Leaves!

Leaves! Oak and manzanita trees are mainstays of the forest around our southern Oregon home. Larkin created these two clothing pins using leaves from the forest floor around our house as models.

Larkin cut and textured the manzanita leaf, finishing it with a dusting of powdered silver to mimic the surface of their leaves.

The oak leaf took a whole lot of texturing to get that magical crinkly texture around the veins!

Larkin finished each of these with a hand-shaped sharp pin fastener, so they can be worn on any fabric. These could adorn a favorite hat, shoulder bag, jacket lapel, t-shirt, anything!

Stone-Hooded Jellies!

Stone-hooded jellies! These earrings appear delicately ethereal and flowy, but they are much sturdier than they appear! Each tentacle is soldered to the central stinging arm and work-hardened for rigidity.

Larkin has painstakingly cut, polished, and drilled the stone cabochons that are the bells of these jellyfish. The dark green is called “applegate jade” by the good folks at our local rock shop, but it is not a true jade and is more closely related to bowenite.

The pink is rose quartz.

Silver is *so* bright that it can be hard to capture in a photo! I like that the shadows in some of these pictures almost makes the tentacle pattern easier to see. 😅

The stone adds a lot of time to their making, and a whole lot of personality to the finished pieces. These are the only two pairs Larkin currently has made up, and they have some pure metal ones still as well!

Applegate Jade Ivy Nightscape

... and we're back! Larkin had a busy month of traveling and visiting with family but has been making time to work in the studio whenever possible. And my laptop has been given a new lease on life with a shiny new (bigger!) hard drive and not-so-swollen battery. 😅

Come see Idle Talons tonight at the Talent Artisans & Growers market-- and see this new piece in person! ;)

This is another piece Larkin cut from out favorite local stone-- applegate jade. It is not a true jade (more closely related to bowenite) and is a deep green stone, nearly black in some lighting, with flecks of magnetite that actually makes it attractive to magnets!

It glows a translucent yellow-green when backlit. I tried to demonstrate just how translucent it can be by balancing the piece on top of a flashlight standing in a jar of lentils and leaning on a pile of towels in the laundry room. Yep, a true glimpse into the glamorous world of jewelry photography!

This stone has a darker green stripe down the middle that gives the impression of a pupil— with the ivy “antlers” this piece reminds me of a forest guardian in the spirit of Studio Ghibli!

Larkin hand-shaped each ivy leaf from sterling sheet, and the vines are textured to mimic their wild counterparts. They polished the back for a smooth feel against the skin and finished it with a full moon peeking through the branches of a tree.

A whole lotta magic going on with this one!

Barnacles!

Just a basket of silver barnacles.😁

These sticky little crustaceans have been showing up on some of Larkin's ocean-themed work, but most of these will be featured on a batch of stud earrings!

Jellies!

Jellies!!! Did you know a group of jellyfish is called a... SMACK?!

These earrings appear delicately ethereal and flowy, but they are much sturdier than they appear! Larkin soldered each tentacle to the central stinging arm and work-hardened each earring for rigidity.

That said, if you have hair likely to tangle in these tentacles you'd probably want to wear it back— the better to show off these ebullient Medusozoa!

Larkin makes the bells of these jellyfish in either silver or copper. The ear hook and the rest of the jelly bits are hand-fabricated from sterling silver. No two will ever be perfectly identical, and that is part of their charm!

These will make their market debut tomorrow at the Spring Talent Craft Crawl, sponsored by the Talent Business Alliance! The Idle Talons booth will be in the lawn in front of Town Hall and Larkin would love to see you there!

Silver Ivy Hair Clip

Larkin's latest sterling silver hair clip design looks straight from a secret garden wall!

Larkin hammered the sheet silver base, work-hardening the silver so the fit will remain snug over time. They rolled the pin through a mill, then hammered it for additional stability. The ivy leaves and vines are entirely hand-fabricated and each tip is soldered to minimize snags. Larkin oxidized the silver to accentuate the depth and texture of their metalwork.

This is a piece rugged enough for daily wear and beautiful enough for a night on the town! As with all of Larkin's clips made in this style, this piece would also be beautifully functional as a cloak, shawl, hat or scarf pin when paired with a loose-knit fabric.

Sneak Preview

Larkin's doing batch work on a new design! Any guesses what these will become?

Books!

Larkin created these sweet little tomes for a dear friend who recently got her ears pierced and is studying publishing at university. They were a surprise, and it was hard to wait until they arrived to share! Larkin liked how they turned out so much they've been added to the Idle Talons wares. :)

The books are hollow forms, shaped with copper covers and silver pages, bookmarks, and title plates. Larkin leather-textured the copper covers, and grooved the silver sides by hand to resemble paper pages. Each book hangs from a hole drilled through the bookmark.

The one with mushrooms was a happy accident-- Larkin burned a hole in the top pages and decided to fill it rather than scrap the whole book. It disappeared quickly at yesterday's market!

Copper Capped Mushrooms

We have fungus among us, folks! Larkin made a whole cluster of these little copper-capped cuties.

Larkin shapes the caps from sheet copper, and drills a hole through the center. They form the jump ring on top from sterling silver wire, then they pass it through the cap to become the stem. They shape the base of the stem so it is larger and rough textured, just like so many mushrooms in the wild.

Such sweet little forest denizens! These will be available at the upcoming first annual Spring Talent Craft Crawl, sponsored by the Talent Business Alliance. We're so excited our small hometown has such amazing opportunities for artists!

Moss Agate Ocean Scene

Larkin cut this moss agate cabochon leaving the top rough, showing the original surface of the stone.

