Two saturdays ago was my gramma’s birthday, she turned 82.
Repeat after me: eighty two years old.
What a number!
For the occasion I regressed to a much younger age and, for the present, I trusted my old beads and synthetic clay.
The starting question was: what could possibly want, a 82 yo lady, who spends her time cooking and going to church, doing all this for her family?
Then I remembered the big drawer she has in the guest room, where she collected the photos of her dear lost ones, a blessed candle and a music box from Lourdes.
Then I also remembered the plastic rosary, all battered up, she keeps on the coffee table in the living room, to pray along the mass on TV.
Yes, if you’re still wondering, my grandma is very religious.
I’m not, but this doesn’t mean I do not respect her beliefs, most of all after seeing how much comfort she gets from it all. This is one of the BLL (Big Life Lessons) I’ve learned reaching my 30s.
Ok, this post is turning sappy, so here’s the picture of what I’ve made:
Let’s start from the rosary.
Yes, I’ve strung every.single.bead, I made the hoops and attached them one.by.one.
I was close to having an epiphany.
And then, inspired by these smiling Buddhas, and these content goddesses, I wanted to make a synthetic terracotta clay Madonna.
Inside are cardboard and tinfoil structures, to hold it up and make it lighter.
I tried to roll the clay as thin as I could, both for a more drapy effect, and to keep it always pretty light.
I don’t know about you, but it makes me feel serene, I like how “rustic” it looks, the earthy colour, the “genuine” feel of the ragged borders, of the pieces of copper leaf.
Yeah, I’m tooting my own horn… but I’m so happy with how it turned out, I’ve never made a sculpture before!
And I wouldn’t be surprised if, with the leftover clay, I were to sculpt my own pacific and serene statue to keep on my desk, with no religious connotation whatsoever, just a little happy, quiet, smiley being 