Activating Your Sacred Art Studio with a Collaged Candle

My studio candle and a Happy Buddha

7" x 7" collage including catalog images of sculptures from Sacred Source

Dollar Tree altar candle

I wrote a paper about creating personal altars as part of my Sandplay Therapy training.  My research into altars, from many traditions, lead me to understand that most altars have at least two things in common. The first is that altars are most often created to acknowledge the importance of something or someone we value in our lives. Another commonality is that a lit candle activates the altar and the sacred space (such as your studio).

Whether you are initiating sacred space for art making, workshops, groups, prayers, meditation or personal therapy, I believe that lighting a candle can enhance your important activity. I would like to suggest that you make this candle even more meaningful by creating a special candle for your studio.

You will need a 7" x 7" piece of flexible paper (I used a nice rice paper), an altar candle (I bought mine at Dollar Tree), images for collage, scissors, permanent glue stick (for collage) and paper craft glue (for attaching your collage to your candle).

Simply create your collage by cutting out and attaching images that relate to your art process and your creative life. I have an image of an ancient calendar (honoring the seasons), a picture of Ganesha (the remover of obstacles), an image of the triple goddess (the three ages of the feminine: maiden, mother and crone) as well as a window (view into other worlds) and art supplies. This collage represents the sacred nature of art making and group work that takes place in my studio.

You must choose your own imagery: your playful inner artist, an image of a muse or mentor, important family members, images related to personal goals. Don't over think this--just gather collage materials and allow you intuition to guide you.

Once your collage has been completed just wrap it around your candle, putting paper craft glue in a line at the two joining ends of your collage. If you only glue the joining edges you will be able to remove your collage from your candle, when the candle has burned down, and put it on a fresh altar candle if you want to. You might also like to make a new studio alter candle collage each year or season. Alternatively you could glue your 7" x 7" paper to the candle first, then add your collage images. The advantage of this is that the two ends of your collage will match in theme and color.

Enjoy this activity and please leave comments about what kind of studio candle you made for your sacred art space.