Celebrating my journey and recovery: Soulful Reliquary

Tomorrow (April 5) will be a year from the date I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer. Although it was a little shocking to found this out I also knew this type of cancer had a bigger positive outcome and I was ready for the battle.

The best way I have to express my feelings is through my art and I wanted to make a piece of jewelry that will be a symbol of my journey and recovery during 2013; I am still working on getting my energy better but I am sure I will get there very soon.

The symbols I wanted to have in my pendant have been with me during my whole journey as an artists and I have represented them a lot in my work. Now they have a stronger meaning for me and this makes my work have more soul.

The tree of life on top with the Milagro heart is the representation of the family and friends's support during this journey with the heart symbolizing all the love I have received and also my own love and passion for my family and life. The two birds looking at the tree represent my husband and me; he was and still is my best friend and companion but they also represent my two kids, my great loves in my life!

Thank You to all for your love and positive energy!!!

The big butterfly in the center represents my thyroid but mostly is a representation of my transformation, faith and soul. the butterfly is the bigger element because I am stronger and ready to fly again!

The pearls are the tears I had shared with my love ones but they were not only sad tears they also symbolized the happiness tears we had when I was told after my surgery that they were able to take all the cancer out. The red coral are a strong statement symbolizing my passion, love and courage.

SOULFUL RELIQUARY
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Bronze, pearls and red coral beads
2.82 by 2.06 inches

Thanks again to all for making me feel loved during this experience in my life!

Louise's Calavera (brooch/pendant)

I have always design pieces inspired in my Mexican culture and almost always they reflect an experience in my life. This new piece was made honoring a wonderful person who I lost this month; I never imagined how hard this news will be for me. Louise was an amazing and talented jeweler but most of all she was a very kind and dear lady. I met her almost 8 years ago in the school of art here in San Antonio, her jewelry was so beautiful.
Every minute I spent with her was valuable for me, I respected her a lot and all her comments about my work meant a lot to me.

In Mexico, we honor our family members who passed away in the Day of the dead; this was the reason I wanted to create a piece with the sugar skull inspiration from day of the dead.

This skull has crosses and butterflies which represent transformation, her soul and faith. The tree of life on top of the skull has a Milagros heart symbolizing Louise big love for her family, friends and her craft, it also has butterflies. In Mexico we have a saying that when you see a butterfly someone has come to visit you, their souls come to visit you.

Louise's Calavera
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Bronze

Louise's Calavera
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Bronze and steel wire (pin)

Louise, I love you and I thank you for every word of support during my journey with thyroid cancer and for making me feel that my work was valuable! ♥

Cafe Estrella, 2002.

Sterling silver, found object, patina; cast, constructed.

1  7/8 x 1 7/8 x 3/8 in.

Photo: Alex Jordan

"Angel Guardian" Milagro heart

I finally finished my "Angel Guardian" Milagro Heart, I can not express how happy I am with this piece. Hope you all enjoy it too!!

It all started with an idea!

Angel Guardian Milagro Heart (brooch-pendant)
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Bronze (Goldie Bronze), Garnets and turquoise

Angel Guardian Milagro Heart (brooch-pendant)
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Bronze (Goldie Bronze), Garnets and turquoise

The Making of my "Angel Guardian" Milagro Heart

Lots of people has asked me how do I start creating my pieces and if I start with an idea and then follow up on it. Yes, I find the inspiration all the time from my cultural heritage and folk art from Mexico. Mexico for me is a strong influence, no matter if it is a piece of jewelry, a painting or a paper doll. I like to create pieces that are close to my heart and that have a strong meaning of what I am and where I come from, this gives me the great opportunity to create pieces that can transmit this great passion.

Since the beginning of this year I have been focused on creating strong and soulful pieces that will allow me to transmit a story and an emotional feeling. In this occasion I wanted to go back to my beginnings where I was obsessed with making a lot the "Milagro Hearts", they are always close in my heart and I think it is time again I honored this wonderful symbolic icon in my work.


I started by sketching my ideas in my book, I have had a sketching book since I started making my work and I always go back to it and see what ideas I still have on paper that are still waiting for me to became real.

Sketching is something I enjoy a lot, I think you do not have to be a great drawer to be able to transmit your ideas and I hope everyone will have one no matter what medium you work in.

This heart will have the butterflies (representing transformation and soul), the guardian angel (representing protection and guidance), the cross (faith) and a healed Milagro Heart (representing the big Love for life, family, work and principally love for yourself and what you are; respect.)

After having my drawing finished then I am ready to start building this piece little by little. Pieces like this have a lot of details and I make each one of them individually by hand; each little butterfly is made alone and this makes them more unique and not looking like they were all cut out from a mold. This is what makes my pieces be more soulful, in my humble opinion.

