Summer King is up for auction!

I also have a ton of other beautiful stuff up on the auctions page, including a beautiful one of a kind hand-dyed pysanka, or Easter egg, featuring a winged wolflet, courtesy of Angela at www.ars-ardens.com. There's also more perfume, including some LE Yule and Lupercalia blends from 2005, and a few mixed imp lots. There is also another beautiful scarf in autumn colors, generously crocheted and donated by my pal Amber, who does beautiful work.

Go check it out! I'll be adding more over the next couple of days.

The last round of auctions made over $300 total, and I hope to keep that streak alive. Spread the news around!

Mar. 01, 2007

All four boxes have been finished, and the first small batch of auctions are up on eBay! Right now there are only a few items, but I will be adding more every day.

Click here to see everything I have for sale, or visit the Auctions Page right here on MorningstarHall to see more pictures of the pretty boxes!

More tomorrow! Right now, I'm dead tired!

Feb. 06, 2007

I've completed the first piece for the wolf auction. At this point, I'm planning to put it up at the end of this month. I'm currently completing the other three pieces, and gathering perfume, jewelry, art, and other goodies to go with them.

The auction will be conducted through eBay, and will benefit Defenders of Wildilfe in their efforts to prevent wolves from being slaughtered in Idaho. More on that in a moment.

I have contacted Defenders about getting them a MissionFish account so that I can do the auction through eBay's Giving Works program, as they are not currently listed, but if they don't set an account up, I will conduct the auction through eBay anyway.

In either case, DOW will be receiving 90% to 95% of the profits; basically, everything I make minus what I need for shipping out the goods.

When everything is ready, I'll be linking to the auction all over the place. Right now, I'm working to get more stuff together to go with these beautiful pieces; if you are an artist or craftsperson and have something you would like to contribute, contact me and let me know what you have. I would love to hear from you. It doesn't have to be big or fantastically valuable; just pretty. Small items are great.

Also, as a final note about the box itself, the tribal part of this design owes a lot to Christy Grandjean, aka , who did this lovely piece, which I haven't been able to get out of my head since I first saw it. I hope she doesn't mind my taking inspiration from it in this fashion, and I encourage all of you to go, admire her art, and buy it if you can.

This whole wolf-hunt thing has me very upset. For more information, read on:

Long story short, the state of Idaho is removing the gray wolf from the endangered species list, and the state government has declared that they wish to eradicate up to 75% of the state's wolves, leaving only enough to keep the species off the endangered list. Estimates vary as to how many wolves would be killed, but the number could be in the hundreds.

A quick Google search on the phrase "Idaho calls for wolf kill" will net you the story a hundred times over.

Another Googling for "Idaho wolf hunt" reveals the possible cost for an Idaho resident to kill a wolf: $26.50.

The former Governor Kempthorne called for the eradication of wolves "by any means necessary" in 2001, and attitudes have not changed. Today, the current governor stands ready to bid on the first hunting license himself. He does not care.

More information can be found here, on the Defenders of Wildlife website. I suggest you read up on it. There are multiple updates, releases, and ways to take action.

My friends, I have no problem with hunting, even the hunting of predators. But this is not hunting. This is not even the "controlled management" of "resources" to preserve ecological balance. This is wholesale slaughter, the eradication of a species from an area where it has only recently regained a foothold. This is blind ignorance and fear.

You can email the United States Fish and Wildlife service about this travesty at contact@fws.gov or contact them online through this form on the Department of the Interior website.

You can donate to the Defenders of Wildlife here, directly.

You can email the Governor of Idaho via this form or you can write to him the old-fashioned way: P.O. Box 83720, Boise, Idaho 83720. If you are feeling particularly lively, you can call him at 208-334-2100. I don't suggest swearing or screaming, I suggest being just as reasonable as you can be, so that there is no way you can be dismissed as a nut case. Express your concern, and demand to know exactly how many licenses will be issued, when the hunting will begin, and why the state of Idaho is allowing the persecution of the wolf to continue. Tell them you'll be donating the cost of a hunting license to the wildlife protection group of your choice.

The letter I sent versions of to both Fish and Wildlife and to Gov. Otter is below, should you wish to read it. I hope, in any case, you decide to do something. Even writing a short note is better than keeping quiet about this. Donating money is great. I did, and I'm about to do a whole lot more.

To whom it may concern --

I am writing to express my disgust and dismay about your recent decision to hand over management of gray wolves to the State of Idaho.

