Finally, Vending By Bicycle!

Guest post by Larkin's dad, Emile!

For tomorrow's Rogue Valley Growers and Crafters Saturday Market, Larkin is finally going to realize a longstanding dream: vending by bike! 🚲🎉 They have been an avid pedal power advocate from the beginning, and in a somewhat nostalgic twist the last piece of the puzzle was finally converting the kid-hauling bike trailer from Larkin and Finn's youth (seen here with the car seat strapped on top) into a cargo trailer that could be pulled by Larkin's cargo bike.

We're always looking for inspiration; do you know of other folks vending by bike, here in the valley or elsewhere?

There's a lot of fun call outs for this one. Larkin got this bike from the lovely folks over at @piccadillycycles almost two years ago, and Piccadilly provides bike valet parking at many RVGCM markets (it's lovely, you should try it out!). I've been wanting to learn to weld for forever, and the family got me a very sweet little TIG machine for solstice that I used to weld up a new towing arm and hitch receiver so we could use the cargo bike to pull it. Larkin and I salvaged the wood used in the new trailer decking from some pallets that the ACE Hardware over in Medford gave us, and @bearcreekbicycle kindly gave me the old inner tube out of their recycling bin that I used for the deck lashings.

And of course, our cat Houdini helped Larkin pack the trailer! 😻

[Jenny's note: the first photo is totally staged, when Larkin rides away tomorrow they will be in full reflective gear and securely helmeted... I just didn't want to get up at the crack of dawn to see them off 😅]

A Market Postponed and A Bloomin' Lilac

Larkin is down with a wicked cold and prudently decided to take a rest day tomorrow rather than attending their usual first Tuesday market-- so if you're a @Rogue Valley Growers & Crafters Market regular, they will be there next week rather than tomorrow!

Meanwhile, Spring is seriously sproinging in our neck of the woods, and our lilacs are putting on quite a show this year! I thought it would be a fun time to throwback to that time three years ago when Larkin was a wee bairn of 17 and made their grandma Mary a sterling lilac sprig.

One Oak Leaf, Slightly Used

While it can be fun to recreate prototypically perfect leaves, it *really* lights Larkin up to duplicate all of nature’s glorious chaos!

Larkin modeled this sterling leaf pendant after an oak leaf that was… well, thoroughly aged. The duplicate includes the nibbled lacework holes of the original, and adds the wee eggs of the inchworm perpetrator.

This snapshot of the indomitable vitality of life is, like all of Larkin's work, entirely hand-fabricated from sterling silver.

Also, lest ye be as crass as Larkin's grandpa... they're EGGS, not poop. Also also, we've been referring to this piece as the "om nom leaf" amongst ourselves.

Daffodil Earrings

Larkin designed these unique daffodil earrings so that they occupy the nebulous space half-way between stud earrings and hook earrings! They are designed with the stem as the hook, capturing the distinctive shape of a blooming daffodil.

Larkin was inspired by the daffodils blooming around our house to create these lovelies, but by the time the prototypes were finished our blooms were dry and done. Our local Buy Nothing Group came to the rescue! Thanks to bizarre microclimates, we found neighbors with fresher blossoms who were willing to let a photography goblin crouch in their yard for a few minutes. 😅📸

The stem, petals and pistil are hand-fabricated from sterling silver, while Larkin captured the corona in contrasting copper.

These daffodils are like wearing your own piece of spring! If you zoom in on the pictures with ears, you may notice our subject <cough> Larkin <cough> is also wearing a piece of spring... in the form of garden grime! Happy sink-your-toes-into-the-dirt-season y'all! 🌞🌱

Beachstone Jellyfish

Last time Larkin visited their grandparents at the coast, they were inspired to create these Medusozoa beauties! 🪼🪼

The stones have been shaped and matte polished by the forces of the ocean waves.🌊

The earrings are quartz, and the necklace is an unknown (to us) stone that has the distinctive striped look of many rocks on west coast beaches. There's something kinda poetic about the way Larkin combined these rough, natural goodies with their own slick, stylized silverwork.

Wingnuts, All Around

We always called these whirligigs or helicopter seeds until we learned their official name is samaras. Okay, actually we still often call them whirligigs or helicopter seeds. Technically, they are the winged nut of maple trees... and who doesn't love a wingnut? 🤪🌳🍁

What do you call these whirling, fluttering flora butterfly seeds?

Larkin now makes these as earrings, necklaces, and clothing pins!

Roiling Moss Agate Oceanscape

Did I get your attention with that photo? 😅 Check out how this moss agate glows when it's back-lit! This bodacious beauty was part of the botryoidal booty Larkin and their dad, Emile, brought home with them after digging in the Maury Mountain agate beds in central Oregon.