Making each one of the pieces is a joy for me, every single detail has my total attention and this is one of the parts of my process in creating that I enjoy a lot.

Little by little I will put all the pieces together and finally will have my "Guardian Angel Milagro Heart" finished. I will have more work to do in this piece, finishing more details and then finally attaching all the pieces to the heart.

Work in progress
Angel Guardian Milagro Heart
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Goldie Bronze and Hessonite Garnets

Hope you like my post, I am always happy to share with all of you what I do and how I work.

Corazon Renacer , my journey.

Corazon Renacer (reborn heart) symbolizes the journey I experienced last year, the sensation of feeling scare for the unknown and what the future will be and the way how all the pain and insecurities transformed into faith and a strong will to keep moving forward.

One of the new symbolic elements that I am adding to my work is the use of the butterflies. I am using the butterflies because they embrace the will to accept transformation in the best way possible, to enjoy every minute of your life with faith and positivism, to overcome any obstacles and learn from them and focus only in the positive.

In my brooch-pendant "Corazon Renacer" I wanted to include the Milagro Hearts with the butterflies, I added a scar in the center of the big heart and all the butterflies which symbolizes any obstacle or problem that has made us stronger and that has transformed us into better people.

Corazon Renacer (brooch-pendant)
©2014 Lorena Angulo 
Bronze (Goldie Bronze)
3.18 inches by 2.85 inches by 0.33 inches

Corazon Renacer (brooch-pendant)
©2014 Lorena Angulo 
Bronze (Goldie Bronze)
3.18 inches by 2.85 inches by 0.33 inches

"We all have the power to transform pain into something good, we are the ones who decide to sit and suffer or stand up and choose to live life to the fullest no matter what. "

The Transformation of my "Corazon Renacer" necklace

I have been working on this new piece since January 1st, I noticed I am still not as productive as I used to be because is taking me longer to finished this piece but I am SUPER HAPPY to be back in my studio creating no matter what.
It all started with a bronze clay bezel I had in my work table, I looked at it and was not sure what I will do with it. I knew I will add a heart inside but the rest was still a mystery. A couple of days later I knew what I wanted and little by little this new piece is transforming to what I have know. I am again listening to my heart and following my emotions to finished creating my necklace.
Hope you enjoy some images of this journey!

Corazon Renacer
(Reborn Heart)
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Bronze

I still need to add some final details and then it will be ready to go to the kiln for its final transformation!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

New Beginnings

I am excited to start this new year and to come back stronger and healthier than ever. I have missed being creative everyday as I used to but I had to make a stop in 2013 and focus on my health and family first.
Now, I am more than ready to start creating again and eager to share my big passion for what I do.
In 2013 I embraced the symbol of the butterfly and started creating new designs with it, the butterfly will be a strong symbolic icon for me from now on because it represents my journey during my health scare last year. The butterfly is the symbol of the thyroid but it also represents faith, transformation, soul and new beginnings.

I want to wish you all the best for this new year that starts.
Thank you for being with me at all times and hope you will still keep me company during this new year!

Cheers for New Beginnings !!!!!

Mariposa Renacer
(Revival Butterfly)
©2014 Lorena Angulo
Sterling and red coral

 

My transformation

August is my birthday month, I will be turning 44 this year and after my whole journey with my Thyroid cancer I can honestly tell you; I will be more than happy to celebrate my 44 years !
I am finally coming back into my studio to make my work again, its been so long since I was able to create something and I am enjoying every minute I can spend here.
My journey through out this whole ordeal has been difficult and scare at times but I never lost my smile and positivism, yes I did have my moments but who does not have them? I had so many plans for my work and where I wanted to move on with it, so many plans.......but life made me put a stop on them until I can get better. Having to put my plans away does not mean I am not making them a reality, it just means I have more time to get ready for all of them.

This experience has transformed me in different ways, all of them positive ones, I always take the good and learn from the bad in all my experiences in life and in my work.
Now that I have more energy I am starting to draw some ideas in my journals, I love the feeling of grabbing a pencil and drawing in paper. I have two big sketch journals and love to go back to them and see my ideas since my beginnings.
Most of my work is inspired by my culture from Mexico and the beautiful folk art, this time is no difference. I love to design using the Milagro heart motifs, birds, flowers and skulls and this time I went back to look at my drawings and saw two butterflies I made 2 years ago and I knew what I needed to do. I have always love butterflies and knowing their symbolic meaning made me realized they will be the perfect reflection of my whole Thyroid cancer journey.
Butterflies represent transformation and faith, this is exactly what I had during all these months!
I am finishing my first "Mariposa" piece today, I am happy to finally be able to transmit my feelings with my work again.

MARIPOSA REINA
©2013 Lorena Angulo