I don't know how Aji and Wings have made it this far without falling over and not getting back up. They're been working their hearts out to build a safe, warm home for 16 months now, powering through in spite of health and contractor issues that would have left most of us curled up in a little whimpering ball.
Instead they have kept on going, step after difficult step. And you know why? Because of all your support and encouragement. From Aji -
Thank you all, once again, for everything you've done over the last 16 months to get us safe and keep me sane. We are both so thankful for each and every one of you who made it possible for us to sleep (and shower!) now, for the first time in seven years, in a safe and healthy (and warm!) place. But we have a long way to go, and this night, at least, is going to be very, very cold again, a reminder that we have to get this done, and fast.
See that deck up there? That exists in no small part because of all of you.
That deck is not only going to be a lovely place to enjoy a cup of coffee and the view, but will also provide the perfect staging to complete the crucial exterior work on the house. Of course the deck has to be treated to protect it from the elements first. That will be done later this week, once the winds die down. And the winds have been howling for days, something neither Aji nor her dog Raven care for. Raven spent yesterday indoors, part of it curled up at Aji's feet as she wrote her blog post, updating folks on the day's progress on the build. Both of them were safe and warm because of this community's amazing support.
And how about the stove, sink, and fridge for the kitchen! You helped make all of it possible and how wonderful is that? Once the sink is in and appliances hooked up, Aji will no longer have to cook meals in that terrible tin can of a travel trailer. Neither Aji or Wings will ever have to be in that toxic environment again. Without you, none of this would have been possible.
So here's where things stand right now. The November 18th deadline is coming up fast. In order to meet that deadline, the crew is working longer hours, labor costs are just about doubled and materials must be purchased.
After the deck is treated then the final exterior work on the walls of the house begins. Without that being done, winter will cause costly damage. The walls must be sprayed with a colored stucco and the trim painted to protect both from winter's rain, snow, and cold. That's not counting interior work left to be done or furnishings that need to be replaced due to the toxic mold and faulty wiring of the RV eating it all.
And we're going to help with all of it. How? Well, to start, an amazing kossack has a $1000 match on offer. That means every dollar donated is matched. You give ten dollars, it instantly becomes twenty dollars. If you give $20, $40, $75 or $100 — your donation will be doubled. There is no such thing as a small donation. But that thousand dollars must be met to be matched. Our meeting the match ensures that labor and materials costs for vital work will be covered. Because of the rules established for match diaries, only cash donations can apply to the match. The only method we have for cash donations to be made toward the match is through Wings’ paypal account — here.
Want to help purchase a much needed lamp or office desk? Aji and Wings’ have a registry on Wayfair where items they need are being crowd sourced. That means you can contribute ten dollars or twenty to much needed furnishings. Or, now that November has arrived and the holidays are on your mind, Wings’ extraordinary silver work and photography may provide the special gifts for loved ones you have been searching for.
It is a time of elemental change, Earth rising to link past and present and future in a sacred hoop of protection and survival. Wings links them in more tangible ways with this spectacularly complex cuff, one that fuses one of his very early pieces into a whole new work that honors elemental powers, sacred numbers, and ancient spirits. It begins with a solid sterling silver cuff, scored freehand into eight separate lines, the number of the cardinal and ordinal directions. At either end, a sterling silver overlay in the shape of Grandmother Turtle, she who holds the world on her back, climbs steadily upward. Each turtle is cut, freehand, with a tiny jeweler’s saw, articulated head, legs, and tail each stamped with traditional patterns to form scales and provide texture and dimensionality. Each turtle’s shell is gently scalloped with stampwork around the edge, a Morning Star stretched across the shell’s center. Wings brought old to new and melded them together at the top of the cuff with the addition of one of his very early pieces from his personal collection: a hat pin in the form of a medicine shield that doubles as a medicine wheel, cut freehand and centered by Buffalo’s skull, our Elder Brother of the Earth. The horizontal spokes of the medicine shield are sculpted and stamped in the shape of a ceremonial pipe, eagle feathers suspended at either end. The entire wheel is overlaid onto a backing of hand-hammered sterling silver. Cuff band is 7″ long by roughly 1-1/8″ across; turtle overlays are 1-1/4″ long by 15/16″ across at the widest point; buffalo medicine wheel overlay is 1-7/16″ high by 1-3/8″ across at the widest point (dimensions approximate). Other views shown below.
