The Magic is this..
Each evening, our workshop days end in darkness with the fire glowing in the hearth, resting now after a long day keeping us warm. It’s orange glow ebbing and flowing with the breeze, the occasional quiet crackle and pop of an almost burnt log.
The windows are black with the early night the stars sparkle through black silhouetted branches and the owls sing their evening hunting song.
The workshop smells of polish, incense and tea.
The festive season passes once more, the New Year rituals created and intentions set.
We are coming to the end of our extended break, it’s been a well earned chance to let our hands and minds rest a while before the excitement of the new challenges for the year ahead whisk us away in a flurry of magic once more.
As is usual, I am beginning to miss the workshop… my bench… talking to customers, drawing out the dreams and wishes for the jewellery yet to be made.
The quiet days engrossed in orders with podcasts chatting away through my earbuds, the final moments of a challenging piece celebrated with some loud shouty danceable music. (Yes, this actually happens … sometimes we just let go of the tension in our stooped shoulders and frowned foreheads with a good, loud ninety’s anthem and a ….. ‘dance’)
As much as I love the Autumn and it’s sense of quiet reflection for the year just gone.. once the mayhem and, for me, complications of Christmas have passed …. I find myself bubbling with waves of excitement for the year ahead. Adventures to be planned … diaries to fill.
I feel almost a sense of relief to have made it into the new year.
I book trips and events, I bombard Al with questions and possibilities…
I buy a calendar and begin to fill it with fun things to look forward to..
And I’ve noticed something …
I love Autumn, my favourite season, closely followed by Spring… both times of change.
But in my mind, I completely bypass Winter…
Like it doesn’t exist… or at least maybe it does, but it’s a very short moment over the festivities that require Winter to be a ‘thing’ and then I’m done and it’s … ‘coming into Spring’ and it’ll be ‘coming into Spring’ until it’s Spring!
Its not that I’m consciously wishing time away, I know it’s January and I’m good with that, it’s more that I am ready for change, new beginnings and the year ahead.
Our journey with A Wolf and I has been a wild ride so far and we have learnt so much about being creative, business and most of all ourselves.
Every moment we are learning …
Growing.
We create out of love and joy, our business is a reflection of our passion for making, for magic, for the wild things.
This last year we have made ourselves smile endlessly whilst bringing tiny creatures, characters and enchantment into silvery being, with new collections, one off rarities and spur of the moment oddities.
We have learnt about Goddesses and witches, ancient tales and lost stories. We have experienced the power of the spoken word and the heart pounding of ancient drums around a fire.
We have also created a new world….
The Wolf and the Wild Things.
A place for story telling.
For art.
For magic.
A place we hope will compliment our existing woodland habitat.
A place we hope you’ll enjoy…
take a wander…
be lost for a moment in the woods….
find some gods and monsters …fae folk and friends.
Sit with us by the fire.
Let yourself be a wild thing for a while.
Our tribe has grown….
Our community of kindreds.
Of likeminded souls.
Like we are all lost in the woods, following breadcrumbs to a common place of wonder….
Be yourself and your people will find you.
Authenticity.
Passion.
Love.
We have been jewellery designers working together since 2003, for many years splitting our time between running and teaching at our jewellery school and making at A Wolf and I. Now we are coming into our fourth year of working at A Wolf and I full time, uninterrupted, and it’s been a wonderful, rewarding, tumultuous, frustrating and at times challenging adventure… but the best ones usually are right?
Sometimes, at the end of an long period of busyness.. we can feel wiped out, our hands are sore, our eyes are strained, our minds frazzled and our stooped shoulders solid !!
We collapse onto our favourite sofa, in a hug of pyjamas, cats and tea and wonder what it’s all about.
We talk about balance..
We chat about the importance of the things that make our souls soar …
And the equal value of moving away from the things that don’t.
We make more tea and warm our satisfyingly aching joints around our mugs and as we chat with gratitude about our year…
and little by little, like leaves unfurling ….like snowdrops pushing through the solid earth..
We begin to shed the aches .. the pressures and the tired, slow minds and we begin to feel the tiny buds of new ideas..
The quivering, butterfly winged tummy flickers of new designs … new things that make us smile, new ways of living to ensure balance.
New ways to express the magic that we see everywhere..
New ways express the ancient bond we feel towards our tribe .. the creation of talisman, charms, symbols, and sygils to be worn in a sisterhood of connected, shared experiences…
To compound the knowledge that you are not alone.
We are a tribe and we are all here, experiencing our versions of the same…we are all energy ….
Connected like the mycelium network …moving together .. sharing, growing, supporting.
The magic is this.
This is what drives our hearts.
This is why, when our hands are bleeding and our eyes are sore… we still fall into each others arms with a smile, knowing that after a little rest…
The green shoots will emerge, the excitement will take over and the magic will return, with fire and rage for our year ahead.
We hope you’ll join us.