The wolf, one of the most spectacular predators in all of nature, is slowly recolonizing its former range at great opposition from humans. Opposition like that which will soon be mounted against them in Idaho. If the wolf is ever to reclaim its former territory and exist as more than a mere curiosity, it must be allowed to spread without wholesale slaughter by the ill-informed and ignorant.

The wolf depended upon you, and you have turned it over to those who would destroy it.

Do you really believe that it was the best thing to do, given how people in Idaho clearly feel about wolves?

The Idaho Anti-Wolf Campaign told the Los Angeles Times that they will "get rid of" the wolves "one way or another." How convenient for them that you've made it so much easier.

In 2001 Idaho legislators passed -- and the governor signed -- a resolution calling for the elimination of wolves "by any means necessary." How convenient for them that you've played into their hands.

Was this the best decision? Why did you allow these animals' fates to be put into the hands of those who would destroy them out of simple fear and ignorance? If you cannot answer the first question, perhaps you should think about it. I hope you can answer the second. I hope you will.

I'm sure you are getting many email messages, perhaps phone calls, from people expressing "dismay" and "concern." I believe that it goes without saying that this situation is deeply dismaying and a cause for great concern.

In fact, I am beyond "dismay" and "concern."

I am physically revolted by your ill-advised decision to turn over management of Idaho's fragile wolf population to those who would destroy them. I am forced to conclude that this is what you wish: for the slaughter of these beautiful animals to continue as though they were a deadly menace and not the quiet, peaceable creatures they are.

As a lover of wildlife, I am sickened by the thought of the slaughter to come, and I hope you are, too. As a hunter myself, I am repulsed by the senseless, stupid waste of it. And as a feeling human being, I am hurt by the thought of the suffering this will cause. Wolves are social animals that form strong and loving pack bonds. They are, indeed, capable of feeling pain, and of missing one another.

Strong federal protections are still needed to safeguard our wolves. YOU are still needed. And there is still hope. There is still time for you to act.

Please act.

Why would you turn over the custody of a species to people determined to eradicate it? The fate of the American wolf should not rest in the hands of those who would destroy this precious symbol of America's strength and resilience.

They are marvelous animals, and exemplify so many of the things that humans aspire to. They are loving with their families and excellent caregivers to their young, they are intelligent, they are strong. They cooperate with one another, and packs exist peacefully alongside one another with comparatively little strife. They sing, as we do. They love the forest, as we do. They hunt as we once did. We see beauty in them because we have so much in common.

Too much to allow this to happen.

Please take action to prevent this appalling slaughter. Please don't prove yourself one of those who can see no value to an animal unless it can be sold or eaten. Show that you understand the value of the wolf, and support its return to our country. Show that you understand your duty to protect our wolves against those who are too blind to see how precious they are.

I would love to hear their song in my own state someday.

Thank you for your time,

Amanda Gannon

Sentimental? Yeah. A bit. But I mean it. They're better than us. American wolves do not slaughter humans. There has never been a verifiable attack of a healthy wild wolf attacking a human being in America.

Why, when they are reviled as devils, are we the ones exhibiting unconscionable behavior?

Feb. 01, 2007

Morningstar Hall is live!

Okay, so it's staggering around, bumping into things, in a lurching imitation of life, but hey, those bolts in its neck actually look pretty swift.

Don't let it fool you, though. I'm geared up for business, and there's a lot on the slate for this month.

I just finished a commission for a friend, and pictures of that will be going up as soon as she has it in her hands. Also, I'm planning an auction to benefit The Defenders of Wildlife, to support their efforts to protect the American grey wolf. This isn't one you'll want to miss, trust me. It's super-cool and for a very good cause.

For now, this is a place for me to showcase my art and promote my writing, and also a place to just generally cut loose, but in the future it will include much more.

Eventually I hope Morningstar Hall will include original fiction, articles, and artwork, a guestbook so you can get drunk and say really inappropriate things, and a blog and mailing list to help keep you abreast of good news. Sometime in 2007 I hope to unveil a subscription newsletter featuring all-new stories by yours truly and, hopefully, a few selected guest authors.

For now, stick with me! Whatever the news is, odds are you'll find it here on the main page. Keep up with me, and I'll keep growing!

If you have ideas about what you'd like to see here, please feel free to sing out. I thrive on input. And ginger snaps.