Little Bits of Normal

A little corner of the world, infused with the same perfumes it had in a different corner miles away.

We move boxes....

Treasures are unearthed

dusted off again and given a place.

Work spaces are rebuilt, walls are painted shades of the ocean in the Bahamas

and the sun moves in its same old ways, bringing out new beauty in the wood

and glass

I have long loved.

Small pockets of perfection

Mountains of boxes to unpack

exciting note:

record collection discovered in the carriage house

permission given to listen

record player purchased:

finally records will be heard in my home (I have a small collection from my Poppy)!

I wanted to show a doorway animal to you:

this is in the kitchen.

Our bedroom has a lion,

my studio has a fox

the bathroom has a hippo....

they make me smile sooooo big when I walk by.

This house has a huge soul and I cannot wait to know it well!

Love to you all!

Allison

Delayed Shop Opening

Hello, dearest friends.

I have to get my bearings and refill my healing heart:

the shops will open on April 15th, hopefully with a few new special pieces born of this special

time.

Thank you so much for understanding

xoxoxoxox,

Allison

Dear Petaluma,

Thank you for the time we've spent together.

One year ago I found myself at your door, dumbfounded by the turns in the road my husband and I had been traveling, feeling so overwhelmed by sadness and plagued by a sense of exile.

It took several months, but I found

solace

strength in my solitude

and the desire to reach out for something more in my life.

How fortuitous that you had a yoga studio that moved me heart and soul:

it was to be the place I would give myself the greatest challenge

and succeed, overcoming huge internal obstacles and some very real physical ones, too...

Can you see why I love This Place so?

I want to wear these crystals around my neck!

I will never stay away for too long, Petaluma.

Why?

The yoga

the FOOD:

the fresh fruits and veggies and dairy and wine,

the undulating earth

the warmth of the people

the heat of your summers

....

Do you remember when we were checking you out to see if we wanted to explore life in the North Bay?

We saw a rainbow in the Central Valley on our way to Anthony's interview, and this evening there was one downtown.... I take it for a meaningful

gesture

of completion.

Had I not lived here I would have never 'recovered' from the deep stress of Los Angeles.

I would not have had the opportunity to slow down and breathe

or walk to the post office

grocery store

art and hardware supply stores

...

everything I needed was easy to find on foot and I think that's great.

It reminded me of Astoria Queens, my first home as an adult out of college.

I will miss the view from the bedroom,

the incredible lush and green landscape that greeted us in January,

the wind and the earth and the sea nearby...

I will miss the new friends you've introduced us, but I am so deeply grateful for the introduction: the first 9 months of our time here were so deeply solitary,

peppered with visits and trips to get me through.

My social butterfly wings were sorely in need of exercise and lately it's been a marathon of laughter and support.

Thank you.

Here we found a lovely home and an enriched sense of togetherness: ritual coffee and yoga on Sunday mornings, date nights at Central Market...

trips to Point Reyes for cheese and cookies,

walks through the neighborhood when it wasn't raining,

Maker's Mark and conversation on cold nights by candlelight...

There will certainly by pain in this separation from your green hills and valleys, but it must be said: wherever my Beloved and our two babes are is my home.

It is as simple as that, and as complicated as anyone who has ever said 'goodbye' can attest to.

Know this -

In your soil I have buried a piece of my heart:

may something beautiful grow in that sacred and verdant spot.

Love Always,

Allisunny

A Much Needed Break

To Sonoma for a Morning with my Other Family:

Liane, Seamus, Sharyn, Zach, Josh, Jocelyn, Megan and Hannah -

I'll let Seamus's picture speak for everyone:

The morning was a chocolate beard on a smiling face :)

Back at home the flowers are blossoming in the loveliest way, and even though they said this week would be dominated by rain, it has been quite dry and so lovely....

Ah, Sonoma County....

I am so smitten with this lovely piece of the earth and I have been enjoying it with my whole heart and all the senses.

