Getting the scale right....

 On the right are different sizes of paper tipis constructed while finding the proper scale dimensions.

1/24 means two feet per inch. I said this in an earlier post, but it's worth repeating that when we built Faerie Junction a year ago, the motto was, "Scale? Haha. Who cares? It's faeries! Just make it small."

With this project, I am inclined toward accuracy. Accuracy not only in the dimensions of the temples and shrines, but also with regard to the creation of the tiny tools and paraphernalia of devotion.

Watching glue dry causes a "get-it-done-now" girl much frustration. And, although my hobby motto is "No Hurry," I have chosen three very different cultural. i.e., devotional habitats to create in miniature to relieve me of boring drying time: the Shaman's Tipi, a Japanese Shrine and a Rose Window Screen.

Why these three, you might ask, when there is such a vast array of deities and devotions out there from which to choose? Here's why:

I have a small degree of Cherokee blood in my history. Even before I knew this, I constructed and lived in a tipi for two years while working at Rainbow Ranch in the early 90s. My tipi was 400 "square feet" of holy space: a place of refuge for the retreat cook making three meals a day. There is something special about living in that almost round structure. I slept well, meditated better and made pretty beaded jewelry at my little tabletop sitting on crates on the floor. (Read more about that in a post about Kitchens and chef-ing.)

After I left Rainbow Ranch, the owner was none to happy with my donation of the tipi to the center, since it wreaked a bit of havoc by blowing into a tree in a storm. However, my memories of it are clear. And for me, the tipi of a shaman would be a holy place.

If I have lived before, I have surely been Japanese. Long ago, when wondering why I put with with a rude design client who walked in front of me, I suddenly saw him as a 16th century Japanese Warrior, and I his wife, three paces behind. True or not, I honor Japanese design as well as the quiet calm of their devotions. Not to mention the most interesting roof lines.

The Rose Window? I love the rose window.

Three very different cultures and projects. But, imagine the tiny tools? More on that, next post.

Watch these grow into something! GB