Wire currents

This one is kind of a throwback Thursday, with an update!

One of Larkin's market-free winter goals is to re-evaluate older designs, decide which they still want to carry, and stock up for the next market season.

We called these "wire currents" when Larkin first designed them several years ago-- they remind us of swirly river currents or wisps of smoke. Larkin still likes them, but thought they needed a little updating.

Everywhere the wires touch are now reinforced with solder, and the ends that had been cut wire previously are balled for a slightly more "finished" look. The feel is very much the same, but Larkin is pleased with the updates and feels like the result is a sturdier design. For the sake of completeness, this picture with the spring flowers🌼🌞 is the older version:

It's always fun seeing piles of treasures when Larkin is doing batchwork. :)

Jellyfish Swarm

More stone-belled jellyfish! All of these pretties have hand cut cabochon bells except for the ones featuring Oregon sunstone which have tumbled stones-- we weren't sure how we would like the look, but it turns out they're pretty perfectly diaphanous just like their wild counterparts.

I'll be playing catch up with posts in the next couple of weeks-- Larkin has been hard at work, but for various reasons (holidays, illness, surprise kitten rehabilitation) I haven't been keeping their page up to date. Sometimes it's not ideal when your Master Of (social media) Marketing (MOM) is also your all-too-human mom. ;)

On Shopping Small

Larkin's next market is this weekend at the Talent Elementary School! Talent Artisans & Growers curates a super sweet market with lots of amazing artists.

Having a kid embarking on this wild world of artisan craftsmanship has really brought home how important it is to support small businesses. Larkin is 18 now. These next few years will determine whether Larkin has a career or a hobby in lapidary and metalworking-- I know their creativity has positively exploded with the unfettered time and passion they've poured into their work in the last few years.

Supporting artisan businesses is supporting individual dreams, bringing a little more beauty into our world, and investing in local economy.

No more hard sell. 😉 We won't be jumping on all the seasonal buzzword sale days-- Larkin is too busy creating! Thank you for being here. Know that your comments, shares, and purchases never fail to light up Larkin's face. Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating this week!

Oak Leaf Clothing Pins

Larkin has been playing with oak leaf designs and made a small batch of these which are slightly quicker to make than their previous designs.

Larkin shaped these silver and copper oak leaf clothing pins using leaves from the forest floor around our southern Oregon home as models. Some contain bug bites or are slightly oddly formed— each is unique, just like their organic counterparts!

Both copper and silver leaf backs are finished with a hand-shaped silver pin fastener, so they can be worn on any fabric. These could adorn a favorite hat, shoulder bag, jacket lapel, t-shirt, anything! Larkin also modified their fasteners slightly-- these all have twisted wire pins, making them more rigid than ever.

RoxyAnn Winery Holiday Market

Larkin's first holiday market of the season is this weekend. Open 10-5 each day, RoxyAnn Winery throws a mean holiday party! Lots of local makers will be there, plus food and beverage trucks... plus, of course, wine. This is a wonderful, fun opportunity to support small businesses this season. 🍷🎁🎀⛄️🎅

Silver Cat Tail Hair Clip

I know I shouldn't keep saying this, but... I have a new favorite hair clip!😅 I've waxed poetic before about how functional, comfortable, and lovely this style of clip is, but Larkin's designs just keep getting better. 💞

Larkin fabricated this two-piece clip from solid sterling, using just a bit of copper to really make the cattail heads pop. Both pieces are slightly bent so the clasp lays flat against the head and is comfortable even when leaning back against a head-rest.

They are designed to be placed with the concave faces together, then the stick is twisted 180 degrees to tighten the clasp and fasten the decoration securely in the hair. The frame is hammered, work-hardening the silver so the fit will remain snug over time. The pin has been rolled through a mill to achieve the same result.

This size is pretty versatile, and suitable for most hair textures and types (even if you have the kind of straight, silky hair that this style of clip usually slips out of!). If your hair is especially thin you may want to use this in conjunction with an additional hair tie. If your hair is super thick it may tie back only part of your hair.

Larkin says this design is repeatable, and I'm hoping one makes an appearance under our solstice tree this year. ;)

Chakra Crystal Vine

A regular brought Larkin this "chakra crystal" (7 different stones glued together and polished into the shape of a crystal) that had originally come with a glue-on bail. The bail had fallen off and they requested Larkin come up with a cage design that would hold it more securely.

Not one for simple cages, Larkin wrapped it in a silver leafing vine that holds the stone firmly in place and topped it with a secure bail. Et Voila!

In other news, tomorrow is Larkin's last Rogue Valley Growers & Crafters Market of the season! They will have many new items there that we haven't had a chance to photograph and list yet, so come on by for first pick of some of this season's pretties!

