O.M.G.

Maidenhair fern and Japanese Maple copper series:

THESE ARE ALREADY SNAPPED UP!

Riveted

RESERVED

Oxidized

Brushed...

they all turned out so much more stately and elegant and beautiful and bohemian than I could have ever anticipated:

I need to make myself one pair in every style, too, and get some more ear piercings:

The ring is spoken for already,

but these earrings can be claimed by sending me a

Convo

and letting me know that you will not go another day without knowing they belong to you!

Seriously, they're

marriage material!

xoxoxo,

Allison

Maidenhair Fern Jewelry

Here in the fading light of this lovely day, I sit taking pictures of a maidenhair fern twiglet on my thumb:

the evening work I love most, the taking of the pictures.

The sun is best for details at this golden time,

to borrow of a great lyric, it is my "favorite time of light" indeed. (Katherine, someday I will cover that song for you, with great happiness!)

The fern fronds you see are from one of my two maidenhair plants, studio companions and quite frankly the most persnickety of all the plants I have.

They even get filtered water...

Mmm hmm!

In exchange, I get to snip a few drying fronds every now and then and make art with them - a rather wonderful trade!

Holding Bowl Ring with light blue stone

Even with this perfect luminous evening light, the imprint of the maidenhair fern is so hard to pick up:

when it gets oxidized and finished, rest assured they will beyond pop:

they will sing.

As I pulled them from the mill one by one, I smiled such a happy smile:

this is the sweetest imprint, the fern-y kind.

They remind me always of good friendship

and the strength that can be found in fragility...

paper-thin powerhouses, ferns.

By late tomorrow I'll be able to show you what they look like finished, and I'll also be able to let you know when they'll be in the shop (likely Wednesday)

May you have the most delicious of Friday nights!

OH - and speaking of delicious:

you know how much I've been loving the copper of late:

WELL - I learned a way to polish it that is so cost effective and very...er....tasty -

Ketchup!!!

Catsup!!!

or however you spell it!!!:

take a dab of the miracle condiment and rub it on the copper piece in question with your finger or a clean towel corner, rinse when the fresh glow of copper comes back, and then dry on a clean linen!

It works in a way that can only be described as brilliant!!

xoxoxo,

Allison

The Bluebird of Happiness Belt Buckle

Gorgeously roughed edges

Beautiful stitching and a soul of great joy

In the Leather Shop this afternoon!

xoxoxo,

Allison

My dear Khobe and Ian

You shining pair of hearts....

(would you look at that luminous boy?)

with your golden humor, irreverent and saucy wit (thank God I am not alone in that):

I miss you so much, and you've only just left...

bewitched!!!!! I am bewitched.

Please come back soon: Tartine, Los Gatos

and my home await your feet impatiently!

I will never forget our trip to the leather warehouse:

30 foot walls lined with nothing but rolled hides in every color of the rainbow and then some...

I have seven new colors of suede with which to line,

and that's making me giddy with possibility and raring to get into the studio today.

I want to sit with the pigskin suede in sunshine yellow, deep mauve, teal, lavender, blushing nude, beige and cobalt blue and dream of what they will line.

Thank you for that trip: and thank you for the gentle reminder that someday I need someone to come and do the more physical repetitive tasks: riveting, sewing, cutting...

You've left me full, which is the ultimate feeling to have after visitors,

but with that fullness comes the wish that you lived closer!

Last weekend I did a bit of praying for contact with my friends, and here I was, blessed with a pair of aces

and on Sunday, I drive up the coast to spend a few quality days with a very special dove:

Pinch me, I must be dreaming!

xoxoxox,

Allison

Phase Two, Complete!

Two baby pothos plants, bound to climb and spread:

this is closer to the exact color of the walls, warm and a little outrageous.

I crave bedtime, and tea while reading before slumber now....

when lit by a lamp it looks like the inside of love,

if love could be touched.

xoxoxox,

A

Complete

And I am undone:

some pieces have more power than the sum of their parts:

this is one.

