Phakchok Rinpoche with his prayer wheel

Hi everyone,

as promised, here are photos of Rinpoche with his new prayer wheel. it is a 500,000 7-line prayer of  Guru Rinpoche on microfilm, and is made from 2 kinds of hardwoods, Maple and Walnut.

will upload some more from the teaching hall soon :-)

enjoy!

enjoy!

Phakchok Rinpoche Israel 2012

Hi everyone,

We were so very fortunate to have had Phakchok Rinpoche come to our little tiny country and give us precious teachings...

Here is a photo of him with my private prayer wheel which he loved so much :-)

on the last day, he called me and Ayelet to his room and asked us to make a special prayer wheel for him, one that has not been made before, it contained 500'000 7-line prayers of Guru Rinpoche inside on microfilm and was made from 2 different types of hardwood, handle and drum from Maple and both caps from Walnut. 

We went home that night and in the morning, I came in to the studio and lathed the wheel. By 11:30 it was coated with lacquer, and by 14:30 it was ready for delivery! It was with no doubt the fastest prayer wheel we ever made! By 15:30 we gave it to Rinpoche... he was so happy! 

Photos will be uploaded soon :-)

Micha Strauss

Mahogