Wall of hearts: a plethora of sketches for the reverse of the disk. It’s taken a year + for the elements of this piece to become clear, and the selection of just the right image for the reverse concluded the initial design process. It’s not unusual for talismanic pieces for a particular individual to take months to formulate. Some come quickly, others take time, depending on the complexity of the forces to be housed and my ability to determine right relationship between the appropriate images and materials once they are discovered.
Version selected- this image will be transferred to the bloodwood panel, and the image will be carved into it once fixed to the ebony base.
The foundation is made: two pieces of ebony, with one layer of bloodwood between them are laminated together between steel pressing disks. When cut, a thin red line will show in the center of the outside perimeter face.
Parts and patterns for obverse and reverse of disk.
Khepera emerges from an ebony blank.
A recess is made in the center of the finished ebony/bloodwood foundation disk plate, and a single 2mm pearl is placed inside. The hole is then filled and sealed with ebony.
The hidden pearl in the hole at the heart of the disk.
The hole in the center has been completely sealed and cured, and next the hand-cut and inlaid motto in bronze 220 is itself inlaid into the cavity carved in the disk.
Next, the bloodwood panel is inlaid and the entire piece is placed under the pressing disks for 24 hours.