Odds Ends

Bangles Galore

I need to blame my wife for getting me hooked on bangles. She saw an advertisement in a magazine and said, “You can make these!” So simple in design, yet beautiful in appearance, these bangles have been a big hit with everyone

EAST MEETS WEST

The Torii Gate is only found at Shinto shrines. Its purpose is to divide our physical world from the spiritual. Its open construction allows for one’s prayers to more easily pass between these two dimensions. These Torii Gate stands and gongs will certainly beckon whatever spirit moves you.

El Gallo’s Table Gallery

All wood slabs and bases have been made from wood harvested from a natural growth, sustainable forest located in western Illinois.

The wood slabs have been air and kiln dried for at least one year, and prepared and sanded by hand. The completed table and bench tops have been finished with multiple coats of polymerized Tung oil sealer, followed by multiple coats of Tung oil or hand rubbed varnish.

EL Gallo’s Bowl Gallery

The bowls have all been turned ‘wet’, allowed to air dry for a minimum of a month, and then completed.  The turned bowls were finished with a mixture of polymerized Tung oil, and a variety of varnish finishes.

El Gallo’s Kiva Gallery

These turned bowl represents the Kiva, the center of the religious and ceremonial life of the Hopi. The Kiva is typically a single room, wholly or partly subterranean, that is entered by way of a ladder through an opening in the flat roof.

The Kachina doll, seen here emerging from the Kiva, are the symbolic representations in human form of the spirits of plants, animals, birds, places or ancestors. The Kachina’s major concerns are rain, fertility, rich harvest, good health, long life, and achieving balance and harmony in nature.

As Kachina spirits emerge from the Kivas, they adopt human forms, living in the midst of the Hopis for about six months of each year. They appear in December, around the time of Winter Solstice, increasing their number during the ceremonial season of February and in July return to their spirit world.