HEAVY LITTLE OBJECTS

#34 :: Handmade crucifix

My father made this for - I think - my first communion at age 7. He found slabs of ebony, hand-joined and -finished them, and sliced a little block of ivory from one of the elephant tusks that he had come by in the antiques market on London's Portobello Road. Upon this, he painted the Alpha and the Omega - symbols of the unending holiness of Christ, and to the top he affixed a little brass picture-ring so it could be hung. It stayed over my bed for many years, and remains among the most achingly beautiful pieces of art that I own.