Hands and Rings

When I was younger, I was uncomfortable with my hands. They were unlovely, to put it plainly. Large knuckles, short nails. Rings never looked right. But time passes. As I've grown older, my hands have become a bit of a pride. I love the confidence I get when I attempt something new and achieve a reasonable outcome. My hands have knit, sewn, cooked, washed, loved and loved some more.

When My Good Man and I went looking for wedding bands, we were underwhelmed by the lack of spirit we saw in them. Any ring will speak of the bond, but we just couldn't find any hint of the passion of life.

So we went looking for a goldsmith. I sketched out a few ideas for him, in a rudimentary way.

I also gave the goldsmith this stitchery I did a few years ago. I went out one day and bought all 248 some odd colors of DMC perle cotton and just started stitching. It's just an image from my head, but it celebrates the western landscape. We wanted to capture the joy our alpacas have given us, honor the land, and have it all in a ring representing our love. I have always admired wide rings, maybe because I have hands that fit my 5 foot 10 frame.As we look for a ranch property, I am beginning to think that it might look like this stitchery. Almost as though my heart envisioned my future a few years ago and my fingers made the dream tangible.

And here is the result of this collaboration between my head, My Good Man's heart, and a talented goldsmith. I think they capture the passion of our hearts beautifully, don't you?

This week, as we attend our first alpaca show with our own alpacas, we hope that others will like the images on them too. In addition to using them as our own wedding bands, we are hoping to sell these to other alpaca ranchers, in gold, silver, or platinum. I love the idea of sharing the love. Crazy thought, eh?

Blue skies,

Lark