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an unexpected gift

I arrived at the studio yesterday ready to finish tying the ladder that I was making for my personal shrine example for Fall classes... and knowing that the next thing I wanted to accomplish was to cut some metal that I had for a decorative roof to the shrine. A staff member stopped by to discuss the possibility of a mural project, and with her she brought a big sheet of scrap metal that she and another staff member had decided to gift me with. I was delighted with the metal and thought I would tuck it away for some as-yet-unknown sort of project. We talked murals and she was off to do a hundred things, and I got back to my shrine work.

I opened the tube containing the metal (that I had been saving for MONTHS) to cut for the roof.... and as I handled the very supple and malleable metal something was tickling oddly in my brain. There was a project insert in the tube that seemed to suggest children's projects and some craft guides. I bent the metal this way and that like liquid silver and the tickling in my brain increased to insistent alarm bells.

Setting the metal down I more closely inspected the tube and paperwork, and then realized why the malleability of the metal was bothering me so much. Lead warnings were contained all over the paperwork with rather dire warnings about the state of California (always a bad sign when you see the state of California mentioned in warnings...... This product contains lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, and other reproductive harm. Wash hands after handling........ ) and admonishments to wash your hands thoroughly and immediately after handling the metal, and to not eat or drink in proximity to the metal...... and I had read enough.

Back into the tube went the metal and my work surfaces were washed down and my hands were cleaned and I sat back down to look at my shrine - my great ideas for the roof short-circuited rather unexpectedly..... And then my gaze fell on the metal that I had just been gifted with a half hour before - still sitting on my work table where my friend had left it for me. The universe works in mysterious and wondrous ways and my metal roof was back in business with this new metal sheeting that was coppery on one side and silvery on the other. And while visitors came and went during the course of the day I worked on cutting and placing the metal for my roof.

Updated images coming soon.