MINERALARTS: Iron and Thorn

Sometimes the omens appear in clusters.  Today a coyote ran across the road in front of me and (oddly) didn’t look back.  This week I found three snakeskins, all inaccessible in some way:  One hidden under stones (revealed when I was planting agaves), one entwined deep among the daggerlike leaves of a yucca in my yard, and one old and worn but not yet shed, on a big rattlesnake that I met in a sandy wash yesterday.  Clearly, it’s time for me to leave some things behind.  Here are some iron items that might help:

The Vulture Dancer earrings have double curly cone bells and vulture leg bones.  Two high-carbon steel threaductter knives rest on a piece of snakeskin.  The left one is a bird claw, and has a blade and a seamripper.  The right one (quite a bit thicker and heavier) is a cat claw, 2.5″ long.  Since they are forged, ground, drilled, and polished, they are a lot more work than they look - and perhaps more than they’re worth, considering their rough appearance.   Perhaps Atropos wears one of these as an amulet, or keeps it hidden in her workbasket. 

Rainbow Lion was my big project for March.  The magic in this one is a bit more “white light” than my usual work, and it will be reassuring for me to get back to my stones and knives.  But I found this colorful yarn when I was working on the Snow Lion, and it was an irresistible match for the white silk/hemp fabric.  This is a particularly cuddly lion (though very sturdy, like the others) with a very thick, soft mane.  The yarn is a cotton/silk/rayon blend.  The blanket adds a lot of color, but (unlike the other two lions) he looks just as good without it.  Description and more photos are here:

http://www.mineralarts.com/artwork/greenliontoy.html

I hope this lion provides comfort after a storm for somebody.  This was a difficult month for me, but I’ll wait until after the New Moon to look for my own sign of celestial renewal.

For this Moon, I took a break from designing oracles and took a commission for a shaman’s doll - this Tibetan Snow Lion, with blanket, iron bells and tent stakes, and shaman’s mirror.  I enjoyed making him so much that I want to make another lion, but I’ll probably take my time about finishing that one, and get back to other projects.

Description and more photos on this page:

http://www.mineralarts.com/artwork/greenliontoy.html

Two happy boys - they are best friends:

I’m doing a series of yin-yang cats for a T-shirt.  The next step will be a larger “whole cats” drawing!

Other black and white art:  I finished sewing both pieces of this autumn outfit - the ankle-length jumper is Japanese cotton dobby cloth in charcoal printed with litte gray birds.  Buttons are made from a big catfish bone that I found in western Kentucky several years ago.  Underneath is basically a muslin nightgown with ruffles at the collar, sleeves, and hem - the long length looks better than a shirt.

Clouds from Mexico’s hurricane arrived yesterday evening, along with the faint smell of the ocean that we sometimes get with these September storms - it’s always a wonderful surprise in the desert.  This morning we awoke to a steady, gentle rain that continued for a couple of hours and left the air feeling cool and soft.  Green shoots are ripening into fruits and seedpods.  Young tree roots and branches are thickening, bark is forming, and growth slows as the equinox approaches.

Too hot and humid to paint or do much at the forge, so I made a drawing that I’ve been wanting to do for awhile:  yin yang cats and kittens.  This is the simplest of several variations that I sketched, and could be simplified even further.  Fits in a 3.5″ circle.