Getting to know ...

Usually, before making a window lamp, I try to get a sense of its 'personality' by being aware of what it feels like and noting any particular words, colours, numbers, etc. that come to mind. Not that I dwell on these things, but they are like little clues along the way, subconsciously informing what the window lamp is meant to be. Each window has its own vibration, probably created by:

1. Its former location (did it come from a town or country house; living room, bedroom or kitchen?)

2. The people who interacted with it in the house it once occupied (were they peaceful, were they a family, was it a single person, old or young, etc?)

3. The reasons why it was detached from its original position. (Was the house demolished? If so, why? Was the window removed to make way for more modern ones?)

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Depending on where (or how) I find (or receive) the window, I will not always know the answers to those kinds of questions. On different levels (and in ways that can't necessarily be put into words),the process of making a window lamp is intuitively healing and transformational for me ... and, I feel, for the one(s) who eventually receive(s) it.

Close up detail of designs on one of two similar panes to the bottom of the window

When I first get a window I wash it - not only to remove physical dirt, but also to cleanse it in a deeper, intangible sense. Since bringing it home, this current window has been outside. It has an outdoorsy spirit. In addition to the original washing I gave it, the rain has also been playing its part, giving it heavy showers (of blessings).

Close up shot of screw on window hinge

What I have picked up so far from this window:

1. Natural. If I asked it where it came from, it would sooner respond "from a tree" - as opposed to "from a house in Santa Cruz/Toco/Tunapuna/wherever".

2. The colour green keeps coming to mind.

3. Cool, peaceful

4. Not just to be looked at - to be experienced

5. Music, inspiration

6. Multifaceted

7. Gentle surprises

8. Even though it has four panes, it feels more like the number 3

9. It has a special name which will be revealed in the course of time that I am working on it

10. It feels quiet and willing, but patient. Maybe that's what the person who gazed through it most was like. Or maybe it goes further back ... the tree that it came from must have had those qualities.

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By the way, for those who have been following the 'Steps' project, I have not forgotten or abandonned it. Another installment will be forthcoming (shortly).

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Elspeth