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Archives for May 2018

Mossflower Collection: Fourth Preview

May 29, 2018 · 3 Comments

Tolkien’s words can be found in nearly every groove and beneath every stone in this year’s “Mossflower Collection.” As I read The Silmarillion and worked on this collection, I was able to watch as my designs leaned into that otherworldly aesthetic.

In reading The Silmarillion, I became especially enchanted with Yavanna, one of the lesser gods of Arda, who walked the land in ever-changing form. Sometimes she looked like a woman dressed in flowing robes of spring green. Other times she took the shape of a tree wherein one could discern that her hair was actually fine willow fronds and her hands were slender branches. In the beginning of the First Age, Yavanna was the power that conjured greenery to cover the land.

And this is the ring I designed specifically for Yavanna’s hand. All spring I have watched her move about Arda alone, forming trees and flowers, the first in the world. Hands with the strength to bend trees and twist branches, and fingers with the gentleness to coax young sprouts up from the earth.

A ring for that hand would need to be sturdy, and so two layers of sterling silver to wrap around the finger. The band resembles a star to reflect the Valar, regal and ancient. And atop the band is a single prehnite gemstone set between two sterling silver pebbles, like those earliest of plants shaped by Yavanna, which must have seem such tiny, fragile things admidst all those rivers and rocks. But that bit of green flourished and swept over the landscape until all was rich and verdant.

A ring for the Vala of the woods.
(Sizes range from US 5 – 10.5)

And then the earrings and necklaces. These pieces were designed with the Two Trees of Valinor on my mind.

After the earth was covered with green, Yavanna withdrew to the undying lands and set to work on her finest creations, the Two Trees named Telperion and Laurelin, which brought the light to the land of Valinor. These two trees waxed and waned throughout the day and night giving forth their own light, each distinct.

“The one had leaves of dark green that beneath were as shining silver, and from each of his countless flowers a dew of silver light was ever falling, and the earth beneath was dappled with the shadows of his fluttering leaves. The other bore leaves of a young green like the new-opened beech; their edges were of glittering gold. Flowers swung upon her branches in clusters of yellow flame, formed each to a glowing horn that spilled a golden rain upon the ground; and from the blossom of that tree there came forth warmth and a great light.”

For these pieces, I chose the most luminous prehnite I could find. I actually contacted my lapidarist and had her custom cut the gemstones for these earrings. I wanted to use very high domed, faceted prehnite to best catch and reflect light, to make the earrings look as though they glowed with their own warm light, like the “young green” light of Laurelin. And below the stones sway tiny leaves. I chose to put the leaves on varying lengths of tiny chain to taper them to look as though the leaves were spilling towards the ground.

And for the necklaces, I sawed out several tiny leaves with a dark leaf print to dangle below smooth green prehnite. I wanted to this necklace to have the movement of fluttering leaves and the shade of Telperion.

These leaves are on tiny, even bits of wire to give the sway more structure and shorter movements, like the short, sturdy movements of a strong, old oak. I wanted to distinguish them from the joyous lilt of the leaves that hang from Laurelin.

For my three Laurelin necklaces, I suspended brass leaves in a tapered fringe to represent the leaves which “spilled a golden rain upon the ground.” And on the backs, I have fixed warm, brass beech leaves.

And so here they are, the pieces most distinctly drawn from The Silmarillion. I can hear whispers of the book in my other pieces, but these are the designs that were approached with the deliberate intention to transmute Tolkien’s creations into metal. This book has so captured me heart and soul for the past several weeks, I knew I needed to preserve this experience in art somehow.

And so, these pieces are for Yavanna, Tolkien’s lady of the forest, and her creations.

I hope to see you at the shop update! All these pieces in this Mossflower preview, as well as in all the others, will be available on Sunday, June 3rd at 7:00 p.m. EST in the Etsy shop.

Cheers!

Filed In: Jewelry / Tagged: art, artisan, artist, artists, books, creative process, forest, inspiration, Jewelry, metalsmith, metalsmithing, moonspinner, nature, springtime

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Recent Posts

  • Be My Valentine
  • Silence Amidst the Owls
  • The Ravens Are Flying In
  • Beren’s Shield Necklaces
  • Mossflower Collection, Pt. I (Fourth Preview)
  • Mossflower Collection, Pt. I (Third Preview)
  • Mossflower Collection, Pt. 1 (Second Preview)
  • Mossflower Collection, Pt. I (First Preview)
  • Just a few more owls…
  • Owls of Feather and Bronzite
  • North Wind Collection
  • A Winter Solstice Collab with Maia Toll
  • November is for Ravens
  • Winter Bee Collection – Part II
  • Winter Bee Collection – Part I
  • Nocturne Collection
  • Honeybee Collection: Last Preview
  • Honeybee Collection: First Preview
  • Light and Citrine
  • Silence, a Beatitude
  • The Building of Potential Energy
  • Thoughts on Art as Business
  • On Tolkien and Trillium
  • Mossflower Collection: Fifth Preview
  • Mossflower Collection: Fourth Preview

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Unless otherwise noted, all images, designs, and writing is property of Michaela Batstone. All rights reserved.

