Tales from Studio Mailbox

Owl Shrine

Using an owl image from my recently discovered old stamp stash, I made a bottle cap shrine for an artist I really admire.  I've written about how much iLove iHanna before and simply wanted to send her a little something as a token of gratitude for linking me to her blog. I continued to get traffic from her very popular site even through her summer hiatus.  She was one of the first people in the blog-o-sphere to really help me along. 

The shrine has a US stamp inside of a German bottle cap.  The brewery is named "Kauzen" which means owl.  Hanna seems to really like these birds and I figure that it's no better time than Halloween to send her surprise and give her a hoot! 

I'm very pleased with how the lobster clasp worked out (I managed not to get any glue on it so that the shrine dangles freely). The only hard part is getting a "nice" hole in the bottle cap.  I've tried both a drill and a dremel before.  This time I used a Fiskar's paper punch. I wouldn't recommend this tool however because now mine no longer wants to punch paper very nicely.  Any other ideas out there?

The really bizarre thing is that Hanna's town in Sweden apparently has the pretzel as it's mascot.  I am inwardly convinced that this has some kind of meaning!! 

Neighborhood Shrine Love

I've lived in Europe long enough that I've stopped noticing some of the magnificent things that are right in my own neighborhood!  Things that ordinarily would have me running for my camera have started escaping my attention.  Well not anymore! 

Could you imagine owning the cottage that's set behind this beautiful old shrine?  It makes me wonder things like; does the shrine belong to the village?  Is it property of the homeowner?  Who maintains it and keeps that candle burning?  (I will have to take a night shot for you, for a totally different effect and mood).

This shrine makes me want to build one myself.  Think about the enhanced curb appeal!  Well for now, I'll just envy my neighbors.

Miniature Smurf Museum

 Here's my latest shrine designed for my dear friend Kelli.  It's intended to be a travel companion whether she's in the hospital or sleeping away from home while she fights the effects of what must feel like her millionth round of chemo.

Being the world's first miniature Smurf museum, it's not without a couple mistakes.  The first one was that despite being really careful near the hinged opening, now that's it's finished it no longer snaps closed.  The second mistake was using a new pen to write the words "travel edition."  Once the writing was covered with Diamond Glaze, it bled and turned to mud.  Oopsie.

It occured to me when snipping the tiny images for the four inchies mounted inside the empty plastic stamp pad case that maybe all those roiling, wafting, smoky test tubes and bunsen burners of Gargamel's are actually attempts to find a cure for cancer.

Maybe Gargamel, despite being the giant nemesis of the Smurfs, has a redeeming quality.  Maybe he's actually not so bad after all.  He's just a bit anti-social after living for years alone in the forest with a temperamental cat.  Maybe, just maybe, he's been busy testing and working on wiping Cancer off the face of the earth! All that obsessive crap about him finding the Smurf village is a giant cover-up.  Wouldn't that be something?

Sick of Being Sick

I'm sick since last week.  It's so funny how we take our lives for granted until we're unable to function normally.  I've got the kind of relentless head congestion that has me looking at the wire BBQ brush on our balcony and thinking if I could just jam it up a nostril maybe I could scrape out all the pressure in my head.  UGH.

Here's a little picture of a shrine that's up in the vineyards behind our house.  Isn't she beautiful?  I've been meaning to photograph her in every weather and season.   For now, this is all I've got.  I wonder if the plastic flowers are a fall/winter touch and if the farmer switches them up with something fresh in the summer.  These are the kinds of mysteries I'm contemplating as I wait for this sinus infection to run it's course.

I"ll be back eventually.

Mens in Uitvoering

My friend Guus Stoop is embarking on a new life adventure.  After 27 years contributing to the advancement of human life as a research and development scientist for heart pacemakers, he's stepping out into the world on his own two feet.  His new business; Mens In Uitvoering.

Years ago when we first met, I remember teasing him how great it was that he could make a failing heart function again but that it would be better if he could figure out how to fix a broken heart.

It would change the world!

This man with "about" 25 patents went back to school and graduated this spring with a psychology degree.  (Guus doesn't know exactly how many patents he has or contributed to.  I guess after a couple dozen a guy just loses track).  Anyway, now he's ready.  Ready to bring the physical and emotional together. 

His deep interest: Ubuntu philosophy.  His motto, a quote from Baruch Shalem, "There's nothing wrong with you that what's right wtih you can't fix."  

For his scientific retirement gift, I intuitively created a set of 36 power-word shrines. I know he will know what to do with them. 

 

 

Shrine Winners!

Congratulations to Dawn and Joanne K!  You two have won bottlecap shrines made with Kelli's polymer clay beads.  The first one to respond with a prefernce gets their pick... look closely, the green one contains the famous "cat hair" bead!!!  Thanks again to everyone who visited Studio Mailbox to support Kelli as well as an extra thanks for taking the time to comment.