Biggs Jasper Tree With Moonlit Toadstools

As promised, here are pictures of Larkin's latest piece... once I coaxed the cat off of it. 😅 This piece features a cabochon that Larkin cut from a gifted slab of jasper found in Biggs, Oregon. Biggs jasper is known for its landscape appearance, and Larkin designed this piece to make the most of that!

Larkin framed one side of the front with a tree shaped from copper wire that they then flooded with silver solder, resulting in a striking color and texture combination. The natural gnarls of the tree are balanced on the other side of the frame by a strong, smooth curve of solid silver. The tree’s roots hold the stone in place at the bottom of the piece, extending partially on to the back side.

"Tree of life" pieces are notoriously difficult to finish cleanly in a traditionally wire wrapped piece because there are SO many ends of wire that need to be tied off. Larkin's combination of wrapping and more traditional silver smithing means that they were able to neatly solder those bundled ends to the frame, rather than tying them off individually. This leaves the back wide open as another space to fill!

And fill it they did-- this piece is truly reversible, with a back that is as stunning as the front! Larkin fashioned a trio of copper toadstools, basking in the glow of a crescent moon while tapered wisps of evening breeze pass overhead. (I wouldn't necessarily have guessed that tapering wire is a tricky, time-consuming process, but apparently it is!)

Holiday "Break"

Hey, friends! We're back! We're easing our way back into social media after a long break with this short photo essay illustrating the daily trials and tribulations of Larkin's product photographer. 😅

Holidays are always busy around our house-- Larkin and their brother both have birthdays in late December, as well as all of the usual holiday hoopla. Larkin is 20! I know... what?!! So I guess now we have to find and edit all the digital places we've referred to Larkin as a "teen jeweler" in the last seven (!!) years.

This is also the first holiday season that Larkin was so busy filling orders and keeping inventory in stock at @thedriftcoashland that they didn't have time to do very much new, creative work. They are back to it, and really enjoying the play time. 😊

This year will bring some fun, big new changes for Larkin! We'll be posting new updates, including more flattering (less Catzilla 😹) photos of their latest piece soon... thanks so much for joining us on this wild ride!

Holiday Shipping Info

Larkin is busy filling orders today, with a little "help" from a rather clingy Pippin. Yep, it has finally gotten chilly here in southern Oregon!🌬😻

This seems like a good time to remind y'all of holiday shipping deadlines! ⛄️✨ It's annoyingly difficult to get straight answers about all the winter holidays, but hopefully you can extrapolate as needed-- I'm always surprised by how early I need to get on-line shopping done for our family's winter solstice celebration!

USPS has announced that Dec. 18 is the last day to post packages and expect them to arrive by Dec. 24. That means, for most of Larkin's items, the last day to place orders in time is Dec. 11. (If you find yourself in a bind, send us a message and they'll see what they can work out!) Some items, like roly polies and custom-sized rings have a note in their description that they will take an additional week, so they need to be ordered by Dec. 4-- and that comes right on the heels of American Thanksgiving this year!

Local folks, info on Larkin's upcoming holiday markets will be coming soon. Stay cozy, y'all! 🔥

Pine Needle Bracelet

Pine needles have featured large in Larkin's childhood! Wandering the woods around our home, wee Larkin braided clusters of ponderosa pine needles to make ephemeral jewelry, crafted individual needles into tiny baskets, and generally admired them for their contradictory combination of pokey-punk-rock-appeal and malleability. 🌲

Larkin hasn't finalized design details for this bracelet yet, but we couldn't wait to share the prototype!

It was only a matter of time before Larkin set out to design something that captured that compelling pine needle charm! Each bracelet is composed of a single ponderosa pine fascicle (the fancy word for a bundle of pine needles that I thought I'd casually throw in here as if I didn't just learn it via Google...😅). Each needle in this hand-crafted sterling silver bracelet has that unique pine needle shape-- one side slightly domed, the other featuring an almost-triangular ridge down the middle. Larkin roughly dust-textured the fascicle sheath (yup, looked that up, too) to create a remarkable facsimile of its natural counterpart.

These days, healthy pine trees are few and far between in the forests around our southern Oregon home. The trees of Larkin's childhood have been weakened by near-constant drought conditions, making them easy pickings for the western pine beetle. These bracelets are a poignant reminder of our changing landscape.

