Finding the Rhythm

We are home

and though I cannot speak for Orion or Schmilly I report a heavy heart

for myself.

It's never easy to leave family and it gets more and more poignant as the years go by.
When it was just the two of us it felt like a vacation and now with the three of us it's like a gift that unwraps over and over again with each moment, squabbles and all.

It's silly, but I always come home with something from I've 'borrowed':

a pair of sweatpants from my sister

a vintage enameled colander from my mom

a pair of old ratty cutoff jean shorts from my Poppy

and when I see them in passing

or wear them for any length of time

they feel like a hug

and that means I've stolen a few more moments with my people.

The air is golden and warm here

full of California's finest paradoxes:

too much traffic

breathtaking hills

quaking earth

sweet cottage living

.

Days like today are few and far between, when exhaustion from traveling literally puts a kabosh to your best intentions and the most you can squeeze from the hours are a few loaves of bread and a baby who laughs and cries within minutes of the other,

surely teething, certainly set into a new orbit of the old normal.

Orion's learned how to clap now and loves to show off this trick. 'Yay!!', we all explode when he does it and this gives him so much pleasure.

'High-five' is next.

Babe traverses his environment with a series of rolls and spins, not interested in crawling with his legs: he prefers to stand on them, relaxing down from his tippy-toes and dedicating whole minutes to sussing out every detail of a toy with an eerie adult-ness that makes me think he must have been an engineer

in a past life, some tenacious part of his brain refusing to let go of its knowledge.

You can practically hear his thoughts as he sticks out his upper lip in concentration, "Contemptible chubby fingers!! Oafish grip!!"

There's this whole new level of melancholy to leaving now... the next time we're together he'll be talking, maybe walking and I want everyone to see the in-between.

While Orion naps

and Anthony catches up on his interests

I am going to read just for pleasure.

And rest.

It's okay to take time and rest in it.

It's okay.

xoxo,

Sunny

To be Continued...

Have a bountiful and beautiful

Thanksgiving, my dear reader:

Oh the harvest from the kiln will be bright and 

nourishing this December!

xoxo,

Sunny

So Fierce...

...You can feel her from a distance.

Mama Polar Bear

is not to be crossed

.

xo,

S

Color, Phase II

Sometimes I think the babe is working in tandem with my design and building day-by-day:

his naps always allow me to finish just the thing I needed

and no more.

To share with you the glorious color using just one antique alone

and a resist,

carefully working a damp sponge across the leather as if it were a brush.

Antiques create a look that is burnished and vintage if you will it so

or solid color with a definite warmth.

My favorite is saddletan

.

Sometimes when I am 'painting' like this I forget to breathe.

Because every hide accepts color differently I have to constantly redirect the ship

and work with the unique palette that piece of leather has dictated.

This particular piece of leather had a golden and marvelous tone

and the work was so rewarding and unfolded with such grace that I had to stop myself from singing so as not to wake my son.

There - he calls now - just as I finish writing this...

of course.

of

course.

xoxo,

S

Volcanic Trinity

Two rings and a necklace

all filled with the intention of opening and abundance

necklace a sweet deep mint green with a perfect pale yellow Mexican Jelly Opal center

that catches the light and makes it into a visible symphony

Super-high-dome sunny-colored volcano ring with a light-blue Arizona turquoise center

in size 7

and a cosmic volcano in a light teal with a perfect pink rhodochrosite center in size 9.

These are the last of the offerings in the Metal Shop

before Thanksgiving vacation

the duration of which the stores will be shuttered, opening again on 

Friday the 25th of November.

I continue to be amazed by the gifts of firing enamels...with each color layer I apply

the smile broadens, the heart softens and a clarity of vision comes

gently.

Thank you for being a part of what I'm creating, 

I feel so blessed to be a part of your days.

xo,

Sunny

Come In, Friend...

A peek into the studio -

my own little Caribbean getaway

.

xoxo,

Sunny

.

Pelican with Labradorite and Citrine, # 2 in the Protector Series

RESERVED

With the bull elephant safely in the hands of his intended, it was time to work on the second of the protector series.

When I asked my Facebook readers for beasties 

a dear friend asked for a Pelican.

They'd already been on the brain when my dear Laurie Brown came to visit:

she said they were dying by the hundreds from lack of food.

My heart ached.

With this series I donate a percentage of the necklace sale to a charity that cares for the animal, bird or insect honored on the enamel.

For the Bull I 'adopted' a pygmy elephant in Africa through

WWF.