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The surprise collection from yesterday is all sold The surprise collection from yesterday is all sold now, but garnet will return!

I have been collecting garnet, redder hessonites particularly and some almandine, for about four years with the intention of a big collection.

I am a bit like a crow with my gemstones, I find a little handful of beautiful turquoise or agate, and I tuck it away in my gemstone cabinet.

I have another little surprise collection planned for sometime next month. What stones would you like to see in an upcoming collection? Do you have a favorite that I havent worked with yet? One you'd like to see return? I would love to know!
Edit: Sold Out (Just three left! Sizes 6, 9, and Edit: Sold Out

(Just three left! Sizes 6, 9, and 11.)

As I mentioned before, I am hoping to do semi-frequent surprise collections throughout this year to offset the fluster of my scheduled and long-anticipated collection releases. These surprise collections will allow for serendipity to carry my pieces to their intended owners.

For some of the collections, I will give a slight heads-up on the blog, since I know social media algorithms can be really problematic. I will put up a blog post announcing the date and time when the previewed collection will be released.

Other collections will be true surprises, and I will announce on social media the moment they land in my shop.
Surprise! The very first of my surprise collection Surprise! The very first of my surprise collections just landed in the Etsy shop. 

Valentine Rings. 

Sweet, romantic rings featuring natural, faceted hessonite garnets. The January birthstone, and a wonderful representation of love, I think. They range in hue from deep cherry to magenta to brick red. Set in ornate inverted heart bezels with beaded circlets to accent them, romantic and regal.

They are set atop half-round hands for comfort and fit true to size. 
The sizes available will be 6, 6.75, 6.75, 7, 7, 7.5, 8, 8, 8.5, 9, 10.5, 11.
My hands are flying over sharp sterling edges and My hands are flying over sharp sterling edges and a color palette that reflects the world outside my studio windows. I am enthralled by blue this year, and you will be able to find a lot of it in this year’s North Wind Collection. There will be the deep, crackling teal of moss kyanite, magical shimmer of moonstone, the soft liquid blues of aquamarine, and the dusky snow-squalling blues of dendritic agate. Deep winter ice and shadows on snow, all encased within stone.

(Here is a sneak peak at a new necklace design!)

I am oscillating between release times for the North Wind Release, the last week of February or the first week of March. Do you have a preference? I would love to know!
✨A call for ring sizes!✨ With my recurring co ✨A call for ring sizes!✨

With my recurring collections, most designs don’t make an appearance in every iteration. Some designs I only make once, others I revisit every now and again. A few weeks ago I asked which designs you’d like to see return from last year’s North Wind Collection. And I heard a resounding call for Winter Current Rings.

And so, I have scoured every drawer in my gemstone cabinet, and was able to gather the sweetest little bowl of teal kyanites for the rings. Nearly two hundred people raised their hands when I asked who was hoping to claim one during the release, and I am afraid I wont be able to make that many. But I will have a good offering of them! A few dozen with the sweetest, wintery gemstones.

And now, if this is a design you’re hoping to scoop up during the release, let me know in the comments below your ring size! (They fit true to size.) I want to try to have the best spread of ring sizes possible, and I will make the most requested sizes.

I hope you are weathering 2021 comfortably. Perhaps by catching snow squalls and spinning magic out of ice, all while holding a steamy mug of something warm.
❄️ Winter Oak Earrings ❄️ I made a versio ❄️ Winter Oak Earrings ❄️

I made a version of these for my very first Mossflower Collection, featuring a round shape and little prehnite gemstones. My initial vision for these were of sturdy oaks, rough in texture and bold in their size. And those earrings reflected that.

While I smith in the studio, I can look out towards the slender, leafless birches and tremendous trees beyond them, thick and sturdy. And what a thing to see a tree in winter: weathered, bare, still. To run hands along branches slick with ice, touch the coarse bark in its hibernation. But in that same moment to know that they will soon shake the ice off their arms, kick the snow off their toes, and then toss on their green, glowing mantles.

And so, these earrings are for them. The winter version of my Oak Earrings. Emulating the beauty of great, frozen trees, lovely in their roughness and glowing with winter. Earrings for walking through frozen oak glades and filling your pockets with winter.

They are sawn in a marquise shape, seemingly spilling below the ear. The surface is textured, weathered, and oxidized. And at the bottom of each earring, a beautiful kyanite. I have sawn a window behind the stone so these gemstones truly glow below the ear.