Manzanita Leaves

Whiteleaf manzanitas are an integral part of the forest landscape around our southern Oregon home! They are important fodder for pollinators since they bloom when there are few other blossoms available. The berries resemble little apples, which is what manzanita means in Spanish, and were historically used by Native Americans for cider, jelly, and medicine. The plant has come to represent resilience, in part because its seeds require the heat from fire to stimulate germination. 🔥🍂🍃

Larkin makes these sterling silver manzanita leaves using leaves from the forest floor around our home as models. They cut and texture the leaves from sheet metal, then finish them with a dusting of powdered silver to mimic the surface of the real leaves. The necklaces are double-sided, while the clothing pins have one smooth face to lay against fabric.

Silver Clefs

Larkin has been wanting to make bass clefs to go along with their treble clefs for awhile now, and they finally came up with a design they like! Perfect for music lovers-- I especially like the mixed pair of earrings. 🎼🎶🎵

Silver Lily Pad Stud Earrings

🐸🐢🌞Tiny little lily pad stud earrings? Yes, please! Larkin hand-fabricates these from sterling silver with that rippling flow of leaves on water and a distinctive rim around the edges.

We especially like them paired with their lotus blossom earrings!

A New Board Is Born!

Aaaaah we made it-- just in time for the 2024 Talent Harvest Festival tomorrow! Larkin will be at the Wagner Plaza Local Goods Market downtown and it seems like every business in town is offering up specials and fun activities-- don't miss it if you're local!

It turns out we made swapping all of Larkin's inventory onto new cards even harder than it could have been. 😅 As long as we had everything off of cards, we figured it would be a good time for Larkin to give everything a thorough cleaning and polish before re-carding them.

During this process, we were chagrined to discover that the masking tape we've been using to affix cords to the back of cards does leave a sticky residue if it has been on there too long. 😬👀 Larkin has a rapid enough turnover that it probably hasn't happened often, but if you've purchased a sticky cord please stop by Larkin's booth any time and they'd be happy to give you a new adhesive-free one! Meanwhile, fancy new tape that claims to be residue-free is arriving this weekend. ✨

We are super pleased with the end result-- Larkin's board has never looked more professional! 😁 The first picture is the new board, the second is the old board (with a few blank spaces right after a market).

Small Tree Clothing Pins

Have I mentioned that Larkin has been loving playing with different takes on these tree designs lately?

They made these clothing pins with a sharp pin that has been twisted for a little extra sparkle and hardness-- these pins are fashioned from 18 gauge wire and are about the same thickness as a standard lapel pin (or a thumbtack) so will work in any fabric that doesn't mind being stabbed by something that size.📌

Two choices... because, you know, sometimes you feel moon-y and sometimes you don't! 🌕🌳

New Tree Hair/Clothing Clips

Larkin has a hard time keeping these unique tree hair/clothing clips around, but we just added these three! 🌳🌳🌳

These are a great example of the way Larkin works with metal! Part of the reason Larkin is so fond of hand-fabrication is because it allows them to work *with* the metal, rather than mold it into a specific form. They always protest having to sound woo-woo describing their process, but when forming these branches they let the wire go where it "wants" to go, which changes depending on the exact shape of the frame and length of wire. They are not a fan of "forcing" metal into some pre-conceived shape they have in their head.

Even Larkin's repeatable pieces that turn out remarkably uniform were designed with this in mind-- they have found that wires of a certain length and gauge are easily manipulated into a treble clef (for example... spoiler, there's a reason these are on my mind this week!), and depending on how sheet metal disks are soldered together they will naturally curl into different isopod poses. In my totally unbiased opinion 😏 this partnership with the metal is part of the reason Larkin's work has such a natural flow and feel.

The result is that no two tree hair clips are identical! These are all what we've dubbed size Large-- best for folks with thicker hair or as a striking fastener for a shawl or cloak.

Moss Agate Wedding Set

Those of you who have been following along for awhile may remember the silver ivy circlet Larkin created last year. We had the idea at the time that it would make a gorgeous centerpiece for nature-inspired wedding adornment, and someone agreed with us!

They wanted a custom necklace to match the circlet and complement their champagne-colored wedding dress. Larkin had a piece of moss agate they had found on a recent trip to Washington that seemed the perfect blushing champagne color, and this set was born!

Larkin feels especially honored every time someone chooses to wear their jewelry for an especially momentous occasion and we are hoping the bride (you know who you are 😉) will share pictures of their big day!

First Tuesday!

It's first Tuesday already! If you are local and it has been awhile since you checked out Larkin's booth at @Rogue Valley Growers & Crafters Market this would be a good day to come check it out-- they've been turning out so many cool new designs lately! Plus, summer fruit and veggie season is in full swing and it doesn't get any fresher than buying right from the farmers 🤤

Larkin will be in Ashland at the ScienceWorks parking lot from 8:30am-1:30pm today and would love to see you ☺️

Tomato Blossoms

Larkin couldn't help adding tomato blossoms to their tomato design!

