on the peace/prayer flags project and international peace day

tomorrow is international peace day - 

if you haven't yet, please do click over to the flags project blog to see what people have been sharing... tomorrow is our day to come together to post about the flags we have made - in their many interpretations... 

see their work, read their words, hear their thoughts... 

perhaps adding some of your own along the way -

it's all rather beautiful and moving when you think about it... 

carving, etching & prayer/peace flags

i started carving in rubber block - and love it... 


om, lotus, feathers and a bear totem... i thought i would be using them on fabric for the peace flags project... 

but it seems i cannot escape the jeweler/metal worker mindset... and i'm ok with that... the whole idea for the project was to be interpretive - to send wishes for peace free in your own way... 

my first set of flags are on the small side, copper om and lotus buds alternating... connected in such a way that movement in possible... highlighted with floss in the correct color arrangement... one wrapped lapis drop at the bottom... 

you can read more about the project (and join in if you like) here... 

circling

when i do something new-ish, it can almost be assumed that i have a project i need to begin the physical work on but am at that point where i need to push through to begin... it's that moment when you are half excited/half terrified... 

so naturally, i do something completely unrelated... 

like make my first stamp - 

the flags for peace project has a natural deadline of sept. 21st - international peace day... i had wanted to be able to carve stamps to apply the paint/ink to the material... and i just got the supplies in this morning... 

i wanted my first stamp to be a lotus and i found this image in my book by robert beer... 

it had been suggested that i practice on erasers (though i am wondering if i got the right kind, i know i got the right tools... they didn't go through 'like butter'... so i am either holding the cutting edge incorrectly, or i got the wrong eraser!) thank you, barbara, for giving me a list of the supplies i needed...

as i sat carving - which i rather liked - my daughter came in from a photography workshop she worked at the grounds for sculpture,

and she handed me this - 

a real lotus petal... i hadn't asked for it, nor did she know what i was doing as she had left before the delivery arrived!

i am really happy with it - i wanted a rough woodcut type effect... i know there is practice to be done... but at least i can get going on the peace/prayer flags now... 

new blog - group project

on march 21st, i posted about international peace day and proposed a peace flag project of our own... 


i was so excited by the response i received that this was born... 


a new blog


one i hope will be interactive and inspiring... 


one i hope will collectively take the ripples we each create and magnify them... 


please come take a look 


& consider participating in whatever way you might like -


sharing your flags at the end,


sharing your flags, writing, art, garden, world in the interim


and contributing to the blog ... 


you are welcome and appreciated... 


thank you for helping me to make this real... 

six month notice

(must be the lack of sleep that has made me brave this morning... 

oh, hey, i notice my son has been in his bank! hmmm... )

in exactly six months, you will have the opportunity to celebrate international peace day... why am i bringing this up now? because i had an idea and ran it by a friend... then started to reach out to others wondering if they might like to get involved... and personally, i like to have some time to think about things and then execute them to my liking - 

here's the idea - you make a set of prayer flags in whatever way speaks to you - metal, paper, fiber, anything you wish to use... then hang them... take a picture of them in situ and share on september 21st... maybe we can have a central list going - i was thinking of making a page where you can add your name and link to it... 


adding our wishes to so many others in the world can only magnify the effect... 


in the meantime, i have been thinking about making necklaces - 

(patinas from missficklemedia)

'peace is not something you wish for;

it's something you make, 

something you do,

something you are

and something you give away.'

- robert fulghum

wishing you peace today - 

i'm off to smudge my workspace and get started... 

finding peace - over and over and over

i had an image of a ring that i wanted to make - it started in the winter, developing slowly... i only wanted to make that ring - and i knew i would be directed... and so on sunday, i did it... i made my first ring ... it is meant to evoke a zen garden -with a small pool of water where a flower blossom floats gently on the surface... stillness, peace... 


it seemed to come together with the acquisition of techniques and a series of events... 

when we saw the burton exhibit in april, we passed this billboard ... i didn't realize the dalai lama was coming to the city to speak... a couple of weeks ago, em was asked by a friend if she wanted to go to see him... i said 'of course'... it was her first time into manhattan alone with friends, but she was going with a group including some boys that i trust completely... it also felt like the perfect event to launch her into that 'first'... she and i had seen him at rutgers a few years ago and it was an incredible experience... 


last week in philly while walking through the children's hospital, we came upon these:

they are inspired by prayer flags...

the hopes, the dreams, the thoughts upon them were deeply moving... 

it was a 13 hr. day - and one that required us to be away from all wifi, but we were allowed to leave the premises... too rainy for the zoo, we headed to the museum... and em asked if we could find the temple... 

there is beauty in every day, there are opportunities to find peace... even if in closing your eyes and breathing deeply... it is in the notice we take, the choices we make that guide us through our moments... 

'as human beings we all want to be happy and free from misery...

we have learned that the key to happiness is inner peace.

the greatest obstacles to inner peace 

are disturbing emotions such as anger, attachment,

fear and suspicion,

while love and compassion and a sense

of universal responsibility are the sources of peace

and happiness.'

~ the dalai lama