Back From The Land of Enchantment

Greetings, readers! I'm just back from a most enchanting stay in the Land of Enchantment... New Mexico! It was a wonderful week, full of adventure and exploration, and although I'm on a strict budget, I brought back some neat items, costing little or nothing, that I had been hoping to find.

Although much of the land there is quite arid, wherever there is water, there will be giant, majestic Cottonwood trees. They are called "Paako" (meaning "water wood") by the Hopi Indians on account of their ability to seek out and find water. The Hopi use the roots of the cottonwood tree to make "Kachinas", intricately carved and decorated representations of benevolent Hopi spirit helpers that are given to children as teaching tools. While Kachinas are still an integral part of the Hopi way of life, the beauty and artistry of the carved figures did not escape the eye of outsiders, and eventually Hopi artisans began carving Kachinas to sell in the tourist markets. Today, finely carved Kachinas worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars are sought out by avid collectors, and more simply crafted Kachinas are carried all over the world by visitors to New Mexico and Arizona eager to take with them a beautiful and meaningful reminder of the spirit of the southwest.

Having grown up largely in Arizona and New Mexico, I've been familiar with Kachinas for years, but rather than buying one from a curio shop, I thought it might be a fun and informative experience to try to carve my own. I am grateful to my brother-in-law for conveying his knowledge of the craft (which is considerable!) and to my nephew, who guided me through a grand forest of Cottonwoods towards some that had fallen, allowing access to the sacred roots from which traditional Kachinas are carved. I hope to keep readers apprised of my progress when I begin the project, but first I will do some more research and decide what figure I should like to depict! As Ive done in earlier posts, I would like to direct anyone interested in Kachinas and Hopi culture towards another website, rather than clutter up the Internet with redundant and possibly incomplete information.... the Guide to Hopi Kachina Dolls does a far better job of explaining Kachinas than I could hope to do here.

Pictured at the top of this post are two of the four Cottonwood roots I carried back to Providence with me. I was also very happy to be able to gather up a nice ball of sticky, fragrant resin from some Piñon pine trees in Taos that I will likely use as a natural adhesive or varnish in some project or other. One of my favorite ways to evoke the spirit of New Mexico here on the east coast is to light a log of Piñon wood incense from Incienso de Santa Fe. The aroma of burning Piñon and Cedar woods wafting on a crisp, cool breeze through an ancient pueblo is something anyone can experience by picking up a box of this incense!

When traveling from Santa Fe to Taos (something anyone visiting the Land of Enchantment is apt to do) a worthwhile diversion may be had by exiting the highway and making ones way along a scenic, winding road towards the small village of Chimayo. Here, nestled within a valley in the Sangre de Cristo mountain range, you will find New Mexico's most visited chapel, the Santuario de Nuestro Señor de Esquipulas, commonly called the Santuario de Chimayo. The current chapel was built in 1816 to house a miraculous crucifix that was found when a Chimayo Friar performing penances noticed a burst of light issuing forth from a nearby hillside. The friar began digging where he had seen the flash, and uncovered the crucifix which, although it was removed and taken to another chapel in the village of Santa Cruz 3 times, miraculously reappeared in the original hole in Chimayo each time. Today, thousands of people make pilgrimages to the chapel to view the crucifix and kneel and scoop dirt that is believed to have curative powers from the original hole in which that crucifix was found. I was among those thousands, and feel honored to have had the opportunity to collect and bring home a sample of this much revered dirt. Following are a few pictures from the Santuario:


Exterior of Chapel

Hole in which the miraculous crucifix was found, and from which pilgrims may take a scoop of alleged curative dirt.

Picturesque Chimayo.

Finally... worthwhile southwestern souvenirs need not be expensive; This fun image was printed on a paper bag from a gift shop. Cut out and framed, I think it would make a very fetching decorative print!

A Mossy Terrarium

The woodlands of New England are delightful in the spring! A recent trek through Rhode Island's Snake Den Park yielded no snakes but plentiful moss... I couldn't resist collecting a very modest sampling of little mosses to bring back to the workshop and install within an old glass laboratory culture flask. I hadn't ever tried to grow anything in a terrarium, so I did a bit of research and ended up committing to the following installation procedure as outlined by Willi Galloway of eHow:

Step 1
Use a moisture-retentive, poor potting mix for the moss. Moss need high moisture levels and also require a poor, low-nutrient environment. To grow moss in a terrarium, mix one part regular potting mix with one part sand and one part clay.

Step 2
Fill the bottom of the terrarium with 1 inch of the potting mix. Moss has a very narrow root system because it typically grows on rocks and wood.

Step 3
Plant the moss in the terrarium. Add a few rocks and pieces of wood for decoration. In addition to being decorative, the rocks and wood increase the humidity inside the terrarium. Eventually, the moss will grow to cover the wood and rocks.

Step 4
Place a lid on the terrarium. Keep the lid on at all times. It should only be removed to water the moss.

Step 5
Keep the moss consistently moist. There must not be standing water in the terrarium, but moss grows best when the potting mix stays moist. Water by misting the moss several times a week. If the potting mix is getting dry in between waterings, increase your misting frequency.

Step 6
Put the terrarium in bright but indirect sunlight. Outside, moss needs a shaded area. Inside, moss grows best in bright light. However, direct sunlight causes the temperature inside the terrarium to be too high, so place the terrarium behind a transparent curtain or at least several feet away from a bright window.

Step 7
Be patient. Moss grows slowly. It will eventually grow to fill the terrarium, but this may take a year or more.

I deviated from the instructions only in my choice of soil: I had scooped up some soil from around where the moss was growing, as I thought my moss might feel comfortable growing on the same substrate it occupied in the forest, though I worked it through a mesh sieve before funneling it into the flask to filter out the larger leaves and pine needles. All of the mosses plumped up and became very green indeed within a few hours of the transplant-- I do hope things continue to thrive!



There is a little glass snail in there by glass artist Beth Lipman. I also added some turquoise crushed glass, but sort of wish I hadn't-- I think I preferred it being all green! Anyway... should you like to have some colored, crushed glass on hand I do recommend American Specialty Glass, as I have used them often and find that they have a very good selection.

If you are interested in terrariums at all, you must have a look at some created by Manhattan artist Paula Hayes. Here are a few photos... definitely go to her site for more!





It just occurs to me that Paula's terrariums aren't capped up as the instructions I followed said to do... I do think more research is in order, and I am reluctant to cap up my terrarium now... It makes more sense to me to leave it open so there is some exchange of air, as the forest from whence the mosses originated was certainly very airy!