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They Only Bloom at Night

the moon is captured in the distance above.

My cousin Lee is obsessed with photographing night blooming cactus flowers.   The amazing thing is that he is using the most rudimentary equipment to capture such cinematic and poetic beauty. When I was visiting he gave me a tour of all the cactus at his house and I got the lowdown on how he captures them on the one and only night when they bloom.  They are spectacular. I begged him to send me some images to put on the mood board. 

(Who:
Loves;
Creates,
Imagines)
OPENS
 
-e.e. cummings

From the Blog Archives, November 14th 2008, Piles of Poetry

I just found this pile of poetry clipped up on my cork board...it's a interesting mix of Rilke, Kate Richey and others. Below are engraving practice pieces, before engravers can start to work on real pieces in silver and gold.

Fennel Four Ways

Jewelry Solstice Inspiration

JP Jewelry Photo Shoot at Sven's House

Everything is Transformed

This piece was inspired by a giant antler I took a picture of at the SF flower mart at a little place hidden in the back that carries all sorts of unusual odds and ends.  Any chance to carve something from wax, to make a representation of something that can be worn, this is my love, my meditation.  The 18k plate at the end of the antler carries the words of 18th century chemist, Antione Laurent Lavoisier from the book, Elements of Chemistry; 

Nothing is lost, nothing created: everything is transformed. 

Sometimes it comes together perfectly for the words and form.   It is tricky when managing a family, a business and a creative life, tricky to be present enough to even allow for the right words to appear. I found this in a book of poetry by one of my favorite poets and translators, Jane Hirshfield.

I have been stretching myself lately--- trying my hand at a few things I am not exactly naturally talented at.  For example, I just started taking my own pictures of my collection for the website.  You may notice a difference in how things look going forward. It may look funny for a while until I get better. With all due respect to our photographer, I just felt the shots were looking just a bit too enhanced-- so I thought I would try it myself using natural light.  Admittedly I am a total novice at this point.  My friend Sven Wiederholt came to the studio and gave me a crash course on photography and now I owe him a Black Dogwood necklace as a thank you.  Sven is infinitely patient, generous and talented.  I took the ones above and I really appreciate that the piece really does look like that, without enhancements, the writing is exactly that clear and the silver is darkened to that degree.

The Stag necklace along with other new styles, and a selection of fun new versions of classics are coming to our site soon, hopefully by the end of this week if we can get it together.  There is a lot going on here at the studio...pictures of our new showroom will be coming shortly!

New Voices

 I understood love to be the very gravity holding each leaf, each cell, this earthly star together.

-Joy Harjo from The Woman Who Fell From The Sky

The excerpts I used in the last collection were primarily culled from the work of award winning Native American poet  Joy Harjo. Joy is a member of the Muskogee (Creek) Nation and of Cherokee descent.  Her book, She Had Some Horses is now considered a classic. Harjo has received several awards including the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society in America.  It is an honor to be able to use her work.

A few months ago, a friend brought me one of Joy's poems that he found on a San Francisco bus during National Poetry Month.  I put it up on my cork board in the studio to inspire me while I designed.  See that post here. Right away I knew I wanted to put her words on jewelry. I used parts that I felt reflected on hopefulness, awakening and resiliency. It is difficult to describe poetry but N. Scott Momaday does it well in his review of She Had Some Horses,  "The poetry here is of mythic and timeless character, native and lyrical in its expression, profound in its reflection of a worldview that is at once precise and comprehensive. There is much of the oral tradition here, much that is worthy of our closest attention and deepest respect.”

--Janice Mirikitani from Breaking Silence

 I recently started using the work of San Francisco Poet Laureate, Janice Mirikitani. Janice is described as a visionary, community activist, leader, poet and editor. She is also the Founding President of the Glide Foundation in partnership with her husband Reverend Cecil Williams.  My heart was warmed to hear that she was thrilled to have her words used this way. I am not a writer so I have a deep respect for the power of words, especially poetry.  I am always deeply honored to be able to work with these very distinguished poets and translators. I look forward to using more of Janice's poetry in the next collection as we only used it on a few pieces so far. Not only is she an award winning Poet Laureate, but also because of her work and commitment to the legendary Glide Memorial Church, Mrs. Mirikitani is a bit of a local celebrity here in San Francisco and we absolutely cannot wait to meet her in person. A visit to the studio is in the works for November.

We must recognize ourselves at last.
We are a rainforest of color and noise.
We hear everything.
We are unafraid.

Our language is beautiful.


-Janice Mirikitani from Breaking Silence

Transfix Us With Love, Make Believe, and Dark Flowers...

Transfix us with love.  --Joy Harjo from The Creation Story
 
As an artist sometimes I am just not ready, do not have the skill or concentration to embark on the idea that is waiting in the back spaces of my mind. One of these fascinations that has captured my imagination since childhood has to do with flowers.  My go-to-doodles were always magical, make-believe flowers, fanciful with bright red tongues and wild yellow stamens. To be honest they were a little psychadellic...and a bit phallic in hindsight.  I am fascinated with all sorts of things about  flowers:  how they move through their cycles and what exactly about them is so beautiful, which ones are my favorites and how to translate them into metal.

I decided to revisit the flower theme in my last two collections in a series of Dogwood necklaces. (See Fiore, a design from four years ago) I thought it would be interesting to capture the moment when the flower is in repose, just about to fall into decay and break apart.  

Wabi Sabi is a piece about the last part of a flower as it falls away, loosening a Tahitian pearl and tiny diamond.

Poetry is powerful; the words are short bursts of color, condensed into a sharp economy.  I like to think these dark flowers carry an ambiguous and mysterious poem all their own, completely open to interpretation as all poems are.

Black, Gold, Diamond and Pearl

It has been such a long time since I wrote a post I have forgotten how to rotate a picture.

When I take 'on the fly' phone pictures of our display before shows, I wish I would take a minute to actually straighten out the details...like the ear wires...or making sure the blackened dogwood necklace is actually IN the picture.  Well, here is a glimpse of my new favorites that we are just now putting into limited production in the studio.  The blackened pieces are a departure from the collection's signature look but I am truly loving working within a new vocabulary of black, gold, diamond and pearl.   

Around Here...

Design Wednesday

Front of  'in progress' dogwood. I think I will be hanging little things like a Tahitian pear, a wee diamond briolette and some coral.

This is the back, although at this point I think I prefer it to the front.  This piece is a bit heavy so I am cleaning out the insides of the petals to make it a little lighter.

These pieces are getting ready to be a necklace and earring.  The larger one was originally carved from wax and the copper one is chased out of sheet using tiny hammers.  They are going to go off to be molded tonight.

Dogwood Very Much in Progress

sterling, Tahitian pearl, diamond


I have been working on this dogwood necklace for my May collection. I ran to the caster's this morning to pick up this master.  I was super excited to see it in metal for the first time.  The petals are actually inside out--I love how the stem is wearing a little petal skirt.  I can't wait to finish it. Currently it weighs a ton.

To see if in the blue wax it was carved out of go two posts below.

Things Get Messy...

paper, wax, brass, copper, enamel

I read a quote by Kit White recently about letting the materials speak to you, instead of only working in your head, or drawing (or working on CAD). "It is easier to find new worlds than to create one."

I can't figure out why this picture will only go into the blog sideways.

In Progress

It's Coming Along

All In A Morning's Work

Since this morning I have been slowly carving this tiny flock of butterflies out of a chunk of green wax. I forgot to have lunch--it's already 3. I will go get some soba noodles from the hole in the wall down the street and then resume.