Howdy Jewelry Fans! It’s August. Unbelievably and irrefutably so. For me, August has a sense of urgency, a squeezing of every last bit of Summer out of every drop of sunlight. I’m storing the crisp, bright memories of heat and warmth for the colder, longer nights that always come in balance to the heat of my favorite season. As much as a back bend in yoga, where you engage your core to support the back muscles, I’m engaging every cell of sparkling sunlight to support my spirit through the other cycles of a natural year.
I’m also harboring a secret. Well. I may have let it slip a couple of times, but I’m not sure if you’ve picked up on it, Jewelry Fans.
August is my Birthday month!!!!
To celebrate my place in this world, my connection with each and every one of you, I’m launching my first Mini-Collection this month! It’s going to be available in Original Sin Jewelry’s Patron Club on Facebook, then the Patron Club email list, and finally, to the public. Don’t worry about the details, I’m on it and you’ll be seeing emails in your inbox and notices on Facebook. I’m hoping you won’t mind, as the collection is breathtaking, and I know you’ll want a chance to snag a piece (or two?).
This mini-collection focuses on two materials, materials that are quite uncommon and in combination, exceeded my expectations. I’ve been waiting to spill the beans—so here we go!!
As you may know, I recently (in the past 15 months) moved from the desert of AZ, to the beaches of Southern Cali and then back to the desert of AZ. You see, the desert sinks into you. It sank into me. The deep warmth and the flinty earth. The blazing sun scours away excuses and exposes the truth of souls. The horizon spans unencumbered by the sprawl and clutter of other parts of the US. The desert always wins, the sun bleaches everything clean and brooks no frivolous escapade. While the landscape appears lifeless, surprisingly, life teems and thrives in the Sonoran Desert.
In my previous decade in AZ, the clarity and crisp, stark lines of the landscape wound their way into my work. There is no room for excess in the desert, and I pared it away in my work.
Enter Desert Bloom Variscite.
Well. First, there’s the name. It’s perfect!! For in the Tucson desert, my life has bloomed and expanded. Variscite is only found in 8 places on earth (Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Poland, and Spain), and its regions overlap with copper and turquoise mining. Created by water moving through the earth, variscite has more aluminum than turquoise and often chromium for a striking green colorization. Sorry to be nerdy here, Fans, I just wanted you to know these stones are as special as you are.
I’m thrilled and excited to bring Variscite to you, Jewelry Fans! The coloration of these stones is remarkable; the small circles of color in a flinty background are the perfect representations of pockets of thriving life in the desert. Desert jewelry never looked so good!!
The second component of this mini-collection is Sapphire. Montana Sapphires. Woah. Living in Tucson, every year the United States’ best (not taking comments on this particular point!) gem show descends on my town for three weeks in late January and the first half of February. I have my favorite off the beaten path haunts, and a few cutters and suppliers I always check in with. Two shows ago, I checked in on a supplier from the mountains of SoCal. He often has US tourmalines and other rough of quality. In one of his glass cases, I spied a large Ziploc bag lurking in the back. It was labeled “Montana Sapphires”. As it turns out, the vendor got his love of stones from his father. And it was the father that would skunk around Yellowstone National Park in Montana, panning for sapphires (and gold most likely) during the 70’s. These sapphires were from those trips, more than thirty years in the past and had been sitting, lonely, in storage ever since.
I could only purchase the entire lot. So, of course, I did, Jewelry Fans! I mean, wouldn’t you??
You may have noticed I said two years ago. Yes. I hoarded them for a while, taking them out to look, sift, plan. I’d send my sister pictures of them and we’d ogle at the colors and potential. And then I’d put them reverently away. But I’ve learned that I can’t hold back, Jewelry Fans. Life is lived in one direction and I’m a put it all on the table kinda girl. In fact, I’m a put it all on the table Southern-Western girl hand fabricating modern jewelry, Montana Sapphire Jewelry, Desert Bloom Variscite Jewelry for amazing, discerning Patrons like you.
What better way to celebrate my birthday month than by putting together a mini-collection of Desert Bloom and Montana Sapphire jewelry that speaks to the ethos of the desert? A collection that speaks to the clean lines and undiluted truth in my Bridge style, a style calling us all to action, to build connection, to communicate, not communihate?
Well, gosh. I just don’t know. It’s my birthday after all, and I get to decide. Right?
Make sure you’re in Original Sin Jewelry’s Facebook Group- The Patron Club, to have one of the first chances to purchase these beauties. It’s a Private Group, so you’ve got to request to join, but I promise to say yes!
See you there, Jewelry Fans! Happy Birthday from me!
There wasn’t an n to just login, so I thought I better join…stunning as ever—your creativity inspires me!!!
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Lynn Mills
August 21, 2019
I love Montana Sapphires. So excited to be apart of this very special group.