to be made with blueberries: the consistency of the berries will change depending on the ones chosen.

For this cake, I used a trio of farmer's market organic yummy-but-just-past-their-prime blackberries, raspberries and a few strawberries and the consistency was a little less

'pudding-y' than blueberries, but still out of this world magnificent!

2. the last part of the recipe is kinda weird: just go with it: pretty sure it creates the incredible crust on top!

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and mix 2 cups blueberries or other summer berries in an 8X8 inch baking pan. sprinkle with 2 tablespoons lemon juice and set aside!

In a mixing bowl combine the following:

1 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt (I omit because I use salted butter)

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I use less because the Schmill hates it)

3/4 cup sugar

combine the above ingredients - i like working with a fork!

and in a different small bowl combine

3/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

mix them well so they become one!

Set one cup of water in a small saucepan on the stove to boil - time it so it's still boiling when it is called for at the end of the recipe (the weird part!)

to the flour mixture add the following and mix it all together well:

1/2 cup milk

1 large egg

1/4 cup melted butter (careful that it is no longer too warm or it will cook the egg!)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Pour the batter over the fruit

sprinkle the cornstarch mixture over the whole pan, evenly.

here's where it gets weird: pour the cup of boiling water over the whole shebang and pop it in the oven to bake for 50 minutes or until the top is golden brown and gorgeous.

You'll know when it needs to come out :)

Allow your beautiful cake to cool and while it is doing so, make your whipped cream.

Using organic heavy whipping cream (I love its light yellow color!)

mix in a small bit of brown sugar to taste

and place 1/2 teaspoon of lavender buds in a mortar and pestle and grind until fine

Whip it - whip it good!!!

Then

Serve and wait for your guests/husband/children/lover to pledge their soul to your service forever and ever

amen.

You're welcome ;)

Love you,

Allison

P.S. Eeeeeeeek!!!

UPDATE: Boing boing boing!!! 400 :)

In one more sale I will have sold 400 items from my MetalShop!! I will be on pins and needles until the moment I pass this blessed, blessed milestone!!!

If I am this excited about 400, think how many walls I'll bounce off at 500 or even a thousand!!!!!

A thousand?????

*sound of fainting woman delicately crumbling to floor*

END SCENE.

Indeed, Do!

Happiest weekend to you all!!!

Wishing you love and sending you more,

Sunny One.