Not alone

I was driving home today along empty mountain roads and I was hit with a deep tinge for how walks in these wild places make me feel—and I wondered Does anyone feel them the same? I do not often come across these people so it is something I ask the winds. Where are they? Then I stumbled upon this musician and my answer was a resounding Yes, and, They are all around.

Zoë Keating's album Into the Woods is how a forest smells to me, her notes vibrate in the same language the wind whispers along my face. She is a solo cellist; when I hear it just right, for whatever reason, a cello becomes a channel to other places. It is wild and I love it.

Her songs are currents to the ways that connect us all.

Escape Artist

The Path

A Northern Journey, Part I

In a dream,

a little while back, I was wearing a Laughing Dog talisman I had made recently in waking life. I was moved to make it after I came across the body of a coyote during one of my desert mountain walks. The bones spoke loud, bringing me to them. I didn't take it anywhere. I wanted to bring it home with me, but Coyote wanted to stay in its most lovely resting spot, beneath an old juniper tree among red rocks. Its face was frozen into a snarl and I hope one day only the skull and some pieces remain. Those it said, I may take home.

So I wait and watch, the desert taking its course blending body to dirt.

The bones also gave me a dream. After making this necklace honoring The Trickster I found, I dreamt I was walking across a field of snow at the edge of a forest. I was approached by a coyote and as he stopped in my path, he grinned—and grew upward—into a human figure wrapped in a cloak.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"You know Loki", he whispered next to my ear, grabbing my necklace and pulling it taut on my neck. His scent was wild, like elk and fur and antlers freshly shed.

"I rather like this, will you make something for me?"

I noticed he was bewitched by the necklace he held, and his canine teeth betrayed his human face. They had not shifted away with the rest of his coyote form.

My life has been one often guided by The Tricksters in their various forms, so I accepted his request, along with one of my own: I would like them to be a little softer in the ways they teach. A barter. He laughed and commanded me "You be wiser in finding the lessons within", pulling my chin with a clawed finger to look into his eyes.

An Idea

I awoke and knew what to do.

As this encounter swirled throughout my mind, I sketched out a bracelet for Loki. I took the coyote form from the pendant to honor how he approached me in the dream, and I put two moons next to it, my spirit and his in the dreamtime. As I said, it has been a long journey with tricksters so I selected a series of runes to symbolize the life journey.

Part II up next...

Listening to the Creative Spirit

Good news, the tl;dr:

I have figured a way I can do custom orders based on my creation and work process.

The new page is in the works explaining details, and I look forward to connecting with you about your request when you feel called. 

---

Madonna Pietra degli Scrovigni, 1884. Marie Spartali Stillman ; Photos taken by me

When plans go awry

I spent the last year trying to make a 'plan' work for my business—I later learned it was not the way I was meant to truly work—and in that time, my creativity became very blocked. I have a handful of creative spirits that insist I work in certain ways or else the ideas slow down until they disappear. I must listen to this and work within a certain process or I cannot create. This may sound 'out there' to some but it is how I know to articulate it. Every time I sat at the jewelry bench, aside from perhaps two months time, of the entire year, I had a block so intense I could not generate and develop ideas. That space-that-gives-my-life-meaning was almost empty. I would pitter around here and there with different things, and always put love into what I made, but I could not find any particular thing to demand my focus. I have been there, when the creative spirit is so strong that it becomes you, you become it. In this state, there are so many ideas that not many things are more important than expressing them, through whatever your medium may be. It is difficult to even spend time preparing healthy food for yourself or getting proper sleep. Creating takes over. (I am practicing balance here.) I could not access this no matter what I tried, and I felt lifeless.

My goal was to produce a lot of simpler pieces so I could sell many things. I wanted to market to galleries, boutiques, et cetera. A lot of people do this beautifully, successfully, with a swagger, so I planned to get there as well. I figured this would be the way to direct my business. But as I say, the creativity suffered deeply.

A quiet pause

I took a month or so off from making things to try and identify what was trapping my creative flow. This is the pain of using your creativity as what sustains you in the material realm. It is a must to consistently produce, despite the state of your ability to do so, and if you do not then you may not have a roof over your head next month. There is a lot on the line and you had better figure out why the ideas have gone. I honored this demand to be quiet and reflect. 'Coincidentally' it timed with the winter solstice when I ceased to make. I spent a good part of the winter season hibernating, so to speak, on the creative front. It was almost equally painful to idle my hands but through reading, meditation, walking, and building luxurious fires against the snow, I became much better at it.

