Good Things...

...Come in threes!

Oh, of course if you're persnickety you could say good things come in fives with this set, as there are technically five pieces...

But let's say threes for fun :)

The middle earrings are little droplets of gorgeous turquoise with colors ranging from the classic eggshell blue to a rich amber brown....

OOoh!! These do something lovely to the heart, don't they?

The second pair are a special stone I've held close for several years now: they are surrounded by a humorous and asymmetrical scalloping otherwise they may look a bit too serious...

They make a Mona Lisa smile start to form with their sweetheart red and reflective grey hematite...

Love!

Last but most certainly not least, a perfect little world of turquoise surrounded by benevolent beams of protective thought: Earth Day Everyday.

These three pieces will be in the Metal Shop in a little while: the big square of Sonora Sunrise chipped an edge and hence, cannot be set.

A small harumph to pay: every metalsmith I know has sad days where lovely stones show their fragility.

Fear not - I have a lapidary setup I'll be putting together in a few days: that stone will find its setting some day :)

Sending you all huge hugs and peaceful teaside chats,

xoxoxo,

Allison

A Beautiful Day

Greening up the studio a bit, think it's time to hang the other sister plant up opposite its sibling...

Beautiful pieces for the pinning up of the hairs - should be done tomorrow evening!! SO excited to see how they come out :)

Concentrating on setting mineral pieces this week, a gorgeous batch. Methinks they will will all be housed in simplicity as the colors in the stones SING and I don't want to miss their melody.

A tremendous amount of flopping occurred today in beds and blankets about the house...

Don't you just want to join him for a nap?

A strange side note: I often check various pop-culture and news-themed websites through the day as a way to stay current on the world at large, but today there was no urge at all:

it seems they are ever more snarky

depressing

and sigh-inducing....

Have you ever felt this way?

I guess I am dropping out of my regular haunts for a cultural breather.

Something I'll never tire of is visiting the blogs of my dear online pals: there are always insights and

leaps of faith to be found, and I eat them up gratefully.

Love to you all this fine May day,

Allisunny

Bird Skull Rebirth Bag

Let me introduce this bag by saying something pretty specific:

This precious piece is for a wild woman at heart.

The soft portion of the bag is elk hide, dyed a rather warm and incredible shade of light mustard. It has the normal things elk hides have: gorgeous scars and marks (all photographed here)

and a supple softness that no cow leather can touch. It is thicker, too, and born of the wild.

I've lined the piece in a wonderful forest green suede to drive home the point that the outside makes quite explicitly: wild death is the beginning of something beautiful.

A bird perishes in the forest and from the matter left over the soil is fertilized for plants to grow. Up sprouts something for other living creatures to eat in the summer and perhaps something that eventually will have a large trunk in which other forest dwellers will dwell through the winter, storehouses of nourishment in reach.

In the human world we see death as something to be feared: a great unknown whose borders we know little of.

I truly believe with all my heart that death is actually a great doorway back to a place we once called home.

Some may call it heaven....

others nirvana

and on and on

in every religion

and faith.

In the day to day world the little deaths we experience make us bigger, better people if we let them:

failures

mistakes

closed doors

receiving hatred...

Everything is an opportunity to bloom if we are able to see it as such through the eyes of some kind of surrender.

This bag is a symbol of rebirth and the great mystery of death in all its many guises.

There are nearly 250 rivets

in this lovely piece, each one hand set with a simple press.

It measures 13 inches wide by ten inches all by 4 inches deep, but it can be stuffed to be deeper.

The strap measures 33 inches brass ring to brass ring.

Every inch of its creation was done by hand, from the carving to the tooling to the dyeing to the stitching....

this is a true labor of love.

I cannot wait to see who she belongs to - she'll be in the Leather Shop in just a jiff!

xoxoxoxo,

Allison

To my Summer Visitors in Advance (an apology of sorts)....

Julie, Jillian, Jeremy, Terra, Sharyn, Liane and anyone else who comes to San Jose for a little R&R at chez Schmilly:

BRING

YOUR

GAME

FAAAACE!!!

and maybe an extra birdee?

xoxoxoxox,

Sunny

Merry Happy

Small Girlee Jane is a source of huge joy :)

xoxoxox

Yay!

