Category: Iron & Metalwork
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Iron Magic
A couple of weeks ago I took a custom order from Nicholas Breeze Wood, publisher of Sacred Hoop, the British quarterly magazine on shamanism. He wanted Siberian-type forged iron shaman’s ornaments: cone bells (traditional style, not the curly ones that I usually make), a miniature sword, and a miniature bow with arrows. I hadn’t thought about…
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Drilled Pebbles
The Tucson gem shows are in town. Years ago, this annual event was a total-immersion experience for me – a mad week of looking, visiting, buying, selling, trading, and discovery that inspired me for the rest of the year. But the shows have changed, though there are still tons of minerals and gems to delight…
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What to do with a Gold Nugget?
“I guess I need to start using some of my good material.” A quote from the late Whittaker Freegard, master gem carver and one of my closest artist friends until his death in 2006. He created some of his most ambitious and beautiful stone flutes after he survived a massive heart attack that left him…
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Pod Knife with Silver Cone
My newest fish pod knife is all steel, with a single hot-forged silver cone and an antique African iron bead on the black steel wire chain. Total length (including the chain and cone) is 8 inches. The knife itself has 1.5 inches of usable blade. One side of the blade is decorated with tiny dots…
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New Camera and Cat Photos
My camera is wearing out – I guess eight years old is ancient for a digital point-and-shoot – so we recently upgraded to a digital SLR. We’ve been taking photos of landscapes and cats while eagerly awaiting the new macro lens for closeup pictures. The color is amazingly accurate. For this pendant that I finished yesterday,…
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All Souls Procession Costume
We walked in the Tucson All Souls Procession on Sunday night. We put our items in the urn but did not stay for the finale, which is almost impossible to see unless you’re on the front row of the crowd, and there is at least an hour’s wait for it after the procession while the…
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Spirit Canoe and Creekwalking
Spirit Canoe is the fourth Spirit Boat that have made. The other three have all been given to friends who recently lost someone close to them. The boats resemble coralbean pods and represent the soul’s final journey across the Oldest River (also called the Narrow Sea and many other names). This one (photographed unfinished and still covered in firescale)…
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Copper Pod Knife with Amber
This folding knife was made on commission. It is the same design as my pod knives except that the “pod” or blade keeper is made from recycled copper tubing, slit and polished, flared at the end, and given a slight decorative hammer texture. The knife (blade and pod) is 3.5″ long. The rivet is sterling silver. The…
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Tiny Cat Claw Knife
New today: Tiny cat claw knife amulet with sterling silver wire and antique African iron bead. Total length of the pendant is just over 2 inches. Very nice on the leather cord as a choker; also looks good on woven hemp cord.
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Copper Cat Mask
Just finished this hammered copper cat mask as I begin to prepare for Tucson’s All Souls Procession on November 2. This procession to honor the dead is an annual event that grows bigger and livelier each year, with a mood somewhere between Mardi Gras and Burning Man. There are hundreds of people walking (many dressed in skeleton costumes),…
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