As many of you know, I have supported youth oriented charities and events for decades. I really feel that giving youth something productive to do, and giving specific direction greatly improves a kid’s success. Success not just in the activity they are doing, but in all areas. A kid that sees effort being made to, I don’t know, just spend time with them, results in a kid that achieves more in all areas of life. Last year, Eric and Gayle Glomski of Page Springs Cellars saw a need in the Cottonwood area for a youth center. They created the Tilted Earth Festival as a way to raise funds to reopen a defunct center and get it started again. This year’s festival will support two additional groups; Prescott Creeks and the Verde Valley Humane Society. Prescott Creeks is a group started by Eric to clean-up and restore the riparian areas and the waterways around the Prescott Area. Verde Valley Humane Society (the local group) provides a home and placement service for pets.
To try to help kick-start the silent auction, I created a very unique piece. This is the first art piece that I have “named”. It seemed appropriate this time. VINUM TERRAE AD UNUM, loosely translated as “Wine and Earth as One”. With materials sourced from Arizona and truly one of a kind materials, I give you this piece.
The blade, as all my knives are, is hand-cut, ground, shaped and polished ATS-34 stainless steel. The handle is accented with nickel-silver and turquoise. The stone you see is very unique. Pulled from the deepest depths of the Copper Queen mine in Bisbee, Arizona, this stone is extremely rare. A combination of native copper, chrysocolla (the blueish-green), tenorite and hematite (the black), calcite and quartz (the white) and traces of malachite (the green). This piece was pulled by a family member, just before the mine closed in 1975. The area where this piece came from is now under water, and no more of this mineral can be retrieved.
Handle Close-up
Another unique feature of this knife is the striking wood in the handle. This is from Arizona Oak barrel staves used in Page Springs Cellars wine barrels. The base for the bottle is made from these same staves, married to an exquisite piece of Birds-eye Maple. Tilting the bottle to 21 degrees to represent the Tilted Earth are mounds of Arizona chrysocolla from the Morenci mine. Sleeping Beauty turquoise, some consider the most beautiful turquoise in the world, from Globe, Bisbee Malachite, and copper shavings fill the natural cracks in the wood. The holes in the board are where the staves were connected together.
The label is a 2013 Grenache on Arizona Oak (an Arizona grown grape), highlighting the knife, the region, our state, and our favorite winery.
This knife will be available for Silent Auction bid at the festival.
I will be adding a few sub-pages over the coming days that documents the build, so watch for it.