Idle Talons

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Petrified Wood Doorway

fun, musings, process, productLarkin HamiltonComment

Larkin has a series of these magical portals on the go, and the first is done!

This petrified wood doorway was cut from a stone found by our family near our home in southern Oregon. Petrified wood is so fun-- you never know what you might find when you cut into a piece! The stone and slab in the photos are part of the same piece of petrified wood as this finished cabochon.

We think the distinctive curly markings in this wood's grain were formed due to compression during mineralization. Here, I've circled a small vein of remarkably clear agate at the base of the cabochon.

Larkin's frame on this piece has a distinctly Tolkien-esque vibe, bringing to mind the wood elves of Mirkwood! Hand shaped leafing vines, a cluster of mushrooms, and the tree on the back are topped off with a matching custom bail. The silver is polished and sooooo shiny!

New Cabs

fun, musings, processLarkin HamiltonComment

Larkin was looking to stone for inspiration this morning and got these cut and polished before the heat of the day. The white background is indoor lighting to get a better look at the patterns in the stones, while the outdoor lighting shot shows their color and shininess a bit better. The two reddish cabs are moss agate-- the arch has some amazing druzy pockets. The hanging water droplet is applegate jade/bowenite with a really interesting seam filled with a shiny chatoyant mineral across one corner. The other two are serpentine with some pretty amazing colors and patterns.

Looks like we have some magic portals to look forward to!

More Ivy Goodness!

fun, musings, process, productLarkin HamiltonComment

Larkin forms the base of these gleaming earrings from a rectangle of hefty 20 gauge sheet metal, hammered to appear like a brick or stone base for the vining ivy. They then painstakingly texture, hand cut, vein and shape each leaf from silver. Each earring is topped with a hand-shaped 20 gauge silver ear wire.

The copper background is untreated and can be kept polished bright or allowed to develop a natural patina. The silver has been oxidized to highlight texture, then hand polished.

Each earring measures about 3.5 cm from the top of the ear wire to the tip of the lowest ivy leaf and and just over 1 cm at its widest point.

Ivy is often thought to symbolize strength (if you've ever tried to discourage ivy, you know why!), fidelity (it gets very attached!), and vitality. Bottom line: you can display your mettle with this gorgeously shaped metal. ;)

A Shiny Ring... And A Guarantee!

musings, fun, process, productLarkin HamiltonComment

This shiny new moon ring is flying off to Michigan tomorrow to be part of someone’s 40th birthday celebration!

In other news, Larkin has added a sort of handshake-guarantee to their work! This is what they added to the Jewelry Care page:

My goal is to make beautiful, sturdy jewelry that will last a lifetime! Please contact me if you have any issues during normal daily wear.

I am happy to help maintain all Idle Talons work after it has been sold! Please contact me if you would like a something professionally cleaned and polished. Price will depend on the job— ranging from the price of postage for wire-only pieces, to a bit more for stone settings.

Sometimes tragedy strikes! If you accidentally slam your favorite pendant in a car door, or a pair of earrings gets bent out of shape when they were mistakenly put through the laundry cycle, contact me! Again, price will vary depending on the job, but I may be able to repair the damage. Include a picture of the piece in question so I can get a good idea of what might be required.

And if you lose a single earring? I will absolutely make you another single to match the remainder for half the price of a pair!

I truly want every customer to be happy with their purchase, so please don’t hesitate to contact me at idle.talons@gmail.com if you have any questions or concerns!

Superhero Poser

fun, musings, productLarkin HamiltonComment

I realize I buried the lead on yesterday's post-- if you missed it and like seeing the process that goes into Larkin's work, check it out! If you don't want to wade through 20+ photos to the finished piece, these are for you. ;) Larkin's uncle thought it would make a fantastic superhero emblem. He's not wrong! (That's Larkin hiding behind him trying to position the piece in the proper superhero position🤣)

Winged Sunburst

fun, musings, process, productLarkin HamiltonComment

I am still at the coast, avoiding the heat wave currently blasting the Idle Talons home studio, but Larkin has been sending me progress photos so I don't feel quite so out of touch. I thought y'all might enjoy a start-to-finish glimpse into what goes into one of Larkin's pieces as much as I do!

Spoiler: Larkin was going for dragon-worshipping-the-sun vibes.

First step after coming up with a concept: deciding on size! Larkin cut some wing templates out of cardboard to help with the decision.

The middle size seems Just Right. Bonus glimpse of grubby teen jeweler paws.

Another cardboard template, this time a sunburst!

For this kind of detailed work, Larkin cuts the template out of sticker paper so it can be applied to the metal and used as a cutting guide. Here you can also see all the pilot holes they drilled through the metal so their saw has a starting point.

40 minutes of painstaking cutting later, and the sunburst is all cut out!

Hand polishing/grinding gets all the little burrs and sharp spots out of the cut-out so its edges are rounded and smooth.

Last check with templates before committing silver!

Silver wings! Cut out and textured.

Adding spines to the wings. Every little connection point and detail is another opportunity for the torch to cause the metal to slump which would require starting the whole process over.

Details are starting to come together!

This piece got a full rainbow finish after first heat!

The back of a wing after torchwork. The scorching is such a neat effect-- it's too bad it won't stand up to smoothing/polishing.

Veining is all done-- now for more details!

The tip of each "finger" gets a hand-sculpted talon. You can see the top one is the only complete one in this photo.

Talons and tails are cut, shaped, and ready for soldering!

Copper sunburst, talons and tails are all in place. Just need to add some attachment points for a cord on the back.

Pickled (Larkin uses a hot citric acid bath) and cleaned/tumbled to remove the torch scorch. A bit of hand-polishing and it will be done!

Taaaaaadaaaaaaah!

A quarter for scale and cord attached through hidden bails to show how it will hang!

Cat Tail Earrings

fun, musings, process, productLarkin HamiltonComment

Cat tail earrings! Larkin really captured the essence of the plant with these hand-sculpted beauties! Available with either a silver or copper teardrop frame; silver is polished bright, copper is oxidized then Larkin hand-polishes the silver cat tails back to bright. No two are exactly identical, but they are all identically lovely! 😉

Posts may be a little slow because our family is split between two different states this month! Larkin and Emile are home where they can work while Jenny and Finn ran off to the coast to enjoy some cooler weather and time with grandparents. What does this have to do with Idle Talons? Well, I (Jenny) usually photograph and post Larkin's work so we are working out some kinks and delays!

Applegate Jade Night Magic

fun, musings, process, productLarkin HamiltonComment

I was telling Larkin that their recent work has very wonderful witchy vibes. Lo and behold, at last weekend's market someone bought FIVE (!!) wraps... for their coven!

This latest applegate jade (bowenite) piece definitely has a similar feel. Larkin wove the base of the frame from copper, while the tree and ivy leaves are hand-sculpted from argentium silver. The whole piece was oxidized, then Larkin hand-polished the silver back to bright.

Larkin always complains about the "messy" finish on tree backs, but all those wires have to end somewhere!

This piece truly feels like a portal into a magical world! Measures 4.5 cm long and 3.8 cm at its widest point.

Wild Rose Studs

fun, musings, process, productLarkin HamiltonComment

Larkin has now made these sweet little wild roses in both silver and copper. And just in time... the roses here are in full, glorious bloom!

In the group photos, the copper has been un-polished for about a month and developed a natural patina. In the solo photo, the copper is straight out of the polisher. I think I prefer the patina, how about you?

First Tuesday!

fun, musings, process, product, venuesLarkin HamiltonComment

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

musings, process, product, funLarkin HamiltonComment

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

fun, musings, process, productLarkin HamiltonComment

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

fun, process, productLarkin HamiltonComment

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

Silver Vine With Stone Ring

fun, process, productLarkin HamiltonComment

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...

fun, musings, processLarkin HamiltonComment

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!