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Artisan Jewelry by Michaela Batstone

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Mossflower Collection, Pt. I (Third Preview)

August 22, 2020 · Leave a Comment

Luthien was based on Edith Tolkien, J.R.R. Tolkien’s wife. And story of how Beren fell in love with Luthien in the hemlock glades reflected the forest walks Tolkien would take with Edith in 1917 in Roos, England. On their gravestones, both Tolkien and his wife have their Silmarillion monikers inscribed:

Edith Mary Tolkien – LUTHIEN – 1889-1971
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien – BEREN – 1892 – 1973

Tolkien’s reverence and love for his wife is endlessly evident in the tale of Beren and Luthien: “Among the tales of sorrow and of ruin that come down to us from the darkness of those days there are yet some in which amid weeping there is joy and under the shadow of death light that endures. And of these histories most fair still in the ears of the Elves is the tale of Beren and Luthien.”

And here, my pieces dedicated to the incomparable Luthien, J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved.


Luthien Cuff Bracelet

Cost: $225 per bracelet
Sizes that will be available:
6 Small/Medium (6″ + gap) bracelets
8 Medium/Large (7″ + gap) bracelets

“She dwelt in the enchanted land
while elven-might yet held in hand
the woven woods of Doriath:
none ever thither found the path
unbidden, none the forest-eaves
dared pass, or stir the listening leaves.”

– from “The Lay of Leithian”, J.R.R. Tolkien

My first of two designs for Luthien Tinuviel, the elf maiden of Doriath, daughter of the Maia, Melian, and beloved of the mortal, Beren. It is hard to know where to start in my love for Luthien, perhaps my favorite of all in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Silmarillion.” I am in awe whenever I revisit her passages.

In order to translate her into metal and stone, I had to choose which aspects of her to honor. Luthien was incomparably beautiful and graceful, with a voice so glorious that winter melted into spring when she sang. ”…beneath the Moon, beneath the Sun, Lúthien Tinúviel, more fair than Mortal tongue can tell.” I could have created a piece that was lilting and delicate, captivating and glowing; a design to reflect her beauty.

But instead, I chose to honor her unimaginable strength and bravery.

When her beloved, Beren, was captured by Sauron in the beginning of his unachievable quest for the Silmaril, it was Luthien who saved him. She defied her father to find him, and with the help of Huan the Hound cast Sauron out of his own stronghold. She crumbled the very stone walls of Tol-in-Gaurhoth with her voice, and found Beren in the dungeons there. Because Beren could not complete his quest for the Silmaril alone, she accompanied him to try again. Through her power, they were able to pass the gates of Angband. She was then able to weave a spell over Morgoth and his court to send them all to sleep, allowing Beren to take a Silmaril from Morgoth’s crown. She achieved things no other had; she faced Morgoth’s malice and was undaunted, and sent Sauron fleeing over the hills.

And so, this piece is for Luthien in the first part of her life. Luminous prehnite glowing from within, like the light of the trees of Valinor passed to Luthien from her mother. It is offset by a swath of leaves, as Luthien was ever found dancing amongst the hemlocks of Doriath. These two beautiful elements are set atop a sturdy, weathered cuff band. Wide like armor, and malleable enough to shape to your wrist.

Undaunted and luminous, like Luthien.


Luthien Post Earrings

Cost: $155 per pair
There will be thirteen pairs available
Post earrings measure about 1″ x 1″
Somewhat heavier than my other earrings, be sure you are comfortable with slightly heavier post earrings.

“The leaves were long, the grass was green,
The hemlock-umbels tall and fair,
And in the glade a light was seen
Of stars in shadow shimmering.
Tinuviel was dancing there
To music of a pipe unseen,
And light of stars was in her hair,
And in her raiment glimmering.”

And here is my other piece to honor Luthien Tinuviel, of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Silmarillion.”

After her heroism regarding the capture of the Silmaril from Morgoth and her rescue of Beren from Sauron, Beren was killed by the great wolf Carcharoth. Luthien sought Beren in the underworld and sang of her grief so beautifully that she moved the heart of Mandos, the Doomsman of the Valar, who granted her a unique fate. He would allow her to return to Middle-earth with Beren in exchange for her Elven immortality: “But she chose mortality, and to die from the world, so that she might follow him…”

And so she gave up her kinship with the elves and went with Beren to Tol Galen: “…it is sung that they met again beyond the Sundering Seas, and after a brief time walking alive once more in the green woods, together they passed, long ago, beyond the confines of this world.” And there they lived together in the cool darkness of the forest of Ossiriand, and faded together in love and contentment.

And so these earrings are my translation of the second part of Luthien’s life. There are the echoes of the former design, a swath of tree leaves and a few sterling silver pebbles. But for the stones in these, I chose subdued and modest prehnites. Many are heavily rutilated, like a forest thicket. These stones differ from the bold, luminous stones in the cuff bracelet, as she also differed from her former self when she forsook the Blessed Realm and gave up her immortal light. Luthien faded, but she retained her form and dwelt in happiness and seclusion with Beren. And so, these strong but subdued earrings felt like a fitting translation of this second part of Luthien’s life.

Though her light was diminished, she was utterly happy in the shade and tranquility of the forest. And here is my design to echo this.

Keep an eye out for more previews of the upcoming release!

✖️ Mossflower Collection Release (PART I):
Sunday, August 23 at 7pm EST in the Etsy shop
✖️

Filed In: Jewelry / Tagged: Jewelry, JRR Tolkien, leaf, moonspinner, mossflower, prehnite

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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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I am pushing through drifts of snow and snapping i I am pushing through drifts of snow and snapping ice from pine boughs, all to gather up enough winter for my North Wind Collection!

As you may remember, I decided to move the North Wind Collection (as well as the Mossflower Collection) to a biannual schedule. I love these stones, these palettes, these seasons so much that when I work with them, I want to honor them with as bounteous of offerings as I can muster. And so they take months and hundreds of hours to conjure.

Therefore, to make space in my year for all the new collection ideas I have had tucked away in my sketchbook and gemstone cabinet, I decided to make those two seasonal collections every other year, rather than annually.

All of this to say, this will be the last North Wind Collection until 2023, but it is going to be SUCH a beautiful one!

Oh! Quick little poll for you, I am feeling pulled in two different directions in my earring creation. Which do you prefer: light, lilting, dangly earrings with small stones and perhaps a fringe OR bold, drop earrings featuring slices of stone?
After asking you in a poll and in the comments of After asking you in a poll and in the comments of a recent post, it looks like you would much prefer an early March release, rather than a February one, for the North Wind Collection.

This will allow me catch a bit more winter, create more pieces, and give me a bit more time to share the stories behind these designs.

I have so so so much to share with you. If only I could tear myself away from the bench to snap some photos of everything I have finished!

I haven't settled on a date in early-mid March quite yet, I need to see how long things will take me to finish. But you will be the first to know!
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. 💙❄️
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