In the Metal Shop starting soooooon!

xoxoxo,

Allison

Phase III

OMGoodness.

I've promised this piece to the woefully understaffed Leather Shop, but rest assured I will have one, too!

xoxoxox,

Allison

Bursting with Life

Sometimes the most creative ideas come right before bed or right before waking... the back of the bird skull bag came to me yesterday in the middle of lunch -

I believe it was chicken pot pie from Trader Joe's, so delicious it's liable to give everyone epiphanies of many a different nature!

Since the front of the bag is the representation of death, I wanted the back of the bag to represent rebirth without actually using the word...

Behold, the sprouting of a bean, just like we all remember from third grade science!

What you don't see yet is the bean flower that will be winding through all four life cycle illustrations, completing the circle on the actual bag leather.

IAMSOEXCITEDABOUTTHISBAGWOW!

Dendritic Agate ring in size 6, anyone?

Opal (the fire in this one is EPIC and red) flower necklace with gaspeite rounds (toward the clasp, can't miss their effervescent green...) and the agate necklace I spoke of

yesterday...isn't it JUST like a hill on a summer evening?

Rounding out the bunch is a pair of delightful carnelian earrings!

These and yesterday's pieces will be in the shop likely Friday morning, with bells on.

If tomorrow flows, though, they may be in the shop in the evening... we'll see!

And why am I studying lapidary when it's so obvious that I already need a clone? Ask me in a few weeks after my flat lap machine arrives and I cut my first cabs...

there must be a way to do it all!!!

(there's not, I hear)

Love you,

Allison

A Return and a Leap

Getting back from trips where I see my beloved family and friends is always a challenge: tired from driving and full of happy memories, one returns to the lovely life they left and normalcy returns.

Yesterday I thought the only thing I would accomplish was mailing orders at the P.O., but I came home and sat on the front porch swing and a few new designs came swooping down into my noggin and I flew to the studio on a lightning bolt of energy and excitement!!

The ring on the right is a custom order from the way way past (May is my catch-up month for the previous few) and on the left is a fire agate ring of epic proportions...

Sometimes certain custom orders are waiting for a leap design: I sat and stared at the Bronzite for a good long while for a good long time and yesterday when my mind filled with unfurling seedlings (literally!) I knew its design was born.

Oh the fire agate.....

detailed to its very core with a pierced design that embodies what I imagine a seed to look like as it becomes a plant.

The ring is a size 8.5

P.S. -

the metal shop will have an update with this week's goodies on Thursday or Friday when they've all been completed and photographed!

While I made it my mind was filled with wonder: last week's painful moments seem to have watered something beautiful.... it's almost as though from the stark challenge we experience is born a sense of surrender that allows a divine touch to come through

and

perhaps we're now quiet enough to feel it, to recognize its energy...

we see this emotional place as a defeat of sort, but what if it's an epiphany?

I wanted to share the other stones I am working with this week, (aside from a few other custom orders that are getting finished):

Amethyst Sage Agate: it looks like a hill on a summer evening in the countryside of the midwest.... the setting is simple.

Laguna Agate in pink, yellow and white with a secondary Peruvian pink opal: a new two stone ring!

Dendritic Agate, a tiny tree forever trapped in crisp white agate, stark and rich.

I've also begun working on a big bag with a bird skull front and a thick elk hide body in a gorgeous shade of marigold yellow...

When I finally fell into bed last night it was well past midnight and I had worked more than an eight hour day.

I am off to continue making with the zeal of the obsessed!

A note: I am needing to revamp my custom order system to ensure the bliss of my customers while protecting myself as an artisan... for the meantime my Leather Shop is not open for customs, but my Metal Shop will be in June.

Please understand that this inconvenience will mean a more structured system in the future, which will make the wait more than worth it!

With all the love in the world,

Allisunny

A Toast...

Let's have a toast using the good wine from Paris...

To friendship true and golden

Love, patience and support...

To every second of time emerging more beautiful than the moment before

to nurture

and nature

And the most beautiful bride this side of the Mississippi.

Congratulations to Phil and Jessi Mielke, dearest friends and trusted confidantes...

may you have a lifetime of everything good.

We love you so!

xoxoxox,

Sunny