Hello lovely people! I'm technically still recovering from surgery, but after knitting half a sweater, watching six seasons of How I Met Your Mother, losing countless games of Words With Friends, and reading approximately a dozen books, I got bored. Which means I started sneaking into the studio to make things. Because that's how I roll.



Custom orders are once again open, shipping will be back to normal as of Monday, and I'll be sticking new stuff up on the website at least a few times this month. I'm going to NYC in a few weeks which means I will BUY ALL THE BEADS, and since Miles is in daycare two days a week now I might even get a chance to fire up the torch and hit things with hammers again.



...yeah, I'm doing better. :)

Apiphiligree. n. 1: an ornate charm for beekeepers and those who would befriend or protect bees.
2: a reliquary of the Thriae, the three bee-prophets of ancient Greece who scried the future in handfuls of small stones.

10% of the proceeds from this series will be donated to the honeybee research fund of the New Hampshire Beekeepers' Association.

Quick reminder: WS will be closing for the month of May because I'm having surgery. If it's not done by May 1, it's not happening til June!  Amy will be shipping subscriptions and website orders once a week, but I will not be doing ANYTHING for the first week after my surgery, including answering emails. I may be able to resume very light activities by the middle of May, but I can't make any promises.

This week's update is host to a trilogy of opal pendants - one each for
Sea, Sky, and Forest - and three Things That Are Green.



Next Friday, toddler antics and health issues permitting, I will be
releasing the first few pieces in an as-yet unnamed honeybee series,
featuring glowing amber, brass bees, and sparkling glass. A portion of the
proceeds from this series will be donated to support honeybee research.



That will be the last scheduled update before we close for the month of
May, although I may sneak a few more things onto the website before I go in
for surgery and perhaps a few more once I'm up and walking around again. I
am notoriously bad at taking time off, a fact which has already caused my
surgeon to lecture me at length about STAYING IN BED for the entire first
week this time. As I said to a friend the other night, we workaholics just
keep pushing and pushing until we collapse, and then we do a little more...
and then we send somebody to fetch our knitting. :p

I will be having long-awaited and hopefully life-changing surgery on May 8th, and will be unable to work for at least two weeks afterwards, possibly longer. I will not be doing website updates, custom work, or open editions during this time.

I will do one final shipment on May 4th. After that date, subscriptions and orders placed from website inventory will be shipped sporadically, no more than once a week. I do not expect to be able to do ANYTHING (including answering email) between May 8th and May 15th.

I hope to be back in the studio by June, and I look forward to a future in which I am no longer quite so much at the mercy of my body's whims.  I have been battling debilitating medical issues for quite some time and we have every reason to believe that this surgery, while drastic and definitely a last resort, will bring about tremendous improvement in my overall health and wellbeing.

Our week of glorious weather faded back into the more typical chill of early spring, but my perennials are all popping up, I started seeds for the garden this week, the trees are budding, and the forsythia in the back yard is a brilliant splash of gold against the fence... and in the studio, I found myself reaching for the colors of spring.

Spring is here at last in New Hampshire, and as the trees begin to bud and bulbs pop up in my garden, I found myself drawn irresistibly towards  flashing, shimmering labradorite, brilliant green peridot, warm amber and topaz, sky-blue kyanite and aquamarine, and tourmalines and sapphires in every color of a spring garden.

I also have time and energy this week to make a few Wyrd Trees, if you find yourself seeking change and new beginnings.

Armadillos, buttons, British pop culture, scarabs, sea glass... my studio contains many oddities.

(Thankfully, not LIVE armadillos.)