What a miraculous, touching and challenging time.

xoxoxoxox,

Allison

Dear Sunday,

I love you.

In total Adoration,

Allison

Oh, Yes :)

These Beautiful Babies will be on my feet in 2-3 business days!!!

I am officially done with any kind of tooling or smithing: all that is left to do is the mailing!

Shops close around bedtime tonight

and

then

it's time to pack!!!

All of your comments, emails and convos have truly brought home that concept that no matter where I move, I am surrounded by a tribe of women (and Dave!) who make my life so wonderful:

thank you over and over and over again for your 

amazing

friendships.

xoxoxoxo,

Allisunny 

P.S. While I am packing and such, I will be doing little posts on the photographic merits of the North Bay, and after we move, the wonders of San Jose.

This is good, this is very good.

The Last Pieces of This Rich Time in Petaluma

Bodega Bay Sunset ring in 7 - this one is full to the brim of meaning and heart: the labradorite teardrop with wonderful cobalt fire is a drop of ocean water, forever with you, forever liquid even when the ocean cannot be near, even when the well is dry.

The raised seagull and sun scene is a postcard from happy memories, the ring a symbol of how we truly take our experiences with us.

Bodega Bay is in my heart.

In my hands

and in my power to channel for those who have not been there. Its energy is here in the Metal from my prayers and thoughts while I made it.

This dooooozy of a necklace is a collector's slice of variscite, both gemmy forest green and the perfect aqua of water, almost the green of leaves as they bud.

The stars are out, the crickets are thrumming their song - it is finally spring, finally summer, finally whatever we wish it to be.

Both pieces will be in the Metal Shop tomorrow morning!!!

Today was a rare trinity of posts - I figure I might as well Casey Jones my way around this lovely place until my boxes are packed and my torch blown out for a few weeks! :)

xoxoxoxox,

Allison

Awwwww, the Love!

Completely full heart looking at these photos:

 this bag was such joy from beginning to end, each rivet finding its mate with ease

Each color easily finding its complement

just like the idea behind this bag's creation.

Next?

SQUIRRELS.

Yes-

squirrels.

I love them!

I may have one final surprise to list tomorrow morning, not sure which shop it will land in, but it will be a dish.

Love you all so,

Allison

I am blown away!!!!

My song!!!

...

Pure

Bliss!

A happy hello to you today courtesy of the fur babies :)

xoxoxoxox,

Allison

Random Bits

Today I re-imagined a necklace I've felt forever was begging for a makeover: the mookaite was calling desperately for a colorful sibling:

Enter the perfect strand of Arizona turquoise, blue as the sky. Re-imagined in the Metal Shop with a silent sale:

four or five pieces have been marked down without any indication in the shop.

Shhhh ;)

These two have taken up the bulk of my day: they made me feel as if I had such pleasant company through every phase of tooling and color!

A small reminder, Friday is the last day to purchase anything from either shop for two weeks!

After Friday the studio closes and my packing begins in earnest.

On a total side note, I am so in love with Rupaul's Drag Race: I got filled up when Jessica Wild left on this week's episode.

 Are there many things in life as insanely fierce as a good drag queen?

xoxox,

Allison

The Last Pair

UPDATE: The bag has been claimed: thank you to everyone who wrote to me about it!

I will still, of course, put up pictures of its finished form :)

The last pair of the 'birds in love' big bag series made their way onto a large swath of raw peach leather today: not the last forever (of course not!!), 

but the last until at least May/June....

April will be dedicated to the move and to a few custom orders left from before I announced that I was done doing them for a while.... yes, that's how busy things have been around the studio!!

Here are the Cockatiels in Love, inspired by my girlfriend Natalie's adorable grey, yellow and pink Cockatiel, Sugar:

The back of the bag reads "Devotion" in Olde English script.

Cockatiels do not necessarily mate for life, but the beauty of winged creatures choosing to stay near each other when they could simply fly away is so beautiful:

choosing to love from a place of complete freedom is what devotion means to me.