I will be listing this deeply moving clutch in the Leather Shop very shortly.

xoxoxo,

Allison

Phase One, Completed!

Dim morning light makes it hard to capture such colors, but Nikki the Nikon and I did our best:

waking up to this instead of the cold, dim yellow (and don't get me wrong, I love yellow fiercely, but this color was lacking something very important...)

was just amazing.

My sense of relaxation and renewal was palpable!

It's kind of like being inside of a jadeite mug; the colors are not as saturated as the pictures make them out to be: it's far more gentle in person, but still packs a wallop of a punch!

I took a cue from Jessi (I am halfway done with EL&IC, love - you are a patient book-lender!)

and did a bit of rainbow reading stack action:

truth is that I wish to dip back into all of these books and so, perfect!

Today I am going to Home Depot to get hanging hooks for either side of the double window where I will then hang pothos plants and direct their growth along the walls.

Picture hanging afterwards

and then, a sigh of contentment:

we are renters, but we care deeply for this house

and wish to live in it for as long as we are staying-

I am no longer content to just 'exist' or 'bide my time' in a place just because its very nature is temporary:

one could say the same thing about a life.

Love,

Allison

An Offering

These are the elusive Capezio Butterfly boots in a size 8.5:

very very rare, hard to find boots!

The pair I have are just incredible: the cream colored leather has been worn to an almost tan patina: whoever had these wore them often and well -

me......

not so much...

Though they've got years left in their soles and an open field in their soul,

I quite favor my brindle amber pair: the color suits my spirit

and these are incredible, but we don't match.

I know there is a woman out there to whom these belong, and I wanted to offer them up to my readership before I offered them up to the greater world.

They will be going for right around 200 USD, and if they are yours all yours, please send me a convo in the Leather Shop -

First come, first adorned!

Sweet dreams, ladies (and angels on your pillows),

Allison

Magic

The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

Ouroboros Clutch

The Ourboros is a symbol that dates back to Egypt, first referenced in the Book of the Netherworld:

it is illustrated as a snake eating its own tail, and its meaning is an explanation of cycles that begin as soon as they end.

The inspiration behind this clutch is a focus on birth and death both physical and psychological.

So many of my friends and family have been immersed in new beginnings, the seed of which lies in the quietus of a previous situation:

moving halfway across the country

finding kittens in the alley on the weekend before a beloved pet dies

resolving monetary debt and feeling grief where celebration was called for

death of a friend

new love

lost love

the acquisition of a new job

etc

e

t

c

...

.

Though there is no serpent, if you replace the lovely little daisy in the above circle with the word "is", you have an endless chain - each death is a rebirth is a death is a rebirth.

I purposefully chose a piece of copper (with the imprint of an actual pressed fallen leaf) because it oxidizes so quickly, and can be polished and oxidized over and over again, a cycle

that illustrates the very words that surround it...

From the skull of a sea bird,

a seed of hope for an artist

.

From the depth of a winter emerges spring, which will fold again into cold

and so it goes

and so it goes...

and if we remove fear from the equation, we can look upon these mortal mysteries not consumed with dread should they happen to us,

but with a sense of wonder that they happen at all.

As I build this piece, I just wanted to share its origin and inspiration

with you.

xo,

Allison

Pay Attention!!

Growing up in Pittsburgh, there were four distinct and incredible seasons,

but winter was a bit much.

Even back then I loathed the cold:

I could always find refreshment when I was hot, but I could never get warm when I was cold; this is the reason I am outfitted in Uggs and Emus all winter long, even here in California (the Bay Area is quite damp and chilly in the winter)

.

A western Pennsylvania spring is marked by the first flower (the crocus) followed by a few more weeks of weak snowfall, fat and wet

and soon the bulk of the blooming begins.

It is a beautiful thing to behold, and my mother made sure we beheld it, dammit!

On walks or car rides she would admonish my sister and I if we stopped oohing and ahhhing over the foliage - "Pay attention!," she demanded.

