It Takes A Village

Specialty metal working tools are such a niche market that prices tend to be high for fairly simple tools. This weekend, Emile (Larkin's dad) spent some time on his make-shift front porch workbench making Larkin a couple new specialty tools. Tool steel is shaped, polished, hardened, tempered, then touch-up polished to that mirror gleam Larkin needs for jewelry work.

This way Larkin can request exactly the size/shape of tool they want-- these are two repousse tools (used to "chase"/shove metal into shape). And yes, Larkin could totally make these on their own... these are little gifts from Emile allowing them to spend more time on the parts of creation they love.

Silver Cat Tail Hair Clip

I know I shouldn't keep saying this, but... I have a new favorite hair clip!😅 I've waxed poetic before about how functional, comfortable, and lovely this style of clip is, but Larkin's designs just keep getting better. 💞

Larkin fabricated this two-piece clip from solid sterling, using just a bit of copper to really make the cattail heads pop. Both pieces are slightly bent so the clasp lays flat against the head and is comfortable even when leaning back against a head-rest.

They are designed to be placed with the concave faces together, then the stick is twisted 180 degrees to tighten the clasp and fasten the decoration securely in the hair. The frame is hammered, work-hardening the silver so the fit will remain snug over time. The pin has been rolled through a mill to achieve the same result.

This size is pretty versatile, and suitable for most hair textures and types (even if you have the kind of straight, silky hair that this style of clip usually slips out of!). If your hair is especially thin you may want to use this in conjunction with an additional hair tie. If your hair is super thick it may tie back only part of your hair.

Larkin says this design is repeatable, and I'm hoping one makes an appearance under our solstice tree this year. ;)

Barter Is Best

One of Larkin's favorite things about market is the other vendors! Josie from TerraSol Organics has gotten our whole family hooked on her pea sprouts! They dress up a sandwich like nobody's business and are an amazing addition to salads.

At the end of just about every market, Josie shows up like a beneficent sprout angel and bestows her treasure upon Larkin.

Unfortunately, Josie doesn't wear much jewelry, which is traditionally how Larkin gives thanks. But! She's a crocheter! And she had a problem with her pinky curling too tightly and hurting while she crocheted. So Larkin made her a silver finger splint that keeps her pinky at a comfortable angle while she works. She has been using it ever since, thus securing our inside connection to beautiful, crunchy sproutlings.

Chakra Crystal Vine

A regular brought Larkin this "chakra crystal" (7 different stones glued together and polished into the shape of a crystal) that had originally come with a glue-on bail. The bail had fallen off and they requested Larkin come up with a cage design that would hold it more securely.

Not one for simple cages, Larkin wrapped it in a silver leafing vine that holds the stone firmly in place and topped it with a secure bail. Et Voila!

In other news, tomorrow is Larkin's last Rogue Valley Growers & Crafters Market of the season! They will have many new items there that we haven't had a chance to photograph and list yet, so come on by for first pick of some of this season's pretties!

Equipment Maintenance

Right before Larkin's last market (because of course), our rock tumbler's power cord failed in a pretty spectacular circuit-blowing way. Larkin uses it as a polishing tumbler for finished products, so had a whole slew of things they were hoping to polish before market.

Our local Buy Nothing Group came to the rescue! Larkin was able to borrow a tumbler from a neighbor for a few days to complete the necessary polishing-- I can't recommend joining/starting a local Buy Nothing Group enough! It's a wonderful way to help real people in real time.

Once crunch time had past, and the borrowed tumbler was returned, Larkin set about repairing our tumbler. It turns out a lot of their jewelry skills translate pretty well to electronics! With a few pointers from their electronically-minded dad, Larkin was able to splice a new cord onto the old one and the tumbler is chugging along like a champ again.

