Withered Shrine

This shrine was made to honor a piece of jewelry I used to hold very dearly to me. When I was around a year old, my grandparents had bought me this real gold chain with a little cross pendant that, to be frank, fit me quite big. Some time while growing up, I had inevitably lost it. What I didn't realize was that I lost it somewhere in their house. Eventually when I moved away from Utah all the way down here to Texas, I forgot about the necklace in its entirety. Eventually, one day when they came to visit, they had come with a surprise gift. It was that same gold necklace from when I was a baby. I wrapped it around my wrist twice as it was now too small to be a necklace on me, and from that moment forward, I never took it off. This shrine is meant to honor that bracelet and how much I value the little pieces of love that have come and grown with me through life. Though I have unfortunately now lost this gold bracelet, with this shrine, I'll always remember it.

This shrine was constructed in a way the represents a more gloomy message, as the color scheme I chose with the glaze and the overall rustic design seems to be less patronage oriented and more so sunken. I wanted to capture a feeling of sorrow as I did lose the bracelet I meant to honor, and I achieved that through the use of a worn down look, moss and vines, and dark rustic brick texture. I definitely faced challenges in the basic construction of the box, as I had to figure out measurements and try to put the individual slabs together in a way that allowed for the large structure to even stand on its own. The detailing was by far the easiest part, and I had a great time measuring and making a more accurate brick like look on the slabs. With the vines and moss, it was more so a game of what felt and looked right as nature is unpredictable at times. If I could change one thing, I would've liked to make the color of the body/bricks a more dark grey color compared to how black it was. Overall, I am proud of the construction and how durable my shrine is. I'll cherish it forever.