Each blossom features the same fuzzy calyx as the tomatoes, plus paper-wrinkly petals surrounding a realistically segmented silver stamen. It's hard to do justice in photos to all the tiny details Larkin includes in their work!

Larkin is super excited about the mixed pair of earrings featuring one tomato and one blossom, but has matching sets available as well. ;)

Silver Tomatoes

🎶"Only two things money can't buy

That's true love and homegrown tomatoes"🎵

'Tis the season and Larkin's tomato plants are sprouting some unusual fruit. 😉

Larkin really packed a lot of detail into these little cuties! They dust-textured the calyx to closely resemble the fuzzy surface of tomato leaves. But I think my favorite detail is the little lump they added to the stem that is the spot it separates when the fruit is picked.

I did a lot of googling trying to figure out of there was a name for that lump, but came up short. I did, however, learn that the section of stem below the lump is a peduncle! I'll be casually trying to work that term into conversations for a long time to come. 😅

I also captured a rare shot of Larkin wearing their own work! 🍅❤️

Dragonfly Update

The dragonflies are swarming!

Larkin needed to re-stock these critters and decided to update their original design. They gave each textured wing a slight tweak so they are slightly off planar and better capture the essence of dragonfly movement.

They also added necklaces to their regular line-up so they can adorn clavicles or earlobes!

Silver Inchworm Stud Earrings

Inchworms have long been on Larkin's short list of top favorite cute insects!

Larkin hand fabricates each of these sweet little creepers from sterling silver. Each has a wee bulbous head and a slightly tapered tail, and is caught in the middle of that characteristic inchworm scrunch.🐛

These inchworms will sit differently depending on earlobe size and position of piercing— they will hang slightly off a small, attached earlobe (pictured on Larkin's ear) and perch fully on a larger detached lobe (pictured on Larkin's younger brother Finn's ear).

They are light enough they can also be positioned to creep sideways up or down the ear!

I also had to include a shot from the photo shoot when I caught Larkin and (large orange cat) Pippin gazing adoringly into each other's eyes. 😻🐾

International Ladle Week Is A Wrap!

Well, folks, we have made it to Day Seven-- the final day of International Ladle Week! We considered extending the holiday another day or two, but I don't think that poor little cauldron could take another ladle. 😅

Today, Larkin has added a ladle growing a trio of mushrooms, each in a different stage of development. Stew or potion, mushrooms definitely belong in that cauldron!

Thank you for joining us on our week-long celebration of the lowly ladle! Please let us know which ladles you think make the cut for the final collection! And what was missing? Are there other ladles you'd like to see Larkin try their hand at making?

Larkin says posting daily makes me less entertaining, so I feel a need to leave you with a ladle joke: A fork says to a spoon, "Who was that ladle I saw you with last night?" The spoon says, "that was no ladle, that was my knife."

And on that note, see you ladle, alligadle!

International Ladle Week Day Six

Day Six of International Ladle Week brings us to what may be the most completely edible plant in the collection! Did you know that virtually every part of the cat tail is edible-- from roots, shoots, and stalks, to flowers, pollen, and seed heads-- when they are harvested at the appropriate time in the plant's development. Even the leaves can be eaten, although they are more commonly used to weave baskets.

Larkin has duplicated the plant at its most recognizable hot-dog-on-a-stick phase (pretty sure that's the scientific description 😅) with its velvety flower spike shaped from copper. The plant rises from a sheet of silver that Larkin textured to mimic the dappled, flowing surface of a pond. 💦

International Ladle Week Day Five

Many happy returns of the day to you on this International Ladle Week, Day Five!

Today, Larkin has added a wee sprout to the collection. This green dynamo could become anything-- its true leaves haven't developed yet, although their beginning can be seen at the tiny growth tip on the main stalk. 🌱

Larkin made two of these as prototypes, one with a visiting inch worm and one without. I was a big fan of the inch worm so took more pictures of that version, but please! Let us know if the unadorned sprout is more your style! 🐛

International Ladle Week Day Four

When you just started making isopods, it turns out that everything round looks like a place for a roly poly to take a nap. 😅😴

Larkin couldn't help plopping an isopod into a ladle when they had one on hand that was a perfect fit! While we did hear from a surprising number of people who confessed to eating these little crustaceans in their younger years, I don't expect them to become a culinary phenomenon. They may be land shrimp, but do they really belong in this collection?