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Inspiration is everywhere! There is an art to seeing, especially in everyday things that are easily overlooked. Every now and then, I get in a table mood. I don't know exactly where the inspirations begin, however, the last time it happened, I built 20 tables in three months. Every new design was an expansion of the previous design. Woodworking does that to me, leading me in a variety of paths. My exploration guides me to new paths and ultimately, new designs for my woodworking.
This piece, Prayer Wheel Table, was inspired by a TV documentary viewed late one sleepless night. The documentary told an inspiring story of a medical team that traveled high up into the mountains of Nepal. The team performed cataract surgery on people suffering from blindness. As the team hiked through small towns, they spun colorful wheels along the roadsides, which was entirely fascinating to my insomniac eyes.
I loved that idea! This is my interpretation of the prayer wheels, captured in a trestle coffee table. There are seven wheels in the stretcher bar. Each wheel is hollow, for the prayers to be inserted. They spin freely on nylon bearings, and have several coats of milk paint to add color. These drums are removable, enabling message retrieval many years later. This allows the drums to serve as a sort of time capsule, capturing a lifetime of wishes.
I wish I had built this table while my dad was still alive. It would be wonderful to read something he had placed inside one of the prayer wheels.
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Through further research, I learned that spinning prayer wheels is a Buddhist practice. A slip of paper bearing a mantra (or a wish or a prayer) is inserted inside the prayer wheels before spinning them. When the colorful wheels are spun, it floats the message to the gods above.