Herein I learned a great deal. I learned why this energy was blocked. I discovered the way I am supposed to work. I tapped into wells of inspiration that run so deep, they have been inspiring people for a very very long time.

Where love grows

I find my inspiration grows, my creative spirits are happy, and the output flows, when I do not try to produce large quantities of things at a quick pace. That business model will not work for me. And that is okay! It is okay to spend many hours on one piece of jewelry: from the exploration process of giving shape to ideas from the ether, to the moment of decision 'This is what I will make!', to the physical creation, to the piece's completion packaged as a gift, every step with intention. This is what enables me to have more ideas than my hands can physically keep up with. This is the state I desire to maintain, as well as the stamina to spend many hours at the bench each day... back to balance and eating / sleeping / moving / loving well.

Custom orders fit into this How, you ask. Being told exactly how to make something is also a gigantic creativity killer, for my way of working. I have done it and know my aversion to it. I don't intend for this to sound grandiose, rather it goes back to as I said above: if I don't feed the creativity properly, then it goes away, as does a roof over my head.

---

A gift I now bestow upon my creative spirit is listening to it. As should we all!

---

At your service

After a period of 2-4 weeks when I have completed a collection, there is a period of time where I feel very open to creating an interested person's ideas of their own talisman. The creative spirits need a rest I suppose, because they quiet down and I have an exciting free energy to follow ideas down your path. In keeping the request simple, for example: 'I would like a wolf with a piece of moonstone', everything flows. That I can do. That I would love to do. I do not want to be told how to draw the ears or create the symbol.

I also do not mind recreating a style that is already featured in my shoppe, where we can select a stone that is uniquely yours, or you can provide your own. I know many wonderful stone sellers online or if you are local, nearby, where you can go and pick out your stone. You can also leave it to me as that is my love and my specialty.

That is an overview of how custom orders will work. If you have questions about whether an idea would work, we can talk about that too. I hope this doesn't sound impossible to work with, I don't intend to sound that way. I do know if this all sounds good to you, then we will work together splendidly. You will become keeper of a talisman you will cherish and it will last long enough to be passed down for hundreds of years.

I welcome your inquiries.

~Christi

What is Lumino?

A Prayer

“For me there is only the traveling on paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart, and the only worthwhile challenge is to traverse its full length—and there I travel looking, looking breathlessly.”

— Carlos Castaneda

I climbed to the top of a mountain days ago and when I got there, I prayed. I pulled my body, heavy from years of idleness but with just enough spring from recent diligent hiking, up more than 3,000 vertical feet to the highest point in my magical home, New Mexico. The path was worn yet steep, dark storms hugged the neighboring peaks and swirled over the valley below, the joy of my dog and my love of the moment provided the light of the day. Winds grew in ferocity as we progressed and the thin, high air forced me into a cadence consisting more of stopping and breathing than moving. I was determined to make it to the top, for nothing other than sitting and asking to be guided: for my life to be one lived in love. The wind was so fierce I am convinced it took this prayer To whomever it may concern.

I believe prayers are answered, but the inquirer must work faithfully and open-heartedly, traveling on a path that fulfills the necessary work and actions to answer this prayer. I did not shoot my prayer out to the wind and go about my day, hoping it will all work out. In my asking, I am also committing to making it my life's work to see the prayer answered. I want to live in a way that I am able to give love to everyone I meet, put love into the work I do, fill my relationships with love, finding and giving love where it is needed in this existence of ours.

An Art

Lumino fits into this in a profound way. It is the means I have found to continue on my prayer's path. It enables me to love. For my artistic process to function, I fuel it from my well of the things I love. As this well grows, I can produce more artwork and creative output, and so the happier I am. Here is the important part: If I live with my well overflowing, I am able to return that happiness and love out into the world. I do not keep it for myself, or fall victim to being blinded of it because my eyes are set on material gains. I yearn down to my soul to give love to others, it ignites me and sustains my being.

