The Ash Tree – The 3rd 13th Moonth

Brief Summary…

• Recycled silver Victorian shillings
• Hand carved midrib and veins details
• Choice of Ash leaves
• Hand cut from the shilling with traditional jewellers piercing saw.
• Free engraving of special on reverse
• Hairy Growler sterling silver earring wires
• Size :  20mm * 13mm
• Symbolism: rebirth, healing, connection, and balance
• Handcrafted & Recycled in Cambridge
• made with Love

 

In so few strides I circumambulate the tree, its centuries
centred in rings of heartwood, sapwood – the circularity
of years, charted seasons, bud & leaf-fall, bloom & icicle

Myth in its fibres, wood made word; the fissured bark
of Yggdrasil, world-tree, tree of Ask – the first man, tree
of manna, foe feller, child healer, known by eye & fingertip

Here, see the fine and delicate strata of its leaves, how they gift
sun’s light one to another, on and on down through themselves,
filter & diffuse it, release of form & structure, release as gesture

*

Chalara, the trees’ killer, gets to work in summer:
spore to leaf, hypha to stoma, appressorium splits
the epidermis, fungus threads the pith, xylem & phloem

In months leaves wither, stems drop, branches purple, suffer
lesions. Crown slides low, turns winter-brittle off season.
Disease strips whole hills of trees, makes place memory

I cannot know the tragedy of moths & lichens, their soft
dusty bodies, their searching mouths, their ecosystem
syphoned out of other, larger, ecosystems, last generations

of their species. I only know how names on maps – Askrigg,
Askham, Ashford – will slip their meaning, trip the tongue,
the way word follows world, & how forest light will alter

-Chris Poundwhite

A little more detail….

Ash leaf earrings handcrafted using traditional hand tools and techniques. Handmade from recycled silver shillings. Welcome to Hairy Growler.

Using recycled silver shillings, I am able to craft these lovely Ash earrings. Coin collectors do not want these shillings because of the marks and blemishes on the surface. This is a result of being used to buy and sell over one hundred years ago. I create designs and ideas to preserve the coins’ personalities and quirks. My goal is to do this in order for the historical details to be retained, which adds depth, interest and intrigue to the design. This means I can preserve these coins for a future generation.

I hand cut the Ash leaf earrings individually from old, out of circulation coins with a traditional jewellers saw, then I carve and engrave the design. I present these earrings with a sterling silver ‘off-cut’ which connects them beautifully to their interesting, recycled material history, and pair of earrings that I create is different, unusual and unique. This makes each coin a separate little masterpiece.

I can also engrave personal initials onto the reverse of the Ash leaf earrings upon request. Handmade and completely recycled in Cambridge, UK. Complete with the finest sterling silver earwires. Size : Approx 20 mm * 13 mm

World tree jewellery.  The Third Moon month of Ash.  The collection of jewellery celebrating the Ash tree of life and its connection to our existence.  The symbolic nature of protection, power, health and courage present in each piece.

The Sentinel of Worlds

In the ash, a cosmic axis breathes,
Where root-bound earth with sky’s high branch agrees.
An emerald crown against the sun-kissed blue,
A whispered wisdom ancient and anew.

From Norseman’s saga, Yggdrasil takes form,
A World Tree weathering every storm.
Its leaves, the souls, in cycles born and shed,
A tapestry of life, the living and the dead.

The Weaver of Fates

The Norns, at its roots, their prophecies unfold,
A wellspring of wisdom, secrets to be told.
Odin’s sacrifice, a knowledge deeply gained,
The runes inscribed, his wisdom self-obtained.

Ash staffs of Druids, bearing magic’s might,
Healing the broken, piercing through the night.
A guardian spirit, in its stature tall,
Resilience woven, to stand against the fall.

A Legacy of Resilience

Though blighted now by shadows, grim and gray,
Ash dieback gnawing, stealing life away.
Yet in each dying trunk, a warrior’s stand,
A symbol etched on this afflicted land.

From emerald borer’s wrath, a lesson flows,
Of human patterns, and the pain it shows.
To mend the harm, to nurture, and to learn,
For Ash, a mirror, for our spirits’ turn.

A Bridge of Hope

Even in stillness, the ash speaks of change,
Of life’s enduring, ever-shifting range.
New generations rising, green and bright,
A future blooming, in the fading light.

The world tree leaves have been lovingly hand cut with enormous care from old coins. Inspired by the tree of life idea, shape, ethos and belief. The design has been freehand sketched on to the coin it is carefully hand cut and carved using traditional hand saws, chisels and files. Consequently this traditional process allows me to have a close connection to each piece, ensuring the end result is personal and unique.