It became a catchphrase for the change of seasons in our family, and it sticks with me even to this day.

I confess, lately I've been so wrapped up in pressing plants and rolling them through my amazing mill that I've not been taking as many walks as I should, opting to drive to the yoga studio or stay late in my aqua room to delve deeper into hammering a small bowl for a ring or necklace - it's not good, this singular focus, except that it is oh so good:

it is the struggle of an artist who has been lucky enough to have a plethora of ideas in a short amount of time, which makes one feel both blessed and beleaguered.

Today while watering my front porch plants, I noticed the rose bushes in the front yard - my goodness, the massiveness of the blooms!

I spent a few minutes picking a few, paying close attention to their unique, single-note frangrances... all was silent, save for the fuzzy cotton sound of being in the moment.

Before heading indoors, I picked a bloom to roll through the mill,

more meaningful for the company these plants had just provided and the specialness of

a spring morning on earth.

xoxox,

Allison

Ooof

Hacked email account

burned and melted everything I touched today

My computer keeps shutting down unprovoked

My sister and her husband said a hard and heartbreaking goodbye to their lovely old lady cat Azreal last night....

I think it's Miller time.

xoxox,

Allison

On Bread and Friendship

This afternoon I called a friend just to check in and see how she was, as friends often do

and we ended up solving life's problems, talking shop (oh, sisters in silver (and certainly now copper and brass!), you've no idea how wonderful it is to have common topics of work!!)

and I hung up with a heart so big, so grateful to know

such a woman.

I thought ahead to this coming week when a hero of mine and her teenage son will spend a few days in my company,

reached back to when my sister was here

and how we laughed while kayaking horribly together, two control freaks in a double sea kayak, barreling toward a bank of randy elephant seals, their barks getting louder, our laughter and bickering while we tried to turn...

I thought about the fact that my days are spent working with metals, hides and leaves, listening to country radio and cherishing silent meditation

bustling off to yoga in the evening hours to stretch my sore body and quiet my mind...

and I got lost in gratitude, completely turned around in a forest of women and men I love, deciding to settle in for a spell and adore.

Just adore....

what better activity to do than to make bread while being in love with it all?

It's my mother's recipe from a cookbook now so dog-eared and moth-eaten its binding is gone;

every time I make these loaves it turns out beautifully,

but I always wish I had my Mom with me here to knead, just so the essence of her hands could be in the bread

Today it was whole wheat

And it baked golden and dense, as whole wheat is that...

salted butter pat hat,

I ate a slice in the last of the evening light

and relished every crumb, dining as I was, amongst a crowd of friends.

xoxox,

Allison

Once More, with Oxide!

RESERVED

Tiny Maple Leaves

So extra sassy on: light gauge copper and handmade sterling ear wires....

Hammered edges

Peach-grey moonstone flower ring: I believe this is right around a size 10, have to double check that... will certainly know precisely tomorrow when it's listed!!

Engraved petals, sterling granules, sterling band....

RESERVED

Ferns, ferns ferns.... these are full of love!

Lovely textured edges

These three pieces are available for reserve status:

please feel free to convo me if they belong to you!

Tomorrow there will be a few more pieces in the shop when these are listed: some delicate sterling earrings and a rutilated quartz necklace with turquoise.....

yum!!!!!

xoxoxo,

Allison

Warm Love

It's hard to make out the leaf in the copper before it's oxidized,

but there in the center of a very important phrase

is

a sign of newness

spring after winter

a representation of soul growth

From the death of a sea bird, a seed takes root...

an extra-wide clutch

lined in hunter green suede...

I cannot wait to show you the finished piece.

On the Metal front, there are some Nature Lover earrings in process:

Tiny maple leaves with hammered edges, big circles of shining warm fire

Rich ferns with hearts and a lovely curve...

When they're oxidized, they are going to SING.

You'll hear the aria in the Metal Shop this Friday.

xoxox,

Allison