So far I have only made this pair of Winter Oak Earrings. I wanted to put out a call so I could get an idea of how many I should make. So if these earrings are calling out to you, and you think you’d like to claim a pair during the release, let me know in the comments below!
Friends! I have decided that I am going to start s Friends! I have decided that I am going to start sprinkling surprise collections throughout the year. Since the long-scheduled shop updates can be a bit hectic and frustrating, I think a few small, surprise ones will allow for serendipity.

I will let everyone know about surprise collections in posts here that will be simultaneous to when the pieces appear in the Etsy shop. Since the algorithm can be a bit of a bother for some people, I will try to put a blog post up the day before. So if you are signed up for the newsletter, you will get a collection preview and the timing of the release slightly in advance. (You can find the signup on my website.)

First surprise collection coming soon!
❄️ February Rings ❄️ The companion design ❄️ February Rings ❄️

The companion design to last year’s January Rings. They will feature shimmering white moonstones and icy aquamarines, varying in surface cut.

Some of the aquamarines are the deep blue of an arctic lake, and others the softest blue, like early morning blue skies above a winterscape. The variations of blues and the different ways in which they shimmer and glow will be so splendid to see all together.

I finished these just as the fresh snow arrived, and I was able to catch a few snow crystals and place them daintily around these gemstones. I tucked a few frosty pebbles around the stones, and set them all atop a heavy-weight half round band. I have lightly textured the surface of the bands to look like a lightly trod footpath over fresh snow.

I am in love with this design, I have been wearing the aquamarine ring all morning, tilting it into the light to look down into its crackling depths. These are truly rings made for queens of winter. Made for holding snow squalls in the palm, and reaching into frozen pools towards the deep undercurrents.  Rings for February.
————————————

The rest of the February Rings are unfinished and waiting for bands, there will be a few dozen made for the collection. If this design is calling to you, let me know in the comments your ring size and whether you prefer shimmering white moonstone or icy aquamarine! (These rings fit a smidge snug as the bands are about 6mm wide, but I think ordering your true size is just fine.)
I am positively thrumming with excitement about my I am positively thrumming with excitement about my upcoming North Wind Collection! I only have a few designs that I will be revisiting from last year (thank you to everyone who weighed in on the polls!), which means my bench is covered in brand new sketches, prototypes, eager piles of gemstones, and tools just itching to be used.

This morning it snowed a fresh blanket, cedars dipping under the weight and the pond all but swallowed up. And it arrived just in time, because I was able to reach my hand out the window and pluck some snow crystals from the air for these February Rings I am making. Shimmering white moonstones and deep, icy aquamarines will be set beside some daintily resting snowflakes and mounds of snow.

Keep an eye out here because I am going to send out a call for ring size requests so I can know how many to make for all you snow queens and winter walkers.
Goodness it is dark these days! I am so thankful f Goodness it is dark these days! I am so thankful for the solstice, what a relief to be walking into light. I have been steadily tinkering away on a beautiful North Wind offering for you, often in near complete darkness. The shadows of winter will be tucked under all the stones, nestled around mounds of sterling snow, above drippy icicles, and around gently resting snowflakes. A winter collection infused with the longest night feels perfectly fitting, does it not?

I recently put up a few polls on the type of jewelry you are most hoping to catch in the North Wind Collection. Looks like you dear souls are looking forward to rings and earrings, of which there will be a bounty!

If you have something specific you would love to see, let me know below!

I am going to be posting photos of the first new designs soon, and I hope to hear from you so I can get an idea of how many to make of each. So keep an eye here so you can raise your hand when you see the design that makes your winter-loving heart sing. 💙❄️
Celebrating the winter solstice with a batch of th Celebrating the winter solstice with a batch of the loveliest rutilated quart held in diffused, snowy light, like a handful of ice and frozen twigs.

The North Wind Collection is taking shape on my bench!
Today is my anniversary with my sweet fella. We ha Today is my anniversary with my sweet fella. We have been together for 15 years, and friends for longer. How lucky I was to find him, someone who is deeply compassionate and generous, brave and kind. Bold enough to walk his own winding path, as well as mine, both unconventional in a lot of ways. He encourages me in absolutely every idea and dream, even the slightly bananas ones, like those that involve sailing around the world someday in a boat named after the Palantiri. He is unceasingly curious, filling every moment with art and adventure. There are few facets of life and the world that he does not want to experience. One moment he is excitedly learning about fly fishing in Japan with tenkera rods, the next baking the most delicious rosemary salt bagels, the next reading poetry by Hanif Abdurraqib, and the next building his own boxes for beelining. It is a joy to watch him move through life, plucking beauty and intrigue as he goes. I am the luckiest girl to be able to call him my love.
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