I am freaking out about the color I chose for the soft portion of the body:

Warm ocean blue. 

The kind of ocean you may just wade into with your clothes still on, just to feel the warm water for the first time, or for the first time in years.

This week is dedicated to this lovely bag and a few choice pieces in the silver shop....

and maybe a clutch.

And then it's on to discovery and refilling the creative well: isn't it ironic that this huuuge burst of inspiration happened in the middle of boxes and chaos?

I like to think I feel most creative when everything is in its place, neat and tidy, steamed and folded, but no:

the Muse unpacks her valise in the middle of dust bunnies and dances (I like to think she taps along with the song "Tea for Two") to the sound of packing tape -

what an interesting visitor!

xoxoxoxo,

Sunny

Secret Weekend

We spent the weekend in Los Angeles getting our taxes done and visiting with a small handful of loved ones:

Lord and Lina

Danielle and Brett

Liane, Jimmy and Seamus

Phil and Jessi the gorgeous Lady Tiger

and Katherine, for whom this visit was a complete surprise:

my dear Katherine who married us and is moving to the Midwest and her incredible destiny...

the above picture is of us:

or, perhaps the ghosts of us,

 as we will likely never stand in that spot again together, so close to where we first met nervously nearly four years ago....

it's fitting that the camera's manual setting was mistakenly on,

fitting that it took a vague impression of us and not quite the whole of who we are, who we've become.

It's like we're already gone, like we both know quite well that where we belong (in each others' hearts and minds) has nothing to do with physical place and time.

A secret picture from a secret weekend.

I hope your own weekend was likewise full of mystery, love and gratitude.

Love,

Allisunny

A Little Vulnerable

This is how I feel today: kind of not quite ready for the world...

the exceptional town I live in currently is a place I would remain in a perfect world.

It's so lovely, so old and venerable

and the earth

undulates

like a blanket

and I love that, I really really do.

And now I have a daily companion: my neighbor's dog, Seven. He is this massive, shy dog with ice blue eyes and a gentle-ness whose grace I cannot articulate. 

He sits outside of my door while I silversmith, but he is scared of louder noises and takes to the grass when I start tooling leather.

The wisteria are blooming, as are all of the beautiful plants I fell in love with when we moved here. When we came to Petaluma I felt that they were waving such a welcoming 'hello!' and now it feels distinctly like a bittersweet goodbye.

Los Angeles was hard to leave because of my dearest girl and boyfriends, but Petaluma is hard to leave because of the earth. I feel like someone planted me here with benevolent intentions

and now I am getting repotted somewhere else...

I know San Jose will be amazing -

I will find a yoga studio straightaway (today is day 28, by the way!)

and a park to seek solace in.

I will look forward to our upcoming trip to see Phil and Jessi get married in early May,

to Jillian coming in mid-May to create with me

Matt and Irene getting married in July 

my sister coming in September 

and a myriad of other things to pull me through....

I am just sad, that's all.

It's not a bad thing, just a process of unwinding your grasp from something you think you need to be happy.

I did it with Los Angeles: I unwound and found genuine happiness here - I know without a doubt that my strong soul can do it again.

But how do you say goodbye to those eyes?

xoxoxox,

Allison

Winged Soul Love Clutch

In between this glorious, deeply tooled leather wingspan is a white quartz cabochon of considerable size, representing the soul in love.

Flying through even the heaviest of moments with relative ease, this is a soul in good company.

On the back, a soaring heart; an excellent traveling companion if there ever was one.

Deep cuts, muscles tired from beveling.... over fifty rivets firmly holding the lining.

And ohhhhh the lining: edges hand-frayed which is becoming a signature for my clutches, the lining is a truly vintage fabric featuring swirls of exuberant colors and Hawaii's energy coursing through its cotton veins.

Nearly 13 inches long, 5 inches tall and 2 inches wide: this will hold everything you need for a night out or a lunch with the ladies.

Warning: you will receive complements and they will be many.

In the Leather Shop later today.