Sterling silver
There are times when survival requires resistance, requires a return to the old ways, requires faith and prayer and visions and dreams. With this pair of earrings, Wings has reconceived his eagle-feather series in new ways: a change of color, an addition of precious gems, greater labor in design and execution . . . and a symbolism suited to the whole world, a prayer for all life. Each eagle feather is roughly a mirror image of the other, but cut entirely free-hand, so that like their real-world counterparts, each preserves its own unique identity. Using a delicate jeweler’s chisel, Wings has scored each earring freehand, the lines forming a vaguely herringboned pattern at either side of the center shaft to create the hundreds of tiny barbs that make up each feather. In a first for this series, he has repeated the freehand barb pattern on the reverse of each drop. The shaft itself is an overlay of stamped thin silver wire, running up the length of each feather to wrap around the base of the shaft at the top. Four tiny round bezel-set cabochons of rich green jade in the color of the evergreens are scattered across the front to create the mottled pattern unique to eagle feathers: two on either side of the shaft on each earring, for a total of eight. The feathers themselves are anchored at the base of the shaft by brilliant grass-green ovals, a pair of stunning peridot cabochons lightly webbed with deep delicate lines of clear, glossy matrix. Together, they form a powerful pair of feathers in the color of life itself, powerful enough to send skyward a prayer for all life. Each is suspended from sterling silver wires. Earrings hang 2.5″ long (excluding wires) and are 9/16″ across at the widest point; the peridot cabochons are 3/8″ long by 1/4″ across (dimensions approximate). Reverse shown below.
Sterling silver; peridot; jade
The world of dreams is one of endless possibility, a place where an open sky blossoms like a flower, petals reaching in all directions. Wings scales this vision of an infinite cosmos down to a size that can be held in one’s hand. It begins with an equally infinite hoop, a solid sterling silver band scored at either edge and chased down the center with Eyes of Spirit, a repeating pattern of visions and dreams, of wisdom and the Spirit that sends them. Atop the center, a bezel scalloped like the petals of that newly-opened flower hold gently in their embrace an old free-form Skystone, a perfect shade of robin’s-egg blue infused with the smallest hint of green, wispy patches of matrix the color of sunlit thunderheads webbing its surface. Ring band is a half-inch wide; the setting is 7/8″ long by 3/4″ across at the widest point (dimensions approximate). Sizeable. Side view shown below.
Sterling silver; old Royston free-form turquoiseT
This pendant’s cabochon hanging from beautifully crafted disc beads is a slab of fossilized mammoth tooth, thousands of years old. Like all of Wings’ work, this necklace is stunning.
Like all of Wings’ work, photos do not do this piece justice.
The roads of time are neither simple nor straight, but they all meet at intersections of history and spirit. Wings honors their existence, and their patterns, with this contemporary tribute to ancient beings. The pendant’s cabochon is a slab of fossilized mammoth tooth, thousands of years old, its pale natural color warmed by the earth in which it lay, its veins and capillaries now turned into a network of roads in glowing blues and grays: roads that intersect, bisect, run parallel, and overlap, connecting up with each other and linking epochs in time and even time itself. Wings sliced the fossil material from a larger piece, shaped it gently and polished it lightly, then set it in a hand-made bezel of sterling silver. The embrasure is a modified saw-toothed bezel, hand-cut and trimmed in twisted silver. On the reverse, the setting is centered around an ajouré Morning Star, hand-cut to expose the fossil and allow its earthy glow to shine through the star’s spokes as they stretch to the Four Sacred Directions. Around the perimeter of the reverse side, hand-stamped blossoms emerge from the ancient materials and images to flower anew. the pendant hangs from a strand of graduated disc beads made of traditional olivella-shell heishi in two colors, accented near the findings with twin segments of faceted copper barrel beads. Pendant (including bail) hangs 2-1/4″ long by 1-1/4″ across at the widest point; cabochon is 1-11/16″ long by 1-1/16″ across at the widest point; bead strand is 18″ long (dimensions approximate). Close-up views of pendant, front and reverse, shown below.
