Making Things Personal

Following on from the topic in the other Courtyard, making our own magical or ritual tools can also get us closer to those ancient times.

I like to make use of my favourite wood; hazel. I have two hazel trees in the garden and I will often make things from pruning as the wood is just wonderful to carve. Here are two items, which due to a long story are not from my tree, but were gifted to me from another’s hazel.

One is my adaze I use for the Opening Of The Mouth ceremony, and the other is my Was staff. I’ve also made a Sistrum from an odd bit of wood I found (not hazel). They may appear to be not 100% replicas, but that is because I like to allow the influence on my locale to impact on the design. And in the case of the sistrum, my technical/engineering background to come through - it is who I am after all.

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Opps and the adaze…

@kev I have started gathering things to make a sistrum. I will carve the wooden handle myself, and have beer and cider caps for the middle part (yes, Sekhmet rituals and beer go hand in hand). Could you advise me on what to use for the outer rim? And how to attach to the handle? (Tie it with wire or small screws either side at the base?)
I am shamelessly appealing to your inner engineer here :smiley:

Things I have made myself include incense holders from clay, engraved glass candle holders, and repurposed furniture to make altar. My best one, pictured below is an old broken tv cabinet, which has been repainted and lined with black and gold material to house my beloved Anubis. I think he likes that the doors to his shrine can be open or closed, and he can be hidden from view.

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@Anippe what I did was went to B&Q and got a strip of steel then I carefully bent it around a pole bit by bit. It takes a bit of practice to bend metal like that so don’t over bend, just a little pressure a bit at a time along the length and eventually you will get there.

Fastening was another challenge. I was going to bolt it but didn’t like the look, instead as you can see on mine is that I drilled holes straight through and using some metal poles (again from B&Q) I pushed through the holes and then bent around using my table vice to hold it and using my weight and pilers.

Not dainty and I think that is fine! :slight_smile:

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Nice! And doors are good as they would be used to that in the temples.