Larkin did have to switch mind-sets a little. They were a bit horrified at how much solder they were supposed to use to make a solid connection-- a little different from their usual dainty jewelry work. ;)

Throwback Thursday

Seasonally appropriate throwback Thursday! This piece from the summer of 2020 (which puts Larkin at 15) is still probably the largest pendant Larkin has made. They were going for copper dragon wings on the sodalite cab, but we agreed the overall impression of this piece was more like a bat. 🦇🧙‍♀️🎃

Oak Seedling Sculpture

Zoinks, y'all. Larkin's latest sculpture is a doozy.

Larkin modeled this oak seedling from real sprouts and leaves from the forest floor every step of the way! Leaves reflect the asymmetries, insect nibbles, and general chaos of nature.

Larkin centered the base around a copper acorn that has lost its cap and is sprouting a slender silver seedling. The acorn is surrounded and supported by hand-shaped copper leaves, still sporting the bright colors and dull finish of the final torch-work.

Larkin snapped a quick photo showing most of the leaves with their real-life models, before they were soldered together to form the base.

The seedling itself is brightly polished sterling silver, rising sturdy but tremulous on a slim stem. When the surface it rests on is bumped, the leaves shiver fetchingly as if captured in a brisk breeze. You have to look pretty closely to catch all the details Larkin incorporated into the sprout, from future growing tips to the way the leaves organically split from the stem.

If you have never closely examined an oak seedling, you may not realize that their first three leaves have a very different shape than their mature leaves. Seeing the contrast in this piece of the mature copper leaves beneath with the shiny new silver growth above is extremely striking… some would even say transcendent. (okay, "some" is Larkin's grandpa 🤣)

What a beauty!

Red October Mine Fire Opal

Larkin and Emile (their dad) took a field trip a few hours east of our home this weekend to dig at a public mine for Oregon fire opal! They stopped on the road for some pretty epic eclipse viewing, too.

Fire opal is gorgeous stuff-- they got one really nice, big hunk-- the matrix is actually quite thin so there's a lot of workable stone in this piece.

Larkin will cab up some of the small stuff, too, and we'll probably tumble the rest.

Importantly, they learned a lot about the area and what the stone looks like in the wild! Apparently serious miners show up with a jackhammer to expose a seam, then extract chunks with picks and chisels. Not having a jackhammer has never felt like a scarcity in our lives up until this point, but here we are. 😅

Using ethically sourced stone is very important to Larkin, and you can't do too much better than finding it yourself!

Little Brown Mushroom Trio Pendant

Larkin hand-fabricated each of these sweet little mushrooms from sterling silver and affixed them to a manually twisted wire frame.

These papillated pretties pop up pretty much everywhere conducive to mushroom growth! (Papillated = fancy science talk for looking like they have a nipple on their heads 🤣)

Larkin couldn't decide if a cord or chain suited this design better, so is making it dealer's choice.

Happy October!

As holiday markets approach, Larkin is wanting to re-stock so as many of their designs as possible are available. It had been a long time since we went through the Idle Talons website and compared it to Larkin's current stock!

So... we made a list. A very long list. And Larkin has been hard at work. You never know what you'll find on Larkin's workbench. Most of the items pictured here are bits and pieces of (or completed) items off the list. But I also spy some silver lichen-- who knew?!

And tomorrow is already first Tuesday! Come see Larkin and pick up some fresh veggies at the Rogue Valley Growers & Crafters Market, tomorrow at the Ashland Armory from 8:30 am - 1:30 pm!

Cascading Ivy Necklace

Larkin has been wanting to offer some more petite charms on silver chain, and this offering took some serious research and time! Last time Larkin placed a silver order, they ordered several lengths of chain in various gauges. They wanted something dainty enough not to overwhelm a small charm, but sturdy enough they would be confident it wouldn't break easily with regular wear.

Then Larkin needed to design a clasp that was not onerously difficult to make, and equally easy to fasten and unfasten without coming undone during wear. Then came the wear testing, for which Larkin recruited family and friends-- any necklace that withstands several days of construction work and overnights on a restless sleeper has been pretty thoroughly vetted!