🎵🎶"I'd like to be, under the sea..."🎶🎵 🐙

Larkin cut this unusually chonky cabochon leaving those lumpy botryoidal bubbles raw to highlight their likeness to the roiling ocean deep. And, of course, they set the stone accordingly. Hand-fabricated sterling tentacles, complete with suckers, hold the stone in place and twirl around the frame to become the bail. The back is finished and braced with kelp blades.

I’m adding this message we sent out on social media here since it explains our recent inactivity here, too.

We know we've been absent the last few months. We live in the U.S. 'Nuff said? Probably, but I'll say a little more. We know the corporations and people who control social media are not being the change we want to see in the world and we have been feeling a little, well, boycotty and generally unsure about our continued presence here. But the truth is that we miss y'all! And Idle Talons (along with so many other small businesses) are not set up to survive without a social media presence.

We're glad to be here with you, and will continue to work for positive change. ✊

Drift Co Re-Stock

Larkin is re-stocking today at The Drift Collective Ashland, including their prototype pair of these samara (the winged nut of the maple) earrings! 🍁

It has been so interesting seeing what Larkin's biggest hits have been in a brick and mortar location-- it's definitely a little different than online and at their in-person markets! Of course, the roly polies still kind of dominate everywhere they go-- more of them are being delivered to the Drift Co today as well. Team isopod for the win! 🎉

Otherwise, it has been hard keeping the copper and silver vining leaf earrings in stock and all of Larkin's mismatched earring designs have been doing very well.

If you're local and haven't checked out Drift Co, you absolutely should! They have so many amazing products, all handmade by local artists-- and believe me, the local artists could really use your support right now! 💕

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.

Rocks! 🪨🪨

Larkin is in the mood to make more pieces with stone so spent some time cutting new cabochons for inspiration! Perfectly polished stones are so hard to photograph. 😅📸

In the above photo, clockwise from top left: teardrop Applegate jade, round Applegate jade, doorway Deschutes jasper, teardrop Humboldt yellow jasper, teardrop Altman creek serpentine, Humboldt dark red jasper, Larkin-says-it's-a-leaf Altman creek serpentine, round Altman creek serpentine. All found by our family except the Deschutes jasper that was gifted to Larkin.

Mama Needs A New Pendant

Hold on to your hats and glasses folks, this is going to be a long one. 😅🎩🕶

A summation if you don't have patience for my verbosity: isn't this spectacular? You can't have it! 😆

Larkin and I have a standing agreement that I'm allowed to keep any one-of-a-kind piece I want. They know me well enough that they never bothered putting hard limits on the offer. 🤣Apparently I'm a bit scared of commitment because you know how many I've kept so far? Zero! There is one I sort of regret letting go. 🤷‍♀️

But this one ticked all of my boxes, and IT'S MINE! ❤️

Before I became a full-time homeschooling parent and (subsequently) on-line slinger of handmade jewelry, I got degrees in chemistry and environmental science. So the round-bottomed flask? Kinda perfect. The texturing Larkin put on the cork blows me away-- who knew solid sterling silver could look so porous and, well, corky?! (Of course, in labs we exclusively used ground glass stoppers, but I'm also a fan of all things fantasy and magical, so no hard feelings! 🧙)

Another sure-fire way to my heart? Slap a tentacle or a dragon eyeball onto something! 🐙🪼🐲 Larkin captured the fluid sinuosity of tentacles so perfectly here, and the detail on each tiny sucker is amazing.

Finally, the stone! This is the last cab from a chert we found on my parent's (Larkin's grandparent's) property in Humboldt, California. It's a stunning stone from a stunning place that our family holds dear to our hearts. The way Larkin created a gentle ocean swell on the surface of the stone and chose to keep some bubbly surface texturing complements the watery theme of the piece perfectly.

The one last-minute disappointment came in the last five minutes of setting the stone into the finished piece-- a small chip fractured from the stone at the bottom edge (I circled it here). The imperfection might make Larkin think twice about selling the piece, but doesn't make me think twice about keeping it. 😉

Look at me; proud new owner of an Idle Talons original! Thank you, Larkin! ❤️

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.

New Product Cards!

Here's an Idle Talons business milestone that probably means more to me (Larkin's mum) than anyone else! 😅 WE GOT PRODUCT CARDS PRINTED!

Until now, I've been printing cards on card stock, ironing them (I know... but our laser printer always made the pages curve!), stamping them, and cutting them out.

These ones are so much better! It's a heavier, more durable card stock, we had contact info printed on the back so they also kind of act as business cards, they have rounded corners... and I didn't make them! 😁 I am still stamping them with the handmade silver dragon logo stamp so they retain a bit of that small handmade business chic. ;)

We won't have all of Larkin's products moved to the new cards in time for (tomorrow's!) First Tuesday Rogue Valley Growers & Crafters Market, but we hope to have an all-new display ready for the next Saturday market!