//four object altar//

I chose four objects for this project - one old and handcrafted, one newer and painted, one found in nature, and one found in a thrift store. 

The first - a bottle cap necklace with an image of Death from Terry Pratchett's Hogfather (the film adaptation of the novel), coated in a protective film of nail polish. I made this necklace many years before Lawrence when I was less muscley, so sadly it no longer fits. I keep it around with the vague intention of someday switching out the string for a slightly longer one. It evokes some specific meanings that might not translate to others looking at it - for me, it evokes the sentimentality I inherited from my dad, the inability to let go of things because I'm afraid of missing them someday. It's a bit ratty, frayed, worn, all indications that it has been well loved.

The second - a sliver of cardboard painted mostly dark green, with stripes of yellow, and blue eyes of various sizes floating over the top. I painted this piece of cardboard on the floor of my room last year, with a friend. We were experimenting that night, trying to just make stuff without thinking about the stuff too much, seeing what interesting things might happen if we weren't trying so hard to make something 'good'. At the time, I was interested in eyes - not anatomical eyes, but crude, almost sigil-like representations of eyes. I drew and painted a lot of eye sigils, developing a particular way of shaping the eye and filling out the inside of the eye that felt like my own personal sign. There's something haunting about this object, about the rough, folky shapes, like the iconography of an unknown and personal religion. 

Third - a little chunk of a glittery white something. I don't know if it's rock, or bone, or some other material. I don't remember where I found it. I've collected rocks and shells, twigs and bones and acorns since I was old enough to dig around in the dirt and dead leaves for them. Like a corvid, I enjoy collecting and surrounding myself with shiny treasures - this particular treasure sits on top of two other rocks on my bookshelf, a mysterious and glittery cairn. I don't know what to make of it, so for me, it's evocative of alienness, a reminder that it's alright to not know, an invitation to investigate. And it's glittery (they said for the third time), so it's automatically magical. 

Fourth, and last - a black champagne flute that used to have a twin, before I tragically dropped it. This was a Fox Valley Thrift Shoppe find, one of those finds where you discover you already had the perfect spot for it in your life and had been awaiting its arrival without even realizing. This flute, to me, evokes loss, mourning, unexpected solitude. 

All together, my trinkets make a curious basement altar, to a god of the beholder's devising. For me, the collection invites stillness, introspection, appreciation for simplicity.