Sterling silver; fossilized mammoth tooth; olivella-shell heishi; copper
There are so many beautiful and enduring works of art to be found at Wings web site. Silver work, pottery, photography and so much more. Below is a listing of links to various pages on Wings's site along with links to his paypal account for donations, gift cards, and the registries at wayfair and Bed, Bath, and Beyond.
Links to the various categories of work on Wings’ site —
As close as they are to finishing their home, there's still much to be done. That means a lot of labor to pay for, materials to buy, and damaged goods to replace. So here are the links for donations toward the match, sales, to purchase give cards or items on the registries.
- Wings's direct PayPal link;
- Wings's site, for sales;
- Lowe's cards (the physical version) via our Amazon wishlist;
- Lowe's e-cards (delivered via e-mail) here; and
- Home Depot cards via the company site. The e-version using my e-mail address is great; I take the tablet to the store with me, and they scan it off the screen.
- Our Amazon wishlist generally.
- Wayfair gift cards, to replenish all the furnishings that the RV has destroyed in one way or another.
- Partial registry #1, from Bed, Bath and Beyond. It's not complete; what's left on it now are doormats and a few other miscellaneous items, although there are more that need to be added.
- Partial registry #2, from Wayfair. Also not complete, but I've finally added a bunch of items to it, mostly now furniture items. But about Wayfair, and VERY IMPORTANT: They make it possible to crowdfund each item. So if you'd like to help, but the prices are too much for one person? You can kick in 20 bucks, or ten, or five, on any one item; many small donations can add up to one item. Even the backordered/out-of-stock items can be crowdfunded in advance. Right now, the most pressing items are the ones outlined above. I've just added the furnishings for the rest of the upstairs (i.e., the guest room and my writing/office space, which also includes the desk and chair further down the list, and the last three rugs on the list, two of which are back-ordered). The chaise and daybed are for the two upstairs rooms: the latter for the guest room, the former for my office, which is where I will be spending most of my time, and my AI issues require working on a laptop with my legs outstretched, so that's why it's a pricier piece; it'll probably be the primary means to my role in our living. There will also be more items that fall into the badly-needed category (lamps, particularly, right now), because the wiring and mold and lime and everything else in this toxic tin can has destroyed so much of what we used to have. I'm sickened by the amount of stuff we have to throw out (on top of the things that were simply ruined, such as the microwave fried by the wiring in that place).
Because of your caring, Aji and Wings are warm during a cold season, not just physically, but communally as well. All of you have brought a warmth of heart and spirit that has left them both encouraged, stunned, and profoundly grateful.
Aji said it all so movingly after the wood stoves were installed. A wonderful friend had bought them a mold free bed, and Aji and Wings were able to sleep safe and warm for the first time in seven years.
It’s warmth and light and love and the return of everything we thought lost and thought we would never have again.
In these bitter days of rampant greed, dishonesty, and corruption, doing good for others renews all our spirits. Let's keep it going, shall we?
Deepest thanks and blessings — always
Personal Update: I'll be traveling all day tomorrow. I'm heading home after three weeks at Yasu's while she recovered from surgery. She's much better now. :) I don't have an iphone so tomorrow I will not be able to post updates or reply to comments. I will do so when I return home around seven tomorrow night.
I'll stay up as late as it takes this evening to make sure tonight's info on donations and the match are current. Don't want to let you down. Now who has some good tunes for the night?
Friday, Nov 3, 2017 · 4:21:29 AM +00:00 · Onomastic
Update 2: Thanks to your kind donations, we've reached 60% of the way to meeting the match!! Only $400 to go in order to meet the match and double $1000 to $2000. We can do this!
I'm calling it a night for now. Have to get up in a few hours to begin the trip home. I'll check in over morning coffee before I leave. Yasu will keep you all posted on new updates in the comments until I get home tomorrow early evening. Much love and deepest thanks, always.
Friday, Nov 3, 2017 · 9:21:23 PM +00:00 · Onomastic
Update 3: Been traveling since eight this morning. I’m home and we met the match and then some! Not sure what I’m happier about, but one thing I am certain of is how proud and thankful I am for all of you. Your caring, your goodness helps keep me going through these trying times. And Aji and Wings can breathe. Seriously. They are so deeply grateful and relieved. Thank you so much for being you.