This is an update on Aji’s house project, with a plea to keep sharing their YouCaring page with your networks, whether in person, by email, or via social media. We made excellent progress two weeks ago when this project was introduced, mostly because we all emptied our pockets to the best of our ability. Now there’s still a lot of house left to build, and while some of us keep trickling out support as we can (thank you!!!), this would be a lot quicker if we kept spreading the story far and wide, trying to get word out to sympathetic people who may not be on Daily Kos, may not know Aji and Wings, but might donate and/or spread word further.
Taos Pueblo gets cold early. It sits at about 7000 feet in elevation, and it’s already below freezing there some nights. The aspens are getting their golden fall color. Wings and Aji are hoping to get this house closed in before winter, but you can see that that’s a close shave, even if the funding keeps coming. If they have to stop work, it’s not going to happen.
Another way of helping is to shop! They pay their ordinary expenses, which are obviously still coming in, by making sales. Come below the fold and I will tell you more, because holidays are coming and you do have shopping to do!
I’ll post a few photos below of Wings jewelry and photography I’m lucky enough to own, and I’m sure others will share theirs in the thread. But first I’d like to take the time to talk about how to use their website. It’s visually beautiful but, on the evidence in these threads, it’s not obvious to everyone how to shop or buy there.
The website has a menu bar on the left, and the second item down is “Galleries” (shown circled at right). If you hover over that item, a sub-menu will pop out to the right, listing the categories “silverwork”, “photography”, and “other artists”. Hover over any of them, and you’ll get a further sub-menu (for instance, different categories of silver items). Click on the category you’re interested in, and you’ll get a page of thumbnail photos of individual items with the beginning of their descriptions. Hover over the photo, and you can immediately see the name and price of the item, and whether it’s been sold. By clicking on the photo, you’ll go to the item’s page where you can see larger photos and the full description. If an item you like has been sold, keep in mind that, while each item is handmade and unique, Wings does do commission work and can create something for you that is similar to an earlier piece (or for that matter, completely different and to your specifications).
While I’m telling you how to shop, I might as well mention that photographs are available full-size, matted and framed (which is the price that displays), but also as 8x10 prints, unmatted/unframed, for a much more modest price. I’ll also mention that Wings has many more photographs available than are currently shown on the website. Update: Aji posts about one each Monday in her own blog and gives a link back to the web page where you can see a larger image — here’s a search that collects those posts so you can see many more of the photos for sale (h/t Avilyn). If you like one of those, take note of the title and/or date of the relevant blog post and do this:
To order anything, or to make inquiries about prices, custom work, or anything else, use the contact form on the website, which is the bottom link on that left-side menu bar.
And, that being said, let me show you some things that I’ve bought there. (I’m still typing here because I’m not to the bottom of this picture yet, and as you know, what you see is not always what you get when it comes to how images position themselves in a story when there’s not enough text to hold them apart. ;)
The Thunderbird was the first thing I bought. I still wear it every day. The turquoise cuff is for more special occasions.
When I got to NN16 with my springy coil bracelet (bottom), I laughed when I saw my roommate nomandates take hers out of her suitcase. Here are the two of them.
Here’s Wings’ beautiful photograph of Taos Pueblo, before I could hang it, standing on a bookshelf.
For those who can help directly, here’s the widget (you can see their story as told by Aji on the page — just click the photo or title instead of the Donate button). Below it is a box of sundry ways you can help, with links. Many thanks for your continued interest and support.
HOW TO HELP
- The YouCaring fundraiser allows you to donate specifically to this cause. You can also share the fundraiser via social networks by using the “Grab Our Widget” button (and other social media buttons) on that page.
- Their Amazon wishlist mostly supports the health needs of their rescue animals and themselves, if that’s more your style.
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Purchases from Wings Silverworks will help them make a living the way they’d prefer, by selling Wings’ work as an exceptionally talented NDN silversmith and photographer.
- If you prefer, donate via PayPal at Aji’s blog, or at her Tumblr blog where she posts her own writing and photography.
- Kosmail belinda ridgewood if you absolutely need to donate by mailing a paper check.
- And Tweet, share on FaceBook, tip/rec/republish on Daily Kos, randomly email your friends about it, drop it into casual conversations. This seems minor, but it is not! When you share, please link to this YouCaring page, or embed the widget!
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