It’s Elemental, My Dear Wire Bender

It's a little ironic that, in the middle of this extreme heat wave, Larkin discovered it was time re-stock Avatar: The Last Airbender fire pendants! These have been super popular over the years and we can't recommend the show enough-- it's one of the few shows every single person in our family loves. These elemental symbols sure translate beautifully into wire!

Vining Leaf Earrings

Remember the back of that applegate jade pendant that featured a sweet little leafing vine? Larkin translated that design into earrings! These are made up in copper, bright silver, and oxidized silver. Thanks to cousin Theresa for the design inspiration!

Amazonite Lagoon

Larkin cut this teardrop cabochon to get a feel for working with amazonite before making the drawer pulls. This stone looks so much like clear Caribbean waters!

Wrapped in argentium silver and accented with smooth mother of pearl and faceted amazonite beads, this piece is sure to conjure memories of the halcyon days of summer even on the darkest winter night!

Amazonite Drawer Pulls

Larkin had a special request for amazonite drawer pulls and they turned out beautifully! Amazonite is a difficult stone to work with and Larkin's poor perfectionist soul struggled a bit with the small chips at the edges. These will be winging their way to their new home tomorrow!

Desert Landscape

Larkin's latest commission was a wrap around this gorgeous 3-piece cab made by the customer's grandfather. The cab is backed by some green-ish opaque stone, and the front features a picture jasper landscape topped by a blue agate sky.

The piece had been worn as a bolo tie for many years, and Larkin transformed it into a pendant. Larkin wanted to frame the piece without obscuring the cab, and used thicker than usual wire because it's a much larger piece than most Idle Talons work. A gorgeous portal into a desert land!

Applegate Jade Triangle

This is one of Larkin's double-sided applegate jade cabochons, domed and polished on both sides with a hole drilled sideways through the tip leaving both faces unbroken. Larkin squared the copper framing wire in the metal roller then twisted it in various directions to fashion a simple frame that really glints in the light!

The frame and stone are not actually attached, so they each dangle and sway independently. Tiny soldered loops hold the frame on the cord and the whole piece is reversible. This piece was a bit too small to hide the flashlight, but it's still fun to see how it glows when backlit! The last picture features the stone from which the cab was cut.

Vining Applegate Jade

This piece makes me wonder if I finally need to claim my own piece of Larkin's work! If you like petite pieces with intricate detail this just might be the one for you. Larkin cut the cab from applegate jade found by our family, then shaped, wrapped, squooshed, and fused silver wire to form the frame.

The second picture shows how it glows when backlit (!!), and the third shows the sweet little vine Larkin put on the back (as well as the stone the cab was cut from in the background)-- another piece that makes it hard to decide which is the "right" side! Bonus: this translucent green stone also attracts a magnet!

This piece was made for a neighbor who found the stone on their property after it burned last summer in the Almeda Fire. They have invited Larkin back to do some very close to home rockhounding as they have found a ton of jasper, agate, quartz, and even some stones that look a lot like applegate jade (but what the heck is it doing there?!)! Witnessing our neighbors' journey while the whole community recovers from wildfire has been truly humbling.

This was a small Quartz With Cool Green And Orange Coloring (I'm sure that's the technical term) stone to begin with, so Larkin embraced its asymmetry in both the cab and the wrap style. Larkin sees a forest releasing clouds of springtime pollen. :)

Workshop Update

We know news from the Idle Talons workshop has been sparse lately, but not due to inactivity! Larkin has been super busy working on commissions, playing with new tools, and prepping for markets. There are some fun new things in the works, we promise!

Rock Shop Day!

Rock shop day! Larkin was pretty thrilled to be back in the machine shop after a fairly long hiatus. Slabbed up some recent finds with pretty amazing results, rough cut some cabs, and cut some amazonite for a special request for knob pulls. Lots of inspiration for new pretties!

Serpentine Waves

Larkin cut this asymmetric teardrop cab from gorgeous grey-green serpentine found by our family near our home in southern Oregon. The stone’s impression of fluid movement is mirrored by the waves and bubbles of the oxidized copper wrap.

Applegate Jade Planet

A new planet! Larkin cut this cab from applegate jade found by our family and included that really interesting transition zone between the crust and the deep translucent green at the center of the stone. The argentium silver rings follow healed fracture lines. It's celestially orb-tacular!

Oxidized Vining Roses

Remember those oxidized silver roses? Larkin has put them on bright silver vines! I struggled to capture their multitudinous range of colors in photos, so trust me when I say they're even more brilliant in person. If your neck is 14.25 inches or smaller, or if that length wraps twice around your wrist, this beauty could be yours! Of course, Larkin can also add or subtract links as needed to adjust the length.

Vining Rose Quartz

Everything's coming up roses around the Idle Talons workshop! Larkin cut the cab for this piece from a piece of rose quartz that the folks at the rock shop affectionately dubbed "lavender quartz" due to its blue tinge-- its purple really pops against the true red of the roses!

Larkin shaped the argentium silver roses and leaves first, and fused them into place on the silver vining rose wire. The base of the frame is copper, with the silver vines wrapped in as it was made. The whole frame was oxidized, then Larkin hand polished every single silver component to bring out the bright silver contrast.

This is a gorgeous piece, with meticulous detail. That said, Larkin is not planning to make another like it because it took so. stinking. long! Better act fast if you love it. ;)

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Oxidized Roses

Larkin is playing with oxidizing silver roses for vining chokers and bracelets. Oxidizing is a bit like rolling the dice because you're never sure exactly what colors will pop out, but this group sure make a lovely bouquet! Fairly normal-sized human thumb for size reference.

Knobs!

Larkin finished some knobs! The first pair are a deep green, opaque applegate jade with yellow-brown inclusions. The second pair are made from a deep grey-green serpentine. The knob base is a heavy duty brushed metal and comes with the screw necessary for installation. Instant cabinet fancification!

Evil Twin, Anyone?

Larkin is calling this the evil twin of the last moonstone wrap. 😂 That design inspired a few tweaks and Larkin happened to have another moonstone cab on hand to try them out. This is another argentium silver wrap, but this time Larkin did a light oxidation to bring out all kinds of crazy colors in the metal!

It's amazing how similar the design is, but how different the feel of the two wraps are-- I can't decide which I like more!

Knob Blanks

What looks like a lifetime supply of knob blanks arrived yesterday! Larkin ordered some wood and some brushed metal and is taking advantage of the warm weather today to get in some stone work.

Moonstone Curls

Larkin's latest wrap, spring flowers edition! This purchased moonstone cab has a gorgeous blue-green-peach flash and is framed in argentium silver with a combo of weaving and fusing. The tail curls are hammered and gleaming. Perfect for spring!

Pictured (in order) with: grape hyacinth, rosemary, shooting stars, and houndstongue. This wrap will be making it's debut next Friday at the Royaboya Handmade Bazaar!

Whispy Jasper

Larkin cut this cheerfully asymmetric cab from a grey-blue-green-with-a-bit-of-yellow-at-that-one-edge jasper stone we found near the coast. Swirly on one side and whispy on the other, Larkin mirrored the feel of the stone with the copper wire of its wrap. Measures 6.4 cm long and 2.6 cm at its widest point.

This piece will make its debut at the Royaboya Handmade Bazaar, coming up at the end of the month!