What Does 1400 Little Miracles Look Like??

Yep right there is 1400 or 2kilos or 4lbs of milagros (little miracles)!! Now that is a ton of milagros. I think there is enough there to keep me and a dozen of my friends supplied for a couple of lifetimes!! :) But then you know the hoarder's motto, there is never enough!! I found 1kilo (400) of the more detailed, more rustic, and charming ones. I also had to get the smaller less weight ones. They were also a kilo but you can fit 1000 milagros in a kilo. 

The more detailed ones are used by artists when decorating wood statues, crosses and jewelry. They will stand up to being nailed to the wood. These are also casted by hand. So that they have much more character, individualism and nicely rustic!

There are all kinds of little figures, from body parts to cars and everything in between.

 The smaller ones are used in jewelry as they are charm size and light weight. They will remain nice and shiny and bendable. The hand cast ones are more brittle and break before bending. These are much more precise because they are machine pressed and cut. :( They are also far cheaper to make, and sell.

I hear tell there are some folks that just don't have an appreciation of patina and rustic, huh imagine that??!! They actually like bright new and shiny!! Who'd a thought??

 I'm sure most of you know that Milagros are very traditional symbols in the Latin American Catholic faith. They are a visual image that represent a prayer request to either Jesus or the Virgin Mary, to intercede with God for them. They are purchased at a great cost for the poor along with an altar candle. They generally cost $10pesos (90 cents). This can be a great hardship if you only earn $30-$50 pesos for a day's work!!! And yes that is the minimum wage in Mexico. In other LA countries it is much lower then that. So a milagro is not something bought for every ache or pain. Often a meal is sacrificed inorder to pay for the milagro. They truly are saved to use when a miracle is called for!!

Because there are many things in our lives that are needed and must be cared for, there are thousands of milagros to represent our requests. Here are a few I found for the body.

There's eyes,ears,teeth,mouth,heart,lungs,arm,stomach,kidneys,and leg. I have to tell ya I had to really think about the "dumbbells" before it dawned on me they were kidneys. Nothing is left to chance, I guess. When the request goes in they want to be sure it's for the right miracle.

Funny thing is I found that women must be much more comfortable with dealing, praying and discussing issues that relate to them, unlike the guys in our lives. In fact I think I'm going to save these, tie pink ribbons on them and send them as love reminders to my girlfriends in October!! Cool idea don't you agree?? :)

Now if I could find a milagros that looked like our internet server maybe I could get Telmex to fix our loss of internet every afternoon!!

Have a most audacious art filled day no matter where in the world you are.  p;)

PS. I'm still motoring along on the jewelry making track. I'll show you some finished pieces in a day or two.