Pumpkin Toss-Back Thursday

It’s kinda like a throwback. ;) A reminder of a little more seasonal fun from years past! Larkin designed this sweet little pumpkin charm in the fall of 2020, when we were all trying to figure out what Halloween would look like mid-pandemic. These perfectly plump pumpkins feature textured stems and curly vine tendrils.

Larkin would be happy to recreate this design-- in copper or silver-- if anyone just has to have one. ;)

Lily Pads-- Three Ways!

Larkin has designed these shiny, mirror-like, difficult to photograph (😅) lily pads in three styles!

The hair pin is slightly smaller than a bobby pin and meant to be added to a hair tie or style, more for decoration than function. Very versatile, it can also be worn with any knit, crocheted, or loose-woven garment as a clothing pin!

The clothing pin has a hand-shaped pin and hook closure on the back and can be used with any fine garment.

The necklace comes on sterling chain with a hand-made clasp.

Oak Seedling Sculpture

Zoinks, y'all. Larkin's latest sculpture is a doozy.

Larkin modeled this oak seedling from real sprouts and leaves from the forest floor every step of the way! Leaves reflect the asymmetries, insect nibbles, and general chaos of nature.

Larkin centered the base around a copper acorn that has lost its cap and is sprouting a slender silver seedling. The acorn is surrounded and supported by hand-shaped copper leaves, still sporting the bright colors and dull finish of the final torch-work.

Larkin snapped a quick photo showing most of the leaves with their real-life models, before they were soldered together to form the base.

The seedling itself is brightly polished sterling silver, rising sturdy but tremulous on a slim stem. When the surface it rests on is bumped, the leaves shiver fetchingly as if captured in a brisk breeze. You have to look pretty closely to catch all the details Larkin incorporated into the sprout, from future growing tips to the way the leaves organically split from the stem.

If you have never closely examined an oak seedling, you may not realize that their first three leaves have a very different shape than their mature leaves. Seeing the contrast in this piece of the mature copper leaves beneath with the shiny new silver growth above is extremely striking… some would even say transcendent. (okay, "some" is Larkin's grandpa 🤣)

What a beauty!

Little Brown Mushroom Trio Pendant

Larkin hand-fabricated each of these sweet little mushrooms from sterling silver and affixed them to a manually twisted wire frame.

These papillated pretties pop up pretty much everywhere conducive to mushroom growth! (Papillated = fancy science talk for looking like they have a nipple on their heads 🤣)

Larkin couldn't decide if a cord or chain suited this design better, so is making it dealer's choice.

Happy October!

As holiday markets approach, Larkin is wanting to re-stock so as many of their designs as possible are available. It had been a long time since we went through the Idle Talons website and compared it to Larkin's current stock!

So... we made a list. A very long list. And Larkin has been hard at work. You never know what you'll find on Larkin's workbench. Most of the items pictured here are bits and pieces of (or completed) items off the list. But I also spy some silver lichen-- who knew?!

And tomorrow is already first Tuesday! Come see Larkin and pick up some fresh veggies at the Rogue Valley Growers & Crafters Market, tomorrow at the Ashland Armory from 8:30 am - 1:30 pm!

Dragonfly Swarm

Larkin has been swarmed by dragonflies! It was time to re-stock these hair/clothing pins. They're so much fun on cold weather hats and scarves... and we're ready for some cold weather!

Cascading Ivy Necklace

Larkin has been wanting to offer some more petite charms on silver chain, and this offering took some serious research and time! Last time Larkin placed a silver order, they ordered several lengths of chain in various gauges. They wanted something dainty enough not to overwhelm a small charm, but sturdy enough they would be confident it wouldn't break easily with regular wear.

Then Larkin needed to design a clasp that was not onerously difficult to make, and equally easy to fasten and unfasten without coming undone during wear. Then came the wear testing, for which Larkin recruited family and friends-- any necklace that withstands several days of construction work and overnights on a restless sleeper has been pretty thoroughly vetted!

Sounds good, right? Almost! Larkin wanted these pieces hung on the chain *before* adding the clasps so the charm can't slide off the end of the necklace. So the finished piece needs to be polished chain and all, a recipe for tangled disaster in the tumbling jewelry polisher... especially if you're wanting to polish a batch of 5-10 at a time! Using a spool that had come with wire on it, Larkin rigged up a set-up for loosely spooling finished necklaces that would fit in the tumbling polisher and keep the chain from tangling hopelessly.

Which leads us (finally!) here! The base of these petite gleaming pendants is a rectangle Larkin cut from sheet metal, hammered to appear like a brick or stone base for the vining ivy. Larkin hand cut, veined and shaped each ivy leaf from silver and affixed the vine and leaves to the base. They add the chain and clasp, give the whole thing a final polish, and ta-dah!

Quartz Jellyfish

Larkin biggered their jellyfish design into a decorative hanging!

Larkin shaped and polished the quartz hood of this jellyfish from a raw stone found on our family’s hillside in southern Oregon-- the stone can spin on the sculpture to face any direction. Larkin shaped tentacles from sheet metal and round wire, similar to their jewelry pieces, then rolled and twisted some round wire to add texture in this larger format.

This piece shines beautifully displayed in a window and comes with bubbly loops on top to make hanging easy. Banana hangers actually make wonderful displays for this kind of hanging sculpture (candle lanterns and amigurumi octopus pal entirely optional 😁)!

Question: if you purchased this sort of decoration, would you expect it to come with some sort of string and/or hook hanger, or just with the loops that make it easy to hang however you wish? Larkin's parents <ahem> have opposite feelings about expectations here... help a kid out! ;)

To Tarnish Or Not To Tarnish...

Larkin uses sterling silver, which we all know requires some upkeep if it's going to stay polished bright and shiny. But... what if you don't wanna polish it?! I'm honestly undecided about which version of these earrings I like better!

The first picture was taken in full sun, the second in shade. Both pairs of earrings were made and polished
at the same time several months ago; the top have been stored in an airtight container while the bottom
have been out and handled regularly. Silver tarnishes such beautiful colors! The bottom pair is still shiny and gleaming, but in a more... gothy way. 😅 Do you have a favorite?

Jasper Oak In Autumn

High temperatures are still in the 90s here, so summer isn't done with us yet, but Larkin's latest piece foretells Autumn's arrival!

The realistically rough and knobbly silver tree trunk contrasts beautifully with each unique, handmade oak leaf and the smooth, polished silver that completes the frame.

But this pendant has a dark side! While the front features the familiar oaks that comprise most of the forest around our southern Oregon home, Larkin added our least favorite lurker in the forest’s understory to the back: poison oak! The two oaks are only related in name, but they are fitting representatives of the beauty and danger in nature.

The striking black and red stone was found by our family in Humboldt County, California. We suspect it is mostly made up of red jasper in an unknown black conglomerate. The stone is slightly porous so the cabochon's surface does not have a perfect, mirror polish— small imperfections can be seen when light reflects off the stone at certain angles.

Larkin's lapidary work often fades into the background (literally!) once they set a stone into a final piece, but check out this picture of the exposed side of this cabochon!

That is a remarkably even girdle (the vertical section at the edges of a cab, before the top starts to dome), and you can just see it starting to taper towards the bottom corner. Larkin's cabs may not be as flashy as purchased stone (it's important to them that their work does not support questionable mining practices, so they use almost entirely stones found by our family and friends), but mass-produced cabs can't compete with the quality of Larkin's stonework!

Time Management

This time of year Larkin struggles a bit with dividing their time between fun, new designs and stocking up everything that sells out at in-person markets (it's a good kind of problem to have, we know!).

I didn't want to go out into the hazardous smoke for photos, but here's a blurry little shot of a piece Larkin is currently working on between re-stock work. I'm pretty excited to see it done!

And I included a few photos of some of the pretties Larkin has been shipping out recently, just for funsies.

Markets, Smoke, and Samaras

Tonight's Talent Artisans & Growers Market has been cancelled due to such poor air quality. 😔 We are hoping for improvement in time for next month's first Tuesday @Rogue Valley Growers & Crafters Market in Ashland!

Larkin has been re-stocking these wonderfully whimsical whirligigs... er, samaras. 😅 The first step is cutting the... wings? Leaves? Membranes? out of sheet metal, leaving behind some delightfully curled trimmings.

Then Larkin whacks the bejeezus out of them (tink tink tink all through the house for HOURS) to give them their unique texture and wooble.

Larkin then solders them to the seed framework and spines, oxidizes them, partially polishes by hand, and finally finishes the polish in a rotary polisher with stainless steel medium.

Larkin has been making these as clothing pins as well as necklaces, and is hoping to come up with a more double-sided finished product to use as a free-twirling earring design.

Sparkling Vine Rings

This is a design Larkin prototyped quite awhile ago, then recently made a batch with some final tweaks and more gemstone color options.

Someday, Larkin would love to make their own faceted gems from local stones, but that is an investment and learning project for another time! Until then, Larkin has chosen to work with lab-created gems so as not to support questionable mining and stone cutting practices. This design is available with lab-created garnet or four shades of cubic zirconia.

Larkin has rolled the ring bands to create a comfort band curve against the skin and a square face on the outside. The curling vine does not extend all the way around the ring, leaving the band smooth and untextured between the fingers.

Bonus picture of a row of leafy vines before they were attached to rings!