Decorating With Western Style Feng Shui

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One of the reasons that some people are reluctant to practice Feng Shui is because a lot of the “cures” and decorating tips in Feng Shui are a bit too Chinese looking for this culture. You don’t want your place to look like the lobby of a Chinese restaurant!

Thankfully there are equivalents in our culture that you can use that will bring you the same type of good fortune without looking too ethnic.

For instance it is a Feng Shui tradition to decorate with plastic or silk flowers in order to attract love and good energy into the home. To make this more contemporary looking use live flowers instead and choose modern looking vases instead of the red or green ceramic vases favored by Chinese Feng Shui enthusiasts. You can also use vases that have eight sides to attract good fortune as well.

The color red is lucky in Feng Shui but you can use different shades of it as accents all over your house. For instance to attract fame into your life you can just paint one South wall red and leave it at that. You can also use red light bulbs, which symbolize fire to light up the appropriate corners to attract love.

Pairs of ducks are used in Feng Shui to attract love. Traditionally a wooden pair would be placed somewhere in the home. You can find a more elegant answer in a work of art or you can be quite funky and use rubber ducks instead. Placing two happy looking yellow ducks in the southeast corner of your bathroom can help attract a love to you.

All things in pairs are said to strengthen the love and relationship vibe in your life. If you do not like the obvious look of some of the Feng Shui statues then consider hanging pictures of flowers that contain two buds in the Southeast corner of your home to attract love. Yet another idea is to hang pictures of birds. In your kitchen consider salt and pepper shakers that are figurines to you. Pairs of things symbolize love.

Copper vessels are used in Feng Shui to attract love. Hanging anything copper on your kitchen walls, including pots, pans and molds will help.

A remedy for bad luck in Feng Shui is to hang wooden flutes from the ceiling or from a beam that might be causing negative energy to prevail. However if you do not like the look of wooden flutes you can use any type of musical instrument that is hollow and makes noise instead.

You might find aquariums full of fish or fountains too fussy to deal with in your modern life. If that is the case then try putting lava lamps in place instead. Lava lamps symbolize the water element!

Remember that any time you want to use a lucky Asian symbol that there is probably a North American equivalent for it in art!

Decorating With Salt-Glazed Pottery

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Salt glazed pottery is a type of handmade stoneware that is crafted in Maine. One of the largest producers of the beautiful, durable stone ware is Monroe Salt works which is located in the rambling low hills near Penobscot Bay. This stoneware is considered to be both practical and a work of art.

Salt glazing is an ancient technique that was developed in Germany in the fifteenth century. The pottery made at Monroe Salt works is based on this age old practice that starts with baking raw clay in an oven over a period of twenty hours. When the temperature builds to 2300 F employees throw handfuls of salt into the raging fire. When it hits the flame it is vaporized and the vapor imprints itself onto the pottery surfaces to create a glaze.

This salting process also affects the color of each piece. The hue of the final vessel is determined by where it was set in the kiln. The more salt vapor that hits the piece the more likely it is to have a glazed appearance. This results in darker and lighter colored pots as well as pots with dimpled surfaces. No two pieces of pottery are alike.

One of the main characteristics of this type of pottery is how simple and practical it is. The shapes are everyday and meant to be used to serve food in or to hang as art on the wall.

The artists at Monroe Saltworks make images of what they see every day including tall pines, wild flowers, cattails and moose. It is part of how they share the sights of Maine forever.

One of the most popular items of this sort are Bean pots. This type of ceramic fire lends itself perfectly for making this type of pot. The pots are embellished with pine cones, bears, irises and other lovely symbols to do with the flora and fauna in Maine. The bean pots are traditional four quart vessels that are perfect for simmering two pounds of beans in for a long time.

The reason that Monroe Salt Works is so crucial is because it is recognized throughout the world as being the preeminent Salt Glaze studio. It has been reviving this age old technique of glazing pottery since 1971.

Salt glazed pottery can be used for anything including holding flowers, umbrellas –whatever you can think of. The bowls give a particularly lovely rustic touch to a bowl of fruit.