First Tuesday!

Tomorrow is first Tuesday! Larkin will be at the Rogue Valley Growers and Crafters Market in Ashland at their NEW LOCATION! While the armory is being remodeled the market will be held at 1554 Webster St., at the northwest corner of Ashland Street and Walker Avenue. https://ashland.news/rogue-valley-growers-market-moves-to-new-location/

Also, Larkin now has mushroom studs as singles, doubles, and clusters of three! While trying to figure out what to call a group of mushrooms, I found this internet gem from The Mushroom Journal: "Mushrooms that are in a close group but not close enough to be called a cluster are said to be in a troop. Mushrooms in a group that is a bit more scattered and irregular (loose discipline!) are said to be gregarious." Check out these gregarious lovelies!

Petrified Wood Terrarium

Larkin created the stone base of this piece from agatized petrified wood found by our family here in Southern Oregon. They left the top raw to show the look and feel of the original wood and polished the rest of the cabochon to a domed shine. Larkin used a combination of bezel-setting and prong-setting techniques to achieve the desired hanging silver terarrium effect, and left the back open to maximize Cool Wood Visibility.

A cluster of three mushrooms peeks up from behind the stone, and a vine of hand-cut and textured ivy leaves climbs up one side. The pendant dangles freely from the custom mushroom bail (a great feature for jewelry... and a pain in the neck for photography!). The back:

Side note: this picture features a wee fir seedling with its bright green spring growth tips. I like the juxtaposition of the brand new wood with the so-old-it's-petrified wood in the piece.

Throwback Thursday

We haven't been sharing much here lately because Larkin is at that stage in their work cycle where they work on a whole bunch of stuff in parallel and finish everything all at once in a fit of industry (usually right before a market... yep, first Tuesday is coming up!). I'm pretty sure my New Favorite Wrap is almost done and will be shared soon!

Meanwhile, this popped up in my memories just in time for throwback Thursday... Larkin's very first market! This was four years ago today, when Larkin was 13. Pretty much everything here is beadwork, with two little wire pieces serving as harbingers of what was to come. No stonework at all since Larkin did not yet meet the age requirements at our local rock machine shop. They look a little more comfortable at markets these days.

Silver Dragonfly Earrings

Silver dragonflies! These pretties went on a family hike with us yesterday and got some fun new photography backgrounds for their debut.

Larkin textured and hand-cut the wings, shaped the body with the torch and topped them off with swoopy 20 gauge ear wires.

On a (only-tangentially) hike-related note, did you know the only known bigfoot trap is located here in southern Oregon? Bonus photo of Larkin with their younger brother Finn inside the trap, because that's how we roll! 😅

Want to know more about the bigfoot trap? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigfoot_trap

Wild Rose Ring

Larkin is still tweaking this ring design. What do you think? It feels a bit more... industrial? than most of their work. Does it need something more flowy and viney or is something a little different fun?

Silver Vine With Stone Ring

Larkin got a few new kinds of faceted stones to play with ring settings. This is a lavender cubic zirconium set into a silver ring with leafing vines. It's so sparkly! Larkin plans to make the same design with a few different stones.

The silver has been oxidized then mostly re-polished to bright, with the areas of dark behind the vines adding a bit of extra dimensionality.

Pay no attention to the awkward human trying to pretend they're a natural ring model. 😅

Not Rhodonite...

Larkin and Emile we're planning on hunting rhodonite with our local gem and mineral club yesterday, but the trip was changed so they opted to revisit a favorite local spot. They only brought home one rock... But what a rock! This giant petrified wood stump still needs some cleaning up, and may never be cut for jewelry work, but it will have a place of honor in our rock garden!

Rock and Gem Magazine on-line

Hey-- check this out! An excerpt from the Rock & Gem article on Larkin's work has been published on-line!

https://www.rockngem.com/wire-wrapping-jewelry-artist.../

Alien Serpentine

Do *you* want to believe?

Larkin sees a landscape in this blue-grey-green serpentine cabochon that has seen better days, perhaps due to the arrival of little green aliens.

The back is somehow hopeful, with silver stars twinkling through the branches of a tree. The black in the stone contains iron and will attract a magnet!

While it may take awhile for this piece to find its perfect home, we *do* believe that just the right fan of post-apocalyptic alien invasion fine jewelry is out there!

Silver Ivy Ring With Copper Leaves

Larkin made a variation of this silver ivy ring and it's amazing how a slight adjustment in materials and treatment can change the whole feel of a design! The original (right) is all silver and oxidized with the leaves polished back to bright. The new ring (left) has copper leaves for contrast and all the metal is polished bright. I don't know which I like more!

Silver Mushroom Stud Earrings

It was only a matter of time...