I am still shopping for a Pelican-centric charity: suggestions welcome!

It's easy to forget how meditative it can be to string small beads on sterling wire.

There was a lot of breathing deep, a lot of prayers and intentions set for this special necklace

and a very luxe teardrop of microfaceted citrine to hang over the heart chakra.

This particular portrait was fired many times to get the depth of color not just from paint, but from the marriage of translucent and opaque enamels.

The watercolors were dancing on the brush with this one...pure magic.

It is open for reserve

HERE

at your leisure.

xoxo,

Sunny

Delicate Cycle III

RESERVED

Discarded Heart:

Minneapolis autumn leaf, peridot, iolite and cream enameled copper volcano.

Iolite bee wing necklace

Citrine Jacaranda Leaf necklace

Simple Maidenhair Fern Necklace

Torn Dragonfly wing with iolite

.

There is an epic shift in my head involving my work...a leap is imminent.

I cannot sleep

I forget to eat

the only priorities are care of my family

and interpreting these God whispers

that come...

This delicate cycle I was most interested in the tattered and torn: the shape of the dragonfly wing is exactly how it was offered to me. The rips and jaggedness speak of life and ultimately death.

I wonder how long the tiny beastie lived with these little badges of honor, these marks of survival.

They remind me of the pocked ears of neighborhood tomcats I love.

It seems the perfect season to add a tiny watercolor dot of gemstone pigment to the work...days grow ever shorter and more dim here. I hang on to the last light of day like a kite.

I am taking reserves for these pieces

in

the

Metal Shop

today.

What does not get scooped lovingly into pretty palms will be available

this weekend when there's a second to list.

I hope you have a wonderful day filled with abundance and shearling warmth.

With love,

Sunny

Goodness

Gorgeous winning persimmons from Ro 

spectacular ring from Kerdan (more on her work later - it is just sublime!)

Janey, rumpled and sleepy

A peek between layers for some fern earrings: the copper under the enamel has been roll printed with real ferns: it is their outlines I am tracing.

Volcanos in progress

layering and color so delicious I get hungry just looking at them...

feel free to 

CONVO

me

with any questions.

What is good in your world today, friends?

xoxo,

Sunny

Custom Love

Phase two of this wonderful custom bag is coming along...

I had forgotten how magical it can be to co-create a piece with a wonderful patron.

When you're given the freedom to pull together requested elements

it's like running through a meadow

trees in the distance

unbound

.

There is one more custom bag available -

I don't know when or if I will be able to offer something of this magnitude again!

Never knew how lovely wheat would be to tool.

I sense a leap coming, a new level of design.

I also want to offer a tutorial in the coming weeks:

using a molding spoon.

It make a really powerful difference in the 'cleanliness' of your leather work.

I am itching to get my teaching muscle flexed

for leading a weekend-long workshop

at 

The Ranch

in beautiful Snohomish, Washington

On June 1st and 2nd, 2013:

it will be two days focusing on tooling and bag construction

and to say I am excited is an understatement.

I hope you are having a wonderful week, dear reader!

xoxo,

Sunny

p.e.a.c.e

September was a tough month this year:

it would seem that it was for many people I know, too

and while there are a bevy of reasons why this may be so

I felt compelled to find change

from within.

I spent the better part of October recalibrating my thinking process,

looking objectively at my grumbling and newfound love of complaining

introducing a bold and refreshing new concept

into the everyday:

"In this moment, I can choose peace."

so I have been

and let me tell you 

how good it is!!

In this moment I can choose peace!

Doing the dishes

reading a politically charged article

speaking with an unhappy soul

cleaning green muck off of a white shirt from when the babe did an impromptu practice of the letter 'b' with a mouthful of peas...

It doesn't negate the horrors or the sorrows of this world

but it does offer movement for that feeling of stuck-ness that I think we all experience

at varying degrees of frequency.

I still forget

still indulge the grump in me (it can be delicious for a few minutes!)

still get confronted with situations where I forget that I have a choice at all

but when the option dawns

so sweet and oasis-green in the midst of a dry mouth

and tired head....

oh, the bliss

the relief

the

peace.

I hope you'll try it too:

it is a transformative habit!

xoxo

Sunny

Sweetness for the ears and heart

In the 

Metal Shop

today.

xo,

Sunny

Flamingo Feathers

All things fine and (flamingo) feathered

in the 

Metal Shop

tomorrow

with a morning preview 

here.

xoxo,

S