Altars On The Move: Spirit Houses in Bronze

I'm newly inspired to incorporate spirit houses into my jewelry work.  The idea of spirit houses originates from Asia, but sacred spaces are embraced the world-over, in shrines, altars, temples of all shapes and sizes. I'm just into the little ones!

Wikipedia: "a spirit house is a shrine to the protective spirit of a place that are found in the Southeast Asian countries of Burma, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand...The spirit house is normally in the form of a miniature house or temple, and is mounted on a pillar or on a dais...The shrines often include images of people and animals. Votive offerings are left at the house to propitiate the spirits. More elaborate installations include an altar for this purpose."

Here's my first attempt at creating a tiny sacred space (it's also become my greatest teacher, demonstrating all the little challenges in making these tiny shrines):

Measuring just under two inches, this spirit house has a tiny hinged door, two windows and a 'stepped' base.

Somewhere around 17 components were hand carved, separately, then joined together at different points between drying with slip and Paste Maker.

Since the interior of the house is so hard to finish and make additions to once the piece is fired, I'm going for a second hinge on the roof in the future!

Too large to use as a pendent, this type of piece could be a 'keepsake' shrine, for all of us constantly on the move!