Here at Idle Talons, we like to think we've carefully cultivated an audience full of friendly people who find it desirable to appear as if they have fungus growing out of their head. Amiright?

Larkin is busy wrapping up bazaar business this week, but had to to take a break to create these awesome little silver mushroom cluster stud earrings. They are so sweet, and sure to be a conversation starter at all the wild mycologist parties.

Casting An Ingot

Sound off, it won’t improve your experience at all. ;)

This video is Larkin casting a cylindrical silver ingot. They keep every little bit of silver trim and scrap wire, then melt it down to use again. Right now, Larkin mostly turns the ingots into sheet metal or larger gauges of shaped bands for things like rings-- both a big investment if you buy them pre-made.

It's pretty darn neat watching the silver turn red then melt!

Spring Soiree

Today is the last day to get early bird pricing for this upcoming virtual bazaar preview party.

Why might you want to attend the preview party? Many vendors (like Larkin!) make one-of-a-kind products that will be available here first! And, all profits from ticket sales support a great cause. Hope to see you there!

Teaser And The Ivy Leaves

This is totally just a teaser post. Larkin finished this wrap after there was no natural light for good photos, but I am SO excited about it that I couldn't resist posting a sneak peek at what you'll be seeing in full glory tomorrow!

Wire Wrapping Demo

Local folks! Larkin was invited to demonstrate wire wrapping this weekend-- come check out all the purty rocks and say hi! Most of Larkin's designs require a fair bit of torch work these days, but they spent some time prepping torch elements so everything is ready to tie together. It's always fun to get a sneak peek at works in progress!

Bowling Pin Earrings

Here's a fun design that represents the rare confluence of Larkin's two favorite pastimes: jewelry making and bowling!

One of the bowling alley moms has been super supportive of us (as homeschoolers) trying to navigate the sometimes complicated world of high school bowling. Larkin designed these as a thank you for her as she helped us understand which hoops we needed to jump through and, even more importantly, where those hoops are located. 😅

These pins are argentium silver with copper bands around the necks.

Milestones, Website News, More!

Milestones, throwback... Wednesday, website news, a give-away... bear with me y'all!

Larkin is closing in on a milestone number of website orders and thought it would be fun to celebrate the occasion with a give-away! Warning: Larkin is a weird kid so their milestone number is not one of the obvious ones! 🤣 Larkin made this septarian piece at 13, back before they were old enough to cut their own cabs at the rock shop. This is not an original design and if Larkin was going to do it over they would use thicker gauge wire. That said, it's a pretty piece and a fun little chunk of Idle Talons history!

And here's the give-away: when that milestone website order is placed (could be this week, could take a couple of months) this pendant is going to be tucked into that package! So if there's something you've been eyeing it might be time to place an order-- who knows what could arrive at your door! ;)

Speaking of the website, we've made some changes! Larkin removed some older designs (including almost all the beadwork) to focus on the direction and feel of their current work. But don't fret! (🎵You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone!🎶) If something disappeared that you suddenly can't live without, shoot us a message and I bet Larkin will be willing to hook you up.

Rock Shop Fun

Larkin and Emile finally made it back in to the shop at Crater Rock Museum to cut some new finds into slabs! I kinda dig the (mustard) yellow jasper with the bright teal and red streaks, but Larkin isn't sure there's a market for "'70s bowling alley chic." 😅

There is, however, already a suspiciously planet-shaped outline on the red jasper with black markings...

Market Season

So... February always feels like a short month, but when the first Tuesday in March is March 1-- well, let's just say market season took us a bit by surprise this year! 😅 Local folks: Larkin will be back at the Rogue Valley Growers & Crafters Market first Tuesdays at the Ashland Armory... starting tomorrow! New hours this season: 9am-1:30pm. Larkin would love to see you there!

The last few days have been a blur of re-stocking, finding findings, making space on the board for new designs, stamping bags with the Idle Talons logo and lots of other preparations.

I also included a photo of one of Larkin's recent "wind-down" projects, pictured next to that sweet tiny silver lily before it was affixed to a wrap. Meet "Crumb," a baby amigurumi octopus crocheted with a single strand separated from 6-ply embroidery floss. This craft is recommended only for the young of eyes. ;)

Superrock Sunday

While the rest of the world was apparently watching some football game (or maybe it was a concert?), we spent a blissfully secluded Sunday out in the Applegate. I spotted: a rare glimpse of a teen rock gnome in their natural element, a very happy dryad cyclops, a similarly satisfied adult rockhound, and a GORGEOUS sunset. I also included a picture of the road. Why, you ask? That big rock in the middle? It's applegate jade! We left it, because... well, it was road! But it's interesting to see how innocuous and easy to overlook it is in its natural state. Larkin is pretty excited to slab up some of our new finds!