We're All Ears :: August Reveal

This was one month where I had the material picked out before I even had the inspiration! I actually went in search of something that would pair up nicely with the material that I had in mind. When I spied the images that I shared of the Antelope Canyon, I knew that I had it right.

Unfortunately, I typically bite off more than I can chew. What I imagined I would do couldn't possibly take more than an hour to complete, right?

Wrong.

So there I was sitting with these fabulous pieces that I picked up at the Bead & Button show.

 These are all Red Creek Jasper earring pairs. I went a little nutty. I actually bought 24 sets in 5 different shapes. All I could do was sit and hold them in my hands. Can you blame me? They are stunning!

They look like they each have a story to tell. And that is exactly what I thought when I found those pictures of the canyon with the undulating sandstone walls bathed in light and looking like some prehistoric temple. I wonder what mystic chants were uttered in those passageways.

"USA Antelope-Canyon" by Lucas Löffler - Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

I really wanted to make the focal of each pair of earrings the stone itself. Because natural beauty really needs no further adornment. I had this great idea to make a sort of bail from either sheet metal or wire. I could picture making a balled headpin hinge to hold it all together for a little bit of movement. Unfortunately, by the time I started it was well after 8pm on Thursday and my studio is in a bit of a shambles as I try to reconfigure it (and work in it at the same time) so I would never be able to pull off the bail idea. Still, I did try and was feeling pretty pleased with myself at the cold connections, when I pulled the wire a bit too tightly on the second one and snapped off the top of the stone pendant. Drats. Well, now I have a necklace.

So I tabled that idea (I will revisit that in daylight). And I decided that I just need to treat each shape differently. So I pulled out a little metal and some wire and beads and just dove in.

I love that the red jasper really looks like cave paintings or photographs of a canyon. I could get lost exploring those caves, or gazing at these stone pairs. For each stone tells a unique story that is as old as time and has something important to impart to the one who beholds it.

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We're All Ears :: August Inspiration

One of the least accessible and most photographed vistas in the American Southwest is Antelope Canyon.
Antelope Canyon in northern Arizona is home to some magnificent slot canyons. According to Wikipedia, the Navajo people have a name for the Upper Antelope Canyon - Tsé bighánílíní - which means "the place where water runs through rocks." Slot canyons are chasms eroded over eons by wind and rain and raging floods to create one of the most spectacular natural masterpieces. Antelope Canyon is located on the Navajo Reservation and can only be accessed by licensed tours with a guide and a permit to visit them.

"USA Antelope-Canyon" by Lucas Löffler - Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

At certain times of the day, light penetrates the canyons bathing the entire area in a haze of liquid gold. At certain places magical shafts of light - sometimes referred to as "God Spots" - penetrate to the canyon floor, as if a cosmic stage performance is about to begin. These magic shafts of light only penetrate the secret chambers of the canyons for around 30 minutes each day from late May to late June.

"20030820-antelope-canyon". Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

The undulating views of the sandstone walls play with your depth perceptions and make for fantastic living sculptures that will continue to shift and change with the coming years.

"Lower antelope 1 md" by User:Moondigger - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons.

Twisting and turning, these corridors of light beckon the viewer to continue on to discover what might be around the next terra cotta bend.

"Upper antelope 2 md" by User:Moondigger - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons.

Looking up it is not hard to imagine that this would have been revered as sacred ground by the native peoples who live here. There is an aura of hallowed ground in these caverns, a feeling that you are in a Divine presence. These vaulted rooms have a feeling of a grand cathedral in them.

"Lower antelope 3 md" by User:Moondigger - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons.

The sandy rock rolls and swells like waves on a molten lava sea. There is an otherworldly feeling to these sandy caves. I wonder what the echo would sound like in there? But mostly I would feel the need to be hushed in wonder at these awe-inspiring vistas.

""Molten lava" (8255556503)" by Šarūnas Burdulis from USA - "Molten lava".
Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

The views in these pictures are breathtaking, and I can only imagine that they are even more impressive in person. I think I want to propose going to the Southwest for our 25th wedding anniversary in a few years! The walls seem to be moving with their curves, like a giant ball of pulled taffy being stretched. It feels like a restful, meditative place, and also one with a lot of energy, spellbinding at every turn. But all this beauty holds a hidden danger. These walls are still subject to dangerous flash flooding, mostly from rain many miles upstream. In 1997, eleven hikers were warned not to traverse the canyons due to the weather and they all lost their lives when a flash flood swept them away.

"Antelope Canyon Mittags" by Raimund Marx (Raimund.Marx@ch.tum.de) - Raimund Marx.
Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

A good reminder that what is beautiful might also be dangerous. But let that beauty sing!

Show us your interpretation of this beautiful natural masterpiece!

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Friday, August 21st.

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