Blessing Holder Ornaments: A gift within a gift.

I designed these beautiful, folding wings for people who want to add a personal and meaningful touch to a special gift. Each wing-shaped ornament has a working hinge, and can be opened and closed like a book. Inside one of the wings is a metal dragonfly holding a removable scroll of linen paper.

Over the past 10 years, these wings have been a unique and wonderful way to combine personal messages and blessings within a gift. They have been used to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, housewarmings, graduations, getting published, getting ordained, getting married, and other rites of passage. They have also been used to express support to people facing health challenges, and to comfort people going through grief.

Before you give someone a Blessing Holder, take out the scroll and write a blessing, prayer, or other hopeful thought. Then tuck your note back behind the dragonfly and fold it up inside the wings.
What you write becomes the heart of the gift.

-Technical stuff-
The Wings, hinge, and dragonflies are brass with a silver/ox finish. The stones are etched glass and glass sea opals. The ornament is hanging on a 30lb weight transparent fishing line (shown coiled up in the photos.) All moving parts are drilled through and riveted together. The cups holding the stones are riveted onto the wings.
The wings are lined with high quality Yuzen, or Chiyogami papers. These gorgeous Japanese papers are thicker than the usual origami paper, with richer patterns and colorings. (Many of the patterns seen on Yuzen papers were originally designed for the textile industry in Kyoto where they were used to make Kimonos.)
Each ornament has 3 dragonflies set inside the wings. The larger one holds the blessing scroll in place. This roll of blank linen paper can be easily written on by sliding it up and unrolling it.

Each ornament comes with a pillow style gift box and a card that says:

Write a little blessing
and hang it somewhere bright
so hope will always
be in flight.