Almost Solstice

Its almost Solstice. It will be so good to have the days begin to get more daylight, though it takes a bit for it to get some momentum going. The wind keeps blowing. That big wind storm (see last post) was clocked in as 100 mph here! We drove some back roads (what else have we got here?) today and got to see all the huge downed trees. We still have not gotten any more patches on the roof. And have not gone to the mainland to buy gifts. We will just have a few small gifts for each other, and consider ourselves blessed. We have had Christmases in past years that would've made Dickens weep, so this is a year of plenitude. Tomorrow we will set up the tree! It will be glorious, as ever.

And tomorrow I am back to the smithy. I have silver cable needles to make, plus some double pointed knitting needles as well. Someone asked me to make a very heavy big silver Celtic Brooch with stones, and then they had other things come up. But my mind is percolating ideas on brooches, and I am tempted to just go ahead and make a few really exciting ones, sort of like the Selkie Brooch, but totally their own selves. Because each one does have its own self! The metal has 'spirit' in it.....and it leans toward one way and another, guiding me in the design, moving the hot ductile metal. Its lots of fun!
Speaking of what fun metalsmithing is, I welcome people coming to the smithy to make a bronze bracelet for themselves. When you hammer the bronze so that in cross-section it is a square or a six-sided figure, or any of the other many forms, then you twist that shape...it makes all the twists and turns and spirals that you see in our work. It is sort of Celtic Revival! (Which was happening a century ago.) John has been the 'brains' behind all the explorations we have done in our metalsmithing techniques. Besides being inspired by the wonderful gold and bronze smithing of the Celts and the Norse, he is inspired by the dictum "it can't be done". And so he has gone ahead and worked the metal in seemingly impossible ways. They are difficult ways to get the knack of. But that is true of any real hand craft work. We can walk you through it!
Heavens, I am nattering on! But I love metal work. After doing it for 25 years I still find it to be magic.
I ordered some rose cut garnets today. They are like a cabochon stone, but have a faceted surface. Really nice. I search in vain for rose cut stones other than garnets.