Sounds good, right? Almost! Larkin wanted these pieces hung on the chain *before* adding the clasps so the charm can't slide off the end of the necklace. So the finished piece needs to be polished chain and all, a recipe for tangled disaster in the tumbling jewelry polisher... especially if you're wanting to polish a batch of 5-10 at a time! Using a spool that had come with wire on it, Larkin rigged up a set-up for loosely spooling finished necklaces that would fit in the tumbling polisher and keep the chain from tangling hopelessly.

Which leads us (finally!) here! The base of these petite gleaming pendants is a rectangle Larkin cut from sheet metal, hammered to appear like a brick or stone base for the vining ivy. Larkin hand cut, veined and shaped each ivy leaf from silver and affixed the vine and leaves to the base. They add the chain and clasp, give the whole thing a final polish, and ta-dah!

Quartz Jellyfish

Larkin biggered their jellyfish design into a decorative hanging!

Larkin shaped and polished the quartz hood of this jellyfish from a raw stone found on our family’s hillside in southern Oregon-- the stone can spin on the sculpture to face any direction. Larkin shaped tentacles from sheet metal and round wire, similar to their jewelry pieces, then rolled and twisted some round wire to add texture in this larger format.

This piece shines beautifully displayed in a window and comes with bubbly loops on top to make hanging easy. Banana hangers actually make wonderful displays for this kind of hanging sculpture (candle lanterns and amigurumi octopus pal entirely optional 😁)!

Question: if you purchased this sort of decoration, would you expect it to come with some sort of string and/or hook hanger, or just with the loops that make it easy to hang however you wish? Larkin's parents <ahem> have opposite feelings about expectations here... help a kid out! ;)

To Tarnish Or Not To Tarnish...

Larkin uses sterling silver, which we all know requires some upkeep if it's going to stay polished bright and shiny. But... what if you don't wanna polish it?! I'm honestly undecided about which version of these earrings I like better!

The first picture was taken in full sun, the second in shade. Both pairs of earrings were made and polished
at the same time several months ago; the top have been stored in an airtight container while the bottom
have been out and handled regularly. Silver tarnishes such beautiful colors! The bottom pair is still shiny and gleaming, but in a more... gothy way. 😅 Do you have a favorite?

Blooper Reel

Last week was something of a comedy of errors (at least that's how we're choosing to view it) in the Idle Talons studio.

Remember our last post? That lovely red jasper oak tree pendant? Larkin had the frame entirely done, final polish and everything. The very last step was affixing the stone into the piece. On the very last prong of the setting, Larkin torqued the stone just a little too hard and the cab broke! After setting the piece aside in disgust for a couple of days, Larkin cut a new cab to finish the piece.

And in the meantime, Larkin was re-stocking jellyfish earrings. It may be a little hard to tell in the photo, but the large central spiral in *all* of these component pieces is cloudy. Larkin did everything the same as usual and has NO IDEA why these just won't hold a polish. Usually a pickle bath and polishing tumble have these gleaming, but Larkin suspects there must have been a contaminant in their pickle and no amount of re-pickling (with a new solution) is doing the trick. The only sure-fire way to get silver to polish again is to re-anneal it, but because of the way these are constructed, the outer tendrils would melt by the time the center was fully annealed.

This jewelry making business is not all shiny, happy finished products!

Jasper Oak In Autumn

High temperatures are still in the 90s here, so summer isn't done with us yet, but Larkin's latest piece foretells Autumn's arrival!

The realistically rough and knobbly silver tree trunk contrasts beautifully with each unique, handmade oak leaf and the smooth, polished silver that completes the frame.

But this pendant has a dark side! While the front features the familiar oaks that comprise most of the forest around our southern Oregon home, Larkin added our least favorite lurker in the forest’s understory to the back: poison oak! The two oaks are only related in name, but they are fitting representatives of the beauty and danger in nature.

