Silver play! The earrings are polished, bright silver, while Larkin oxidized the roses on the charm. What do you think... bright silver or oxidized?
musings
Rose Vines
musings, process, productCommentAfter making roses in a live video for last weekend's on-line bazaar, Larkin's gears started turning. ;) These are super detailed; they have been sculpted, hammered, soldered, and wrapped into final form. Larkin says neither of these are quite ready for a website debut, but I'm here to tell you they are gleamingly gorgeous! If you'd like to claim one for $25 shipped to the U.S., comment here with your email address (or send it to us at idle.talons@gmail.com) and specify if you'd like the one on the upper right or the lower left. They are almost exactly the size of a quarter.
Celestial Lapis Lazuli
product, musingsCommentLarkin cut and polished this gleaming dome from lapis lazuli, framed it with copper wire, and accented it with metallic star and copper beads. The whole Idle Talons team agrees that the result calls to mind stars, space, and planets! Lapis lazuli is said to bolster confidence and encourage self-awareness— surely this piece would do so on a galactic scale!
Bezel Learning Curve
musings, processCommentA recreation of what must have been Larkin's thought process yesterday:
I'd like to try silver smithing. I don't really have the right materials or tools, but obviously today's the day. I think I'll use one of my smallest cabochons that is all curves and a point. That's very sensible. I *do* have a bit of bezel, but no silver sheeting. I'll hammer some wire out to use as backing. Oh look! An S curves nicely around the coral bursts! Hmmmm... how am I going to crimp and burnish this? Hey, remember that railroad spike I picked up on a hike years ago? I put a few twists in it using Emile's old forge. I bet I can polish one edge and use it as a burnisher. Perfect.
😂 Introducing Larkin's very first bezel-set stone. The burnishing is not quite done, so it will get a bit shinier. Obviously it's a learning process-- the fossilized coral sure is purty!
A Day In The Life
musings, process, funCommentToday is a bead-doodling, design-sketching, cab-drooling, family-card-playing kind of day. Happy Saturday!
Eye Of The Beholder
process, musings, productCommentLarkin is currently working on a wrap for this cab. This is from a piece of Applegate jade our family found. Larkin included some of the stone's rind and I love the effect of the combined translucence and opacity. Looks to me like a perfect sandy underwater scene. Larkin says it depicts an angry, monstrous frog rising from the deep. To each their own!
Avatar Elements
musings, process, productCommentLarkin got an order for this flowing "water" pendant and discovered it's time to re-stock! Whether or not you're a fan of the animated Avatar: The Last Airbender series (or its equally compelling sequel The Legend of Korra), these elements translate beautifully into wire!
As a side note, I'm kind of blown away by Larkin's ability to re-produce designs! The stock image of all four elements was taken when they were first designed (1.5-2 years ago?) and the solo water was made yesterday. We always include a disclaimer about how, like all handmade products, actual items may vary slightly from the photos, but sheesh! Vary VERY slightly! ;)
Undulating Applegate Jade
product, process, musingsCommentSome of you may remember this unique cabochon Larkin cut and polished from an Applegate jade stone found by our family. This particular cab is a bit of a chameleon— looking black in some light and deep, mottled green in others. The argentium silver wrap brings out the stone’s natural gleaming magnetite inclusions and the whimsically asymmetric bail suits the cab beautifully!
Idle Talons Was Here
fun, process, musingsCommentLarkin finished work on this approximately head-sized Gallifreyan wall hanging today! This piece embodies a whack-ton of soldering (I'm pretty sure that's the official term), circles and straight lines (two of Larkin's least favorite things to make) so it was truly a labor of love! Larkin chose to leave the copper natural rather than oxidizing and polishing it. Just in case your Gallifreyan is a wee bit rusty, this self-referentially proclaims "Idle Talons made this." Recursive much?
A Sweet Story
fun, musingsCommentWhen you give a wire wrapper a licorice rope...
... they may turn it into chain mail and doodles. ;)
Gleaming Leaves
musings, process, productCommentNew leaves going up in the next day or so-- including Larkin's first two pairs of leaf earrings! These are truly a labor of love-- it turns out making small, matching cabochons is not for the faint of heart. I was wondering if stone earrings would be heavy, but each of the larger applegate jade earrings weighs less than a quarter.
