MEANING: The Chalice Well is among the best known and most loved holy wells in Britain. Many legends are attributed to its waters, which flow ceaselessly at a steady rate and temperature that never varies. The Well is popular with all faiths and in 2001 became a World Peace Garden.
In this artistic variation of the Chalice of Glastonbury Well Cover, the two circles represent the two faiths that were at war - the old Druidic Faith and the antagonistic young Christian Faith. The arrow signifies King Arthur's attempt to unite them peacefully…
There are many legends surrounding the Well:
For Neopagans and those searching for the Divine Feminine, the Well is a symbol of the female aspect of deity, balanced with the male aspect of the Glastonbury Tor.
For the Christian pilgrims, the mythology is the Chalice Well marks the site where Joseph of Arimathea placed the chalice that had caught the drops of Christ’s blood at the Crucifixion linking this place to the Holy Grail. The red of the water is also said by some to represent the rusty iron nails used at the Crucifixion.
For others the waters are acknowledged as the essence of life, the gift from Mother Earth to sustain its living forms and so a continuous spring like Chalice Well is a direct expression of an unbounded life force.
In Welsh and Irish mythology, Wells were viewed as gateways to the spirit world. The Chalice Well has also been linked to the legendary King Arthur, believed by some to be buried at the nearby Glastonbury Abbey.
THE CARVING: Our carvings are single pieces of western red cedar, designed and carved to be wall hangings. Each carving begins as a 1 X 12 inch cedar board. While we use power tools (Scroll Saw, Rotary shaft Tool, handheld detail sanders etc.), we use no laser’s, CNC machines or computer operated cutting machines. All work is done with our hands and eyes…
We cut the 2 dimensional blanks with scroll and jig saws (double-sized custom orders have to be cut with jigsaw). Carving is done with rotary shaft tools and disc grinders. The 80 grit sanding is the final phase of the carving process, removing the nicks and gouges from the carving tools, and finishes the shaping of the weave. The next 2 sandings with 120 then 220 grit finishes the smoothing and polishing. They are finished with Clear Danish Oil to seal the piece, bringing out the grain and the color.
SIZE: One picture has the piece on a quilting board, lined up on the 1 inch marks. The quilting board, at its simplest, is a one inch grid. So with the piece on the board, you look at the top and follow the line to the left and look at the right side at the widest point and follow the line to the bottom and you have height by width...but wait! It's not that easy! The way this board I have is laid out, if I lined it up on the zero points it would cover up the numbers and on some pieces you wouldn't be able to see them...so, I line it up on the 1 inch marks which means when you get the numbers, you have to subtract 1 inch... TA DA! Measurements may vary slightly from piece to piece.
