Today my chambered nautilus shell was placed in the kiln with a bunch of System 96 glass. I took photos of the positive in clay before I cast it in the investment. This is sort of an experiment, because I have never cast with system 96, only fused their glass- they really don't have a casting schedule for it on their website. A big thanks to Chuck Lopez for creating the schedule.
The nautilus has many symbolic meanings. As the mollusk grows, its body moves forward into the new larger chamber and produces a wall to seal off the older chambers. The empty chambers are used to regulate buoyancy. A cross-section of the shell of the Nautilus will show the cycles of its growth as a series of chambers arranged in a precise Golden Mean spiral.
For myself, the nautilus is a metaphor of spiritual growth during the transitions of life. Passing through time and the chambers or doors perception that keep us growing and changing.
Oliver Holmes wrote, in a poem entitled The Chambered Nautilus, "Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul….Let each new temple, nobler than the last, Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!"
The nautilus has many symbolic meanings. As the mollusk grows, its body moves forward into the new larger chamber and produces a wall to seal off the older chambers. The empty chambers are used to regulate buoyancy. A cross-section of the shell of the Nautilus will show the cycles of its growth as a series of chambers arranged in a precise Golden Mean spiral.
For myself, the nautilus is a metaphor of spiritual growth during the transitions of life. Passing through time and the chambers or doors perception that keep us growing and changing.
Oliver Holmes wrote, in a poem entitled The Chambered Nautilus, "Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul….Let each new temple, nobler than the last, Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, Till thou at length art free, Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!"
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