This iron hand was the first piece I got when I started to collect hands.
Most people have collected something at some point in their lives. I think it is human nature to collect, based on some of our most primal basic needs for food perhaps. Carl Jung had his theories on it as did Freud. I got to thinking about what some of the collections I have might be saying about me and my personality. Most of the things I collect are for the aesthetic aspects of it, also symbolic and my constant thirst for the hunt of a particular object. Some of the collections I have did not start intentionally to be collections, they just happened. Kind of like my collection of hand sculptures. The very first one, a cast iron open hand, was purchased as a crystal ball stand. It is one of my favorite things that I own. Then I became fascinated with hands of different sorts when I would come across them. I found a set of tiny clay hands that fit perfectly a small smoky quartz crystal ball I had. Then I had 2. I picked up jewelry holder hands made from resin, ceramic and wood. They symbolize to me help, work, balance, giving and receiving.
None of the pieces in my collection are really very valuable, I find them beautiful and useful.
There are people who have what I call accidental collections too. Someone buys them an owl statue, another person sees that statue and thinks they love owls and suddenly people are buying owl everything for that person. I think sometimes these kind of collections can be negative if the person is holding on to them only because other people have designated those possessions to them. Holding on to possessions simply because someone else gave it to you can block your energy, with the exception of the object bringing good feelings and memories. Entire collections curated by others that a person never really wanted in the first place can feel uncomfortable. It is ok to let it go, and let people know that you are no longer a collector of pig statues or stuffed teddy bears.
These small ceramic hands with a sprinkling of gold were the perfect fit for my smoky quartz sphere.
I have other collections, all of them relatively small in my opinion. I collect skeleton keys. The older the better! The keys have also turned into a collection of gifted items with keys on them, such as artwork and jewelry. I have been collecting them for 20 years now. Books. I know many of you probably have book collections as well. I particularly love my cookbook collection. I have been wanting to incorporate it into my cooking posts here on the sight somehow. Maybe someday I will take you on a culinary tour of the mediterranean. I have plenty of books to guide us. Then there is my masquerade collection. I have a few very beautiful masks some from Venice Italy. Jewelry, plates, African and Asian drums, scarves, pitchers… Perhaps I will showcase some of these collections on the blog in the future.
What do you collect? Does your collection reflect your life and travels? Does it tell a story of who you are and where you have been? Are you in control of what you collect or did your collection find you? I would love to hear about your collections and what treasures you are currently hunting! Leave a comment and share…
Jewelry holder
