ON a different note of ADORNMENT. The Lucky Charm! I posted this today on etsy, I got the poker chips from the DLC Gallery. They were going to be thrown away, I saved them. Now they are lucky bracelets.

The wearable icon I made for a Russian class. The design is my approximation of oklads (the boxes that protect all but the face and hands of an icon). There are far more varieties of icons of Mary in Russian iconography and religious use than of any other figure; Marian icons are commonly copies of images considered to be miraculous, of which there are hundreds: "The icons of Mary were always deemed miraculous, those of her son rarely so". Icons of Mary most often depict her with the child Jesus in her arms.
I repoussed the front of the box. The stone is ametrine, citrine and amethyst grown together. The stone came from the Anahi Mine in Bolivia. "Citrine is associated wit the third chakra (self esteem) while amethyst is connected to intuition and introspection. It follows that the stone signifies the transition between corporeal and spiritual attributes. " from the gem section of the complete metalsmith.
I put the Holy Virgin of Guadalupe in there to fill the space. The wood inside is still unpainted and is pine the traditional wood for icons.
I have a 15 page paper written on oklads and wearable icons, two more icons, videos of me making them, and pictures of the process. Little too much unless you are intensely interested in Russian Orthodox Icons.