There are also two more applegate jade pendants here-- they've been hard to keep in stock! I questioned the choice of blue aventurine for the small pendant, but Larkin started singing Harry Chapin's "Flowers Are Red" at me and I have been suitably chastised. (Look it up if you don't know the song-- heartbreaking!)
Sunset Sodalite Wings
product, musings, processCommentLarkin cut this cabochon from sunset sodalite, so named due to the areas of pink/peach in the otherwise brilliant blue stone. Sunset sodalite is said to bring its wearer clarity, strength, and confidence.
With a wingspan of 14.5 cm and a drop of almost 8 cm from the tips of the wings to the base of the stone, this is a bold statement piece with delicate details. This is the largest piece Larkin has made to date-- zooming in on the stone seemed in order!
Latest Cabochons
musings, processCommentLarkin's latest cabs! This lot is petrified wood (one with a polished face, one with rough grain as found), applegate jade, and yellow jasper/agate. I'm excited to see what becomes of this lot! New shapes, and, what's that? Matched cabs? What could it mean...? ;)
Channel Set Cuff Bracelet
process, musings, productCommentLarkin has been wanting to try channel setting and made this cuff bracelet out of copper and amethyst. It's a nice prototype and Larkin is thinking of making a few in silver, and maybe some rings in a similar style. What do you think-- is it a design worth playing with? Are there stones you'd like to see? :)
Support Youth Art
musingsCommentToday, something a little different. Zoi the Creative is another teen artist whose work we learned about through the unschooling community. Her pieces celebrating Black History Month are some of my favorites. Check it out-- gorgeous stuff! https://www.artbyzoi.com/ and on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artbyzoi/
Lace Agate Gate
product, process, musingsCommentLarkin wanted to play with a door/gate design similar in organic feel to the leaves, and here is the prototype! Even the jump ring was soldered to complement the piece. Larkin has some ideas to modify the design, but I like how this arched lace agate cab looks like a gateway into a secret garden!
Going On A Jade Hunt
musings, processCommentWe drove out to the Applegate yesterday, mostly for recreational reasons-- we never even saw another human outside of a car! For Larkin and Emile recreation = rockhounding. I am not, however, sure that Larkin's yoga swing rockhounding is going to catch on. ;)
They were wildly successful-- there are some super promising (BIG!) chunks of applegate jade I can't wait to see cut! I'm glad they knew what to look for after a trip out with the local rock club-- applegate jade almost always comes with a nondescript brownish crust that looks nothing like the gorgeous, glowing green stone within.
Ocean View Jasper
product, process, musingsCommentLarkin cut this cabochon from a jasper stone we found near our home in southern Oregon. Larkin sees the crown of a tree in the foreground at the top, with beach, water, and sky below. What do you see? The negative space in the wrap neatly mirrors the negative space cut in the stone.
All photos are taken with the stone from which the cab was cut-- I love the way the copper wrap beautifully takes the place of the copper-colored crust on the rough stone. Bonus shot of my heckling, cackling audience as I tried to take photos: "Can we eats it, my precious?"
Leaves, Glorious Leaves!
process, product, musingsCommentMore leaves! These will be going live this evening as my churlish computer allows. ;) From top to bottom: applegate jade, serpentine, moss agate, green aventurine, chert, yellow jasper, mahogany obsidian. Also included a view of the backs since I don't think I've done that before. I learned that the leaf shape Larkin cuts these stones in is almost impossible to find at rock shops because the concave curves are difficult to achieve on polishing wheels-- traditional cabs have all convex curves. No wonder these always seem so unique! Larkin is now switching gears to a more complex wrap.
Layered Cab
musings, processCommentAnother day cutting and polishing cabochons! Larkin is playing with a new technique, inspired by a slab of rose quartz that is quite transparent when cut. Larkin backed it with a thin slice of obsidian so more of the color shows, including a couple of areas of blue flash that are apparently quite rare! Two of today's cabs are already wrapped into leaves, and most of these will follow suit.