It is reminiscent of breaking surf and is remarkably translucent with dominant soft sage and rose coloration.

Larkin secured the stone with a clingy starfish and a couple of tiny barnacles, all hand-fabricated from sterling silver.

The stem of kelp becomes roots on the back of the piece. Topped with a custom, hammered silver bail.

This piece is chock full of salty, oceany, fluid kelpie goodness!

Shooting Star

A sweet little table-top sculpture of shooting stars!

I thought it would be so cool to get photos out with their wild brethren, but the background is just too busy. Feel free to play a where's waldo version of "which one of these is not like the others" 😅

So I brought it indoors for photos, but I think this may be a job for a more traditional photography background.

Photography difficulties aside, Larkin pulled off a pretty amazing duplication! The leaves have the thick, almost waxy look of the originals, and the blossoms hang just right from their long, slender stems. Solid sterling silver.

Evolution Of A Leaf

Can you tell what plant Larkin is re-creating? Hint: you saw the bloom last week. ;)

First, Larkin cuts the shape out of sheet silver.

Then they scored a line down the center and emphasized it with a chisel so it has a slight center fold.

Larkin then rounded the shape out with a ball peen hammer on a wood block.

Finally, the edges are rounded and given their final shape and the whole thing is hand polished, especially any remaining chisel marks.

Solder On

Even when things seem quiet here, Larkin is working hard behind the scenes! They use tiny bits of solder in almost all their work, and this morning they ran out of pre-made bits.

Solder comes in wires or sheets, and Larkin likes the sheets because the tiny pieces turn out square and don't run away across their work surface. First, they cut the sheet into ribbons-- it curls while it cuts!

Then the curls get straightened out and Larkin cuts the ribbons in the opposite direction to get the tiny little chips they need.

Harbingers of Spring!

Anyone who has lived in the Pacific Northwest is familiar with these brilliant purple shooting stars that carpet the forest floor in early spring!

Larkin meticulously hand-crafted these metal blooms from solid sterling silver, each as unique as their wild counterpart. They have been oxidized and polished, and Larkin polished the bottom ring just below the petals by hand to mirror that brighter band of yellow on the flower.

Wild shooting stars hang straight down from their stem, and these metal blossoms mimic that habit from the wearer’s earlobe. The petals are more delicate than most of Larkin's work! These earrings are best worn with short hair, or long hair that has been tied back to avoid tangling and pulling.

No two flowers or pairs will match perfectly— that is part of their charm!

Finding First Tuesday

Did you know Larkin makes their own findings to be sure everything is high quality and matching materials? Turning wire into jump rings is pretty cool!

Hey-- tomorrow is first Tuesday! Larkin will be at the Ashland Armory with the Rogue Valley Growers and Crafters Market from 8:30 am - 1:30 pm, rain or snow (or sleet or sun)-- happy April!

Holy Barnacles, Batman!

Larkin sculpts each of these barnacles from sterling silver and painstakingly solders them to a hand-crafted disk and earring post.

Just like their natural counterparts, Larkin lets these barnacles have a say in exactly where they land! No pair will match perfectly or be identical to any other pair, and that is part of their charm.

Each stud is 1.0 cm in diameter on a 20 gauge earring post.

Pickle Pots

Hi everyone! If you've been following my work for long you probably know that my mum, Jenny, usually writes posts while I follow along, but I wanted to switch things up and write one myself!

One of my favorite things about having an increasingly well-equipped studio is that often when there's a weirdly specific/difficult-to-find tool I want I can make it myself. And these are the most useful, and unexpectedly beautiful, example of that to date!

These are little colanders I made to pickle small components without needing to fish them out individually. The handle is just long enough to stick up out of the pickle, and they can stand on their own so they don't tip and send everything flying. 😅

The copper one was my prototype, but it started to contaminate my pickle so I made a second in silver. They're now something I use daily, and a happy little reminder that when I come up with something that would make my life easier I don't always have to jump to a tool catalog! 😉

Moss Agate Porthole

🎵🎶 "I'd like to be
Under the sea
In an octopus's garden
With you" 🎶🎵

This round agate cabochon looks like a dreamy underwater scene, and Larkin crafted its silver frame to suit it perfectly! The bezel set porthole is circled by silver rivets, two clusters of tiny hand-fabricated barnacles, and a sweet sculpted sea star with two legs that wrap around to the back of the piece.

Once again, the back of Larkin's work is not to be out-done by the front! On the back, the tips of the sea star tentacles and the backs of the rivets surround a cluster of kelp waving in the current.

When backlit, the kelp blades show through the translucent agate window.

These pieces take a phenomenal amount of time! Every element is hand-made from sterling wire and sheet metal then attached individually-- and every step of the fabrication process and each attachment point is an opportunity for Larkin's torch to get just a little too close to the metal for slightly too long, causing everything to slump into an amorphous blob. These blobs are spectacularly morphous! 🤣

Agate Potion Bottle

This is why Larkin likes cutting their own cabs-- you can't find this shape ready-made!

Larkin shaped this charming potion bottle around a unique agate stone. The red and “sandy” looking areas are sparkling druzy pockets. The top of the stone is left rough to showcase that druzy and make it appear that the contents of the vial are roiling.

Some areas of the stone are quite translucent when backlit.

Larkin hand-shaped a fully three dimensional sterling cork atop the piece, with a hole drilled to attach the bail. The back features swirling spirals rising toward the surface.

A truly magical talisman!

Lapidary Play

Larkin's lapidary work for the day! These were all cut with specific final designs in mind and hopefully we'll be seeing some of them later this week. :) Left to right: moss agate, petrified wood, mystery stone from a rock show... some kind of jasper/agate mixture.