The striking black and red stone was found by our family in Humboldt County, California. We suspect it is mostly made up of red jasper in an unknown black conglomerate. The stone is slightly porous so the cabochon's surface does not have a perfect, mirror polish— small imperfections can be seen when light reflects off the stone at certain angles.

Larkin's lapidary work often fades into the background (literally!) once they set a stone into a final piece, but check out this picture of the exposed side of this cabochon!

That is a remarkably even girdle (the vertical section at the edges of a cab, before the top starts to dome), and you can just see it starting to taper towards the bottom corner. Larkin's cabs may not be as flashy as purchased stone (it's important to them that their work does not support questionable mining practices, so they use almost entirely stones found by our family and friends), but mass-produced cabs can't compete with the quality of Larkin's stonework!

Wisdom Teeth No More

So... we just got home from having Larkin's wisdom teeth extracted and they are too lucid for their own good! I'm trying to convince them to chill out on the couch and watch a movie, and they're insisting that working while they're still under the influence of the good drugs is most sensible.

We will probably be quiet for the next few days (I hope...). Please send as much healing and common sense as you can spare!

Time Management

This time of year Larkin struggles a bit with dividing their time between fun, new designs and stocking up everything that sells out at in-person markets (it's a good kind of problem to have, we know!).

I didn't want to go out into the hazardous smoke for photos, but here's a blurry little shot of a piece Larkin is currently working on between re-stock work. I'm pretty excited to see it done!

And I included a few photos of some of the pretties Larkin has been shipping out recently, just for funsies.

Markets, Smoke, and Samaras

Tonight's Talent Artisans & Growers Market has been cancelled due to such poor air quality. 😔 We are hoping for improvement in time for next month's first Tuesday @Rogue Valley Growers & Crafters Market in Ashland!

Larkin has been re-stocking these wonderfully whimsical whirligigs... er, samaras. 😅 The first step is cutting the... wings? Leaves? Membranes? out of sheet metal, leaving behind some delightfully curled trimmings.

Then Larkin whacks the bejeezus out of them (tink tink tink all through the house for HOURS) to give them their unique texture and wooble.

Larkin then solders them to the seed framework and spines, oxidizes them, partially polishes by hand, and finally finishes the polish in a rotary polisher with stainless steel medium.

Larkin has been making these as clothing pins as well as necklaces, and is hoping to come up with a more double-sided finished product to use as a free-twirling earring design.

Throwback Thursday

Are you watching Heartstopper on Netflix? Larkin introduced our family to the series when it was still a
webcomic and we were all hooked! When the books were released Larkin was 14, and they had the opportunity to meet the author (Alice Oseman) at a signing!

Larkin made this charm necklace as a fan gift (out of copper! This was before Larkin had largely transitioned into silver work). The leaves, hearts and stars are the interstitial doodles the author uses around frames and between chapters, translated into wire.

Larkin was *so* self-conscious about the gift, but at the end of the day they were convinced to hand the necklace over (and then run away blushing madly!).

The TV series really has captured the feel of the original stories. This is an almost impossibly sweet
coming-of-age/romance/coming out story. Highly recommended if you need more warm fuzzies in your
life.

Sparkling Vine Rings

This is a design Larkin prototyped quite awhile ago, then recently made a batch with some final tweaks and more gemstone color options.

Someday, Larkin would love to make their own faceted gems from local stones, but that is an investment and learning project for another time! Until then, Larkin has chosen to work with lab-created gems so as not to support questionable mining and stone cutting practices. This design is available with lab-created garnet or four shades of cubic zirconia.

Larkin has rolled the ring bands to create a comfort band curve against the skin and a square face on the outside. The curling vine does not extend all the way around the ring, leaving the band smooth and untextured between the fingers.

Bonus picture of a row of leafy vines before they were attached to rings!