Friday, June 19, 2009

Charmed I'm Sure!

Whew! I finally finished my charms for my stamp club charm swap - 19! This is the first time I've ever done a charm swap and I really enjoyed it. It took me awhile to come up with an idea, but once I did it was a lot of fun figuring out how it was all going to go together.

I was actually inspired by a sarcastic comment from my 19 year old daughter. I was whining about having no ideas and she said something like, 'take a piece of copper and smash it in an eyeball, something, something, blah, blah, blah.' This probably sounds weird unless you first understand that we are very, very weird so that is a fairly normal conversation. All I heard was smash copper and a little lightbulb went off over my head!

I had some unfinished wooden spools that I thought might work well for the base. I inked them and wrapped them with copper strips that I embossed with the word 'Create'. A black glass bead in the top and bottom holds the head pin in place.

When they were done I thought they looked a bit like Tibetan Prayer Wheels. From Wikipedia:

A prayer wheel is a cylindrical 'wheel' (Tibetan: 'khor) on a spindle made from metal, wood, stone, leather, or even coarse cotton. Traditionally, the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum is written in Sanskrit externally on the wheel. Also sometimes depicted are Dakinis, Protectors and very often the 8 auspicious symbols Ashtamangala. According to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, spinning such a wheel will have much the same meritorious effect as orally reciting the prayers.

I guess 'Create' is pretty much my mantra. Maybe they're little artistic prayer wheels. The fantastic Buddha stamp is from Vickie Enkoff and seemed to fit just perfectly.

12 comments:

  1. Oh Shelly!!! I LOVE these. I may have to "case" the idea as I have some of those little spools as well as some copper and silver thin gauge metal!!! I also have some ten two studios metal working stuff as well. OMG...you so inspired me today!!! Thanks so much. Your site rocks, and I visit nearly every day (as time allows). Love your stuff...you got the muse goin' on!!! Hisses, Rockin Robin

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  2. Shelly, These are awesome, theirs some lucky gal's who will be receiving your mini works of art!!!

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  3. Shelly, Shelly, Shelly . . . those spools are gorgeous! I'm glad your 19 year old inspired you. I just love it when my 17 year old manchild says something or does something to inspire ME! :)

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  4. Great job on these Shelley! They turned out awesome! Kathy Eddy

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  5. Very creative - you should have made some extras so that when you friends tell you they are having a creative block you can send them a special prayer!

    I've never worked with the metal - I think I need to give it a try and of course I love copper!

    Thanks for sharing and you daughter is a lot of inspiration!

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  6. These are great! They really do look like antique prayer wheels. Love the tag, too.

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  7. Brilliant idea and they turned out beautifully! Your work is just awesome Shelly!!

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  8. Shelly...these are absolutely gorgeous and I love the little tags you made to go with each one.

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  9. Shelly - these do look like prayer wheels! They are awesome! I had to laugh reading your post - I have 3 teenagers so we have those weird conversations too! :D Marv

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Thanks so much for taking the time to share your thoughts. I appreciate your comments so much!