Wunderkammer Miracle Cabbage Full of Life Seed Box, Brooch, Portable Art Work

I was fortunate to attend a class led by the Mistress of Tin, Marlene True (who is now represented as a tributary at the Metal Museum in Memphis), last year at The Ranch.  One of our projects was a hinged box. I made one of tin that I torched to remove the paint, and from there it became a little receptacle for three antique vials of seeds Randi gave me, from old hardware stock found in Maine; in my pile of antique magazines, one of them, believe it or not, The Modern Priscilla, I found an add for seeds ("Huckabee's Full of Life Seeds, Cabbage $800 an acre") and it all just fell together, the way things do when they need to happen.  It is now a brooch, or tabletop personal wunderkammer, or a wall piece, all TBD by a new owner.  I am beginning to think more of this sort of thing -- yes, it can function as jewelry, but it is really art on a personal scale, portable, adaptable to intimate spaces, and not far from being a toy, either.  I just love the little ol' thang, but thangs are piling up around here and I need to make room, figuratively (in my work generating internal spaces) and literally (in my work space).  To see more of Marlene's Work, click this, or go to the Metal Museum.  The thang is now in the statement gallery in my Etsy shop.