Kuriosities

Just finished this piece for a client from Detroit. The “D” is the Detroit “D”, etched into sterling silver, to represent the Detroit music scene, and its importance to the wearer. There is a tiny garnet in the record player arm, which is her birthstone. I also added three tiny garnets to the clasp (again, her birthstone), to dangle delicately at the nape of neck, as an extra detail – and also to tie in some White Stripes symbolism, she’s a huge fan,  (red, and 3) into the piece.

Custom record player pendants are $65 for a copper backing, $75 for sterling silver. Handstamping engraving is included, custom etching of images or special fonts +$20. How do you get one for yourself? Just email me! kimberly@kuriosities.com.
 

I stayed up late last night making this piece…the little faceted labradorite stones were telling me that they needed to be used in something, so I had to listen.

I have been thinking a lot about Hope lately, and how beautiful and horrible it is at the same time. How fragile it is, and how we cling to it. How sometimes that helps us, and other times it leads us astray. How we all have that need to believe inside us – that vulnerable longing for something.

This pendant is tiny – only 13mm in diameter (0.5″). I stamped it with the word “please” in a script font, so it looks italicised. I wanted it to be a whisper, a fragile, vulnerable thing.

The stone is a faceted labradorite, my current stone obsession – which is a wishing stone, fabled to bring you what you ask it. The pendant is slightly cupped to hold the wish, and has been hammered and beaten slightly to give depth and age. The whole has been oxidised and then buffed to a shine. It is strung on a choker length leather thong, so it sits in the hollow of the throat, where voice begins, and emotions swells.

Plea

Corvus VI
#6 in the series ” A Storytelling of Crows”

“Six is a Thief”

Crow is known throughout different mythologies as both a Trickster and a Thief, two archetypes that intrigue me to no end. He is drawn to all that is bright and shiny, and as I take my pieces out of doors to photograph, you can often see him plotting his thievery from the treetops. He hops from branch to branch, pretending not to be up to devious behaviour, but there is a certain glint in the coal black eye that too quickly looks away.

What is Crow up to this time? He appears to be trying to make off with a bauble of some sort. Is he swooping down to catch it up in his claws, or has it slipped free of his clutches and falling? I wonder if somebody left it out there for him to find, or if he has been watching quietly and swooped in at just the right moment? And what will Crow do with it if he succeeds? Would he cosset this new bauble, keep it safely and shine it up, or discard it for something new? Who really knows the way of Crow?

Hand pierced (sawn) sterling silver plate, bezel set in a sterling silver frame whose back has been hammered to lend Crow texture, and oxidized a sooty black. A rose quartz cab (the bauble) has been set between the plates. Two iolite crystals adorn the bail, a symbolic continuation throughout the crow series. The heavy sterling rolo chain has been oxidized and antiqued, finished with an s-clasp.

Fable ~K. de Montbrun

recumbent upon the river,
upon the ice, she wills it
swept by drifting
snow, blankets to winter
the arching back, the tender
flesh of throat, the burning
pulse, below the surface
the river courses deep
trembles, hairline cracks
shiver the surface raise
gooseflesh, tiny mountains
rising, rising, the deliberate
intake of breath, the slow fall

how long has she been
here? wolves circle
cautious, scent decline,
tentative pulse, eager,
hungry, so hungry. harsh
winter, and aching pit
of stomach, need to be filled
to devour, what is offered,
what is not, it does not matter
hunger does not question
why, when. they circle, circle
dreaming, ice quivers
underclaw.

the river courses oblivious
rushing only to meet the sea
it does not feel the girl
rounded flesh pressed
against its harsh shell
does not permit her entry
takes no notice of
orbiting wolves, salivating
jowls, starved eyes
burning new constellations
already consuming, rending
piece from tender piece. it cannot
hear what she is thinking

come wolfie, come close
closer now, closer now

So where are all of the jewelry photos and stories, you ask? A busy holiday season has kept my hands occupied with the making of many things. I have many photos that I will be posting over the next little while, and stories for the pieces to tell. Tomorrow I will post a series of photos and a story for #6 in my crow series.