A Business

My goal with Lumino extends beyond making jewelry. Metalsmithing and spending my time with stones is work I adore. It is my art, and I have crafted this endeavor in a way for it to eventually be my life-sustaining business—every entrepreneur must give thought to, at minimum, how their business will provide for them. Aside from the worldly concerns of a roof over my head and food to eat, there is the intrinsic happiness I receive from making my living with my art, and there is the happiness I desire to return out into the world.

When I plan for Lumino's growth, I do not think of the house I want to purchase, the type of car I want to drive, the luxuries I will fill my house with, the vacations I will take. Right now I live in a casita (now the trend is to call it a "tiny house"), out with the land and close to nature, my belongings are minimal. I consider my internet service the extravagant monthly purchase, a necessity for my business. I do not plan for any of this to scale up; my only change in living I'd like to make is to move further out into the land, getting rid of material ties as often as possible. I want to build a family and live in a home we build with our own hands, and those of our carpentry-skilled friends of course.

Beyond this, I want to give back to our collective. I want my time and energy, my love, to be available to people who need it—whether that be helping my local community with providing food, learning, shelter, support, a voice, whatever is needed that I can give; or traveling to offer what is needed around our hurting planet; helping to fund causes that need monetary support to stay alive. The jewelry I create, my "product" in business-speak, I want for it to provide its wearer with happiness of course, and also an awareness of the beauty and power of our earth. You can read more about that here.

These are the things I am striving for my business, Lumino, to enable me to do. This is my daily prayer, and it is one I climbed to the top of a mountain to express and send out on the eternal winds.

Thank you for your time in reading, I send you love,
Christi

Painting With Coffee

In photographing my jewelry collections, I haven't been completely satisfied with the background textures behind the pieces themselves. In product photography, every little tiny detail counts—and it counts for a lot! The photography is a vital piece in continuing the story of a brand. 

Photography of the Simpla Collection in progress

In the realm of handmade objects, there is a world of difference in holding and feeling a physical thing versus seeing it in a photo on a computer screen. With jewelry, a less detail oriented photo may not capture the qualities of the stones and handiwork; it may miss the nuances of character and intention in the way a piece of metal has been hammered, or the indescribable depth a piece of labradorite or moonstone flashes when the light hits oh so right.

Final photo of the collection

Final photo of the Kyanite with Ruby necklace

The background sets the scene for this part of the brand experience, this chapter in the story. If I used a piece of gray slate or steel, how cool and modern the photo—and so the jewelry—would feel. A backdrop of fabric woven with a heavier thread gives a warmer and definite handmade look, but it's too heavy, and so it lends a look of less refinement than I'd like to achieve. A great amount of precision and planning is involved in the creation process of a piece and any detail that does not perpetuate these qualities must be discarded. That's my design philosophy anyway, and it led me to painting a gigantic piece of watercolor paper with coffee. Offsetting the seriousness of the design process with childlike fun is always imperative. 

First I gathered my tools: coffee, paintbrush, and scrap paper. I like minimal setups.

Next I tested the strength of the color in relation to the amounts of coffee and water within the brush. With French press coffee, some "sediment" settles to the bottom of the cup and this gave me darker colors (and some grit). 

Once I stepped over that small learning curve, I set out to cover my piece of 22x30 inch paper. It made me miss painting with watercolors, but I cannot get sidetracked with another endeavor at the moment!

So, you may wonder what did not satisfy me with the Simpla photos. For one, keeping the fabric from wrinkling, and thus ironing (both with a real iron and with Photoshop), is a job I do not wish to add to my plate. I'd rather spend that time building other parts of this wheel. White fabric betrays every speck of lint that floats over it and lands within the weave. I felt the crisp color looked too new for the story I am trying to tell. I'd like for the aesthetic to stir feelings of something more timeless and classic. I think I am getting closer to that with this stained paper that looks almost like windblown sand—as if you might find a necklace with gleaming jewels laying in the sand at the foot of an ancient temple, waiting just for you.

Hobbes is the boss around here, the Creative Director. His approval consisted of a sniff, a look that said Good, keep working, followed by his departure. Like any good director.

So what will the new photos look like? Let me finish up the collection I'm working on, Mare, and we shall sea! (Do you see what I did there? Oh I did it again.)