flowers

unalome bloom offers commission work for one of a kind pieces marking your special event. Flowers from your wedding, christening, mitzvah, anniversary, etc. can be used.

How does it happen?  If you are within a 2 hour drive of Chicago, I arrange pickup of select flowers at the end of the event. This is to ensure that we have enough time and flowers to work with. Each piece is different, and determined by what you supply. Quality and quantity of the flowers will inform the piece. The work will be created, photographed and signed. Within three weeks of the event you will receive one museum quality print, edition of 1. For more information please contact Sumara at 773-368-6112 or email.

unalome bloom offers commission work for one of a kind pieces marking your special event. Flowers from your wedding, christening, mitzvah, anniversary, etc. can be used.

How does it happen?  If you are within a 2 hour drive of Chicago, I arrange pickup of select flowers at the end of the event. This is to ensure that we have enough time and flowers to work with. Each piece is different, and determined by what you supply. Quality and quantity of the flowers will inform the piece. The work will be created, photographed and signed. Within three weeks of the event you will receive one museum quality print, edition of 1. For more information please contact Sumara at 773-368-6112 or email.

2020. What a year. Summed up with a single worry doll to represent all of us. The tradition is that when worrying keeps you awake, you tell your concerns to the doll, who then does the worrying for you, so you can sleep peacefully through the night. Worry dolls, also called trouble dolls; in Spanish, Muñeca quitapenaare are small, mostly hand-made dolls that originate from the indigenous people of Guatemala but are also found in Mexico.  I created this piece on a day that I took off solely for the purpose of making something that needed to be released. A day of no news. Just a day of flowers and coffee and dogs and the chance to focus on something beautiful. While I had plenty of other colors with different flowers to work with, including more autumnal colors, I felt that there was so much warmth and power with the brighter pinks and vibrant green from the leaves, supported with crystal quartz. Quartz crystal is a power stone that’s prized as a healing stone. It is known as the most powerful healing stone of the mineral kingdom, able to work on any condition. It has been called the “Universal Crystal” because of its many uses and is beneficial for manifesting, healing, meditation, protection and channeling. Something we could all use a bit of.

There’s something about Buddhism that allows you to look at each moment, be present, and begin again. Sacred geometry piece with roses and silver Buddha head from Mexico.

Buddha head statues, as they are known, are not just the depictions of the head of the Buddha, but the symbolic as well as spiritual representation of the enlightened one’s wisdom and knowledge. Though there are many depictions and styles of the Buddha heads depending on the region of the origin, the basic meaning that the iconography represents is somewhat the same over the history of Buddhism. These statues of a prince turned religious/spiritual leader are rather known to have encoded symbols in them, which were used in a preliterate, oral culture to pass on the messages of the Buddha’s teachings and knowledge.

Flower mandala made from worry dolls, orchid and silver bead.

About worry dolls: The indigenous people from the Highlands in Guatemala created Worry Dolls many generations ago as a remedy for worrying. According to the Mayan legend, when worrying keeps a person awake, he or she tells a worry to as many dolls as necessary. Then the worrier places the dolls under his or her pillow. The dolls take over the worrying for the person who then sleeps peacefully through the night. When morning breaks, the person awakens without the worries that the dolls took away during the night. A variation of the legend instructs a person to tell the dolls her worries then place them in their cloth pouch or wooden box before going to bed.

A dharma wheel pendant forms the center of this flower mandala. The dharma wheel, or dharmachakra in Sanskrit, is one of the oldest symbols of Buddhism. Around the globe, it is used to represent Buddhism in the same way that a cross represents Christianity or a Star of David represents Judaism. It is also one of the Eight Auspicious Symbols of Buddhism. In most representations, the Wheel has eight spokes, representing the Eightfold Path. According to tradition, the Dharma Wheel was first turned when the Buddha delivered his first sermon after his enlightenment. There were two subsequent turnings of the wheel, in which teachings on emptiness (sunyata) and on inherent Buddha-nature were given.

