6.06.2015

Mermaid Ring~Memories of Cold Green Water, and Summertime

I sat down to edit photos and list a few things in the shop the other day, and when it came time for writing about one special ring, the memories just poured out of me...

She swam her summers in the Puget Sound,  it's cold green waters hosted all kinds of seaweed, in every shade of green you can think of...There were tall billowing ropes of kelp,  deep emerald strands, and olive green ropes with bulbs on the end the size of a grown mans fist.  From the beach, she waded through bits and strands of the stuff, it was dried all over the rocks on the beach, stuck to barnacles and shells, and onto the driftwood that was scattered around.  At ankle depth, it swirled around her toes, and felt slimy and cold.  At the back of her knees it was ticklish and wrapped around the ankle in a way that made her have to lift her feet up high to take a step without it's slippery surface causing her to stumble through the water.  When she jumped off the dock and into the icy water 15 feet below, it was sharp and left a few paper-cut like slices on her legs.  Sometimes she would open her eyes under water and see the blurry greens of the water, with long bundles of kelp swirling all around.  Yes, the water was very cold, and yes it stung her eyes like crazy, but it was one of the best parts of being in the water. To see what the mermaid sees, to take in those soul healing underwater colors, and save them in her mind through the winter, until next summer when she went back to the island and got to do it all over again.

I don't know if the story inspired the ring or the ring inspired the story...

Mermaid Ring~Cortland Plume Agate








6.05.2015

They're All My Favorites

I don't know what it is, but certain pieces make me feel a deeper connection to the craft of metal smithing.  Maybe it's the shape of a stone, or the weight of the piece in my hand when it's finished, all shiny and with the perfect oxidized patina that I crossed my fingers and hoped would turn out as I saw it in my head.  Sometimes it's just purely the appreciation that I made this thing from beginning to end with a few tools, and my hands.  The ideas come from some unknown origin of inspiration, through my brain, to my hands through my fingertips with the aid of some serious muscle strength...in the form of the excessive hammering, forging etc. that goes with metal work. I always feel a huge sense of accomplishment when I see the final piece no matter how complicated or simple the design is.

They're all my favorites...


























These and a few more in the etsy shop.
Happy Friday friends...