Sometimes, life needs a little extra flavor.
Some time ago, Wings created a miniature designed to do exactly that, in both eminently metaphorical and very literal terms. Item complete, he set it aside for a bit as he sometimes does, to season it a little, if you will . . . and forgot about it. He came across it yesterday, buffed it anew, and has now added it to our inventory.
It’s a tiny salt shaker, one of very portable size. Something so compact could also be used for other purposes: pepper, other seasonings, as an old-fashioned snuffbox, to hold ceremonial tobacco, to store tiny seeds for planting. But it was designed for salt, that substance of the very earth and waters themselves that was given to us for many purposes — to protect our food, to store it for future use, to give it flavor and make eating a pleasure, rather than a bland and tasteless act of subsistence.
It’s a very simple item, but with his usual skill, Wings has turned a thoroughly mundane tool, something seemingly wholly practical, into a collectible work of art that evokes powerful elemental themes. From its description in the Collectibles Gallery here on the site:
Seasons Salt Shaker
It’s a play on words and double meanings in a piece that represents the flavoring of life: of the body, and of the spirit. It’s a miniature salt shaker made entirely by hand, a tool to season the food that sustains us, styled and shaped in an homage to the seasons that sustain the world itself. The shaker is lightly domed in repoussé fashion, with five shaker holes drilled carefully in the center, then seated upon a small “foot” with a hole in the center for refilling; a tiny cork serves as a stopper. On the top, the concha-style surface is traced near the outer edge with a heavily stamped circle. Atop this band are overlaid delicate strands of sterling silver wire, each individually hand-formed into a spiral extending outward to meet up with its mirror image in a point that creates a diamond pattern: images of the vortex, of the sacred directions, of the four winds that power and shape and lend flavor to the seasons of the year. Depending on one’s orientation, the matched spirals may be placed at the cardinal directions, the points of the diamond, an encompassing Eye of Spirit, occupying ordinal points, or the reverse. The shaker is 1.75 inches across at its widest point, and stands 7/16 of an inch high (dimensions approximate). [Note: Matched pairs for salt and pepper may be commissioned.]
Sterling silver
$475 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The overlay design, deceptively simple, is actually quite intricate, one that involves meticulous detail work. The spirals are not prefabricated. Although it is possible (indeed, very easy) to find mass-produced geometric shapes and patterns ready for use, and to find them in finished pieces in the Native silverwork market, Wings doesn’t use them; he prefers to make his own. Each of these is hand-fabricated using very delicate sterling silver wire, heated and coiled into the individual spiral shapes with the arm extending outward to join its mirror image. It requires a good eye, a steady hand, extensive experience and skill, and seemingly infinite patience. The pieces of the pattern are soldered into the surface, then cleaned and oxidized and buffed.
It’s also a very powerful, very elemental design. The use of spirals, and the meanings that attach, varies widely throughout our cultures. One feature seems to be fairly universal however, and that is the sense of power ascribed to them. In some traditions, they represent the vortex, whether in actual whirlpool form or in a more metaphorical identity and metaphysical realm. They can be portals to other worlds, the embodiment of the elements and forces of Nature herself, the form and shape of the very winds. Placed at the directions as they are, they evoke images of the winds that power the change of seasons, and that indeed are immanent in the form and shape and identity of the seasons themselves.
It’s a surprisingly solid little piece, one of a decently heavy gauge of silver not normally found in miniatures like this. More than that, it’s a solid evocation of indigenous themes and imagery, one suitable for ordinary use — a daily reminder of the way that the gifts of Spirit season life itself.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2015; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owners.