Flower mandala, semi-precious stones, and nature with Buddhist prayer wheel. Buddhist texts teach that mindfully turning a prayer wheel produces the same merit and benefits as having recited the number of prayers (mantras) inside the prayer wheel multiplied by how many times the prayer wheel spins around. This is accomplished through the clockwise turning of the prayer wheel which activates and releases the power of the mantras inside. Deities, Enlightened Beings, Bodhisattvas, Dakinis, and Dharma Protectors automatically help us when we turn a prayer wheel.

Spinning a prayer wheel is not a mindless exercise.  Spinning the prayer wheel should be done with the proper intentions.  The prayer wheel practice should be visualized as a manifestation of the Body, Speech and Mind of the Buddha.  With our hands (Body) we spin and move the prayer wheel.  With our speech, we recite one of the mantras in the prayer wheel (e.g. Om Mani Padme Hung).  And with our mind, we engage in visualizations or recitations, using our motivation and intention to bless all beings and bring peace to our surroundings and the entire world.

Visualizations and contemplations that can be done while spinning a prayer wheel include:

• Pray: “May all beings be happy.  May all beings be free from suffering.”
• Focus your thoughts on loving-kindness, equanimity, and the benefit of others, not oneself.
• Recite Om Mani Padme Hung,  the six-syllable mantra of loving kindness and compassion, while spinning the prayer wheel.  This strengthens our mind and brings the optimal intention to the spiritual practice and increases the benefits to all sentient beings.
• Visualize  beams of light, bright like the sun, radiating out from the prayer wheel in all directions, illuminating you and purifying your negative thoughts, destroying your negative karma and diseases.  Then, visualize the beams of light bringing happiness to all beings and relieving them of their sufferings.  All the negativity is absorbed into the prayer wheel and destroyed.
• Focusing on a problem, like a war or tragedy, and spinning the prayer wheel to try and relieve the suffering of the people being harmed and hurt.

Sacred geometry mandala with flowers and amulet.

Mandalas are a spiritual and ritual symbol found in many cultures, employed for focusing attention of practitioners as a spiritual guidance tool, for establishing a sacred space, and as an aid to meditation.

The literal meaning of mandala, which is a Sanskrit word, is circle and like a circle, the mandala represents wholeness. A circle also denotes balance, perfection and eternity as the distance from its center to all points on it remains the same, from wherever it is measured.

Mandalas generally have one identifiable center point, from which emanates an array of symbols, shapes and forms, and often shown here, with sacred objects from around the world. Mandalas can contain both geometric and organic forms, both literally and figuratively as this work is made with nature.

Flower mandala with beads.

Mandalas are a spiritual and ritual symbol found in many cultures, employed for focusing attention of practitioners as a spiritual guidance tool, for establishing a sacred space, and as an aid to meditation.

The literal meaning of mandala, which is a Sanskrit word, is circle and like a circle, the mandala represents wholeness. A circle also denotes balance, perfection and eternity as the distance from its center to all points on it remains the same, from wherever it is measured.

Mandalas generally have one identifiable center point, from which emanates an array of symbols, shapes and forms, and often shown here, with sacred objects from around the world. Mandalas can contain both geometric and organic forms, both literally and figuratively as this work is made with nature.

Sacred geometry mandala with pearl center and orchid petals.

Mandalas are a spiritual and ritual symbol found in many cultures, employed for focusing attention of practitioners as a spiritual guidance tool, for establishing a sacred space, and as an aid to meditation.

The literal meaning of mandala, which is a Sanskrit word, is circle and like a circle, the mandala represents wholeness. A circle also denotes balance, perfection and eternity as the distance from its center to all points on it remains the same, from wherever it is measured.

Mandalas generally have one identifiable center point, from which emanates an array of symbols, shapes and forms, and often shown here, with sacred objects from around the world. Mandalas can contain both geometric and organic forms, both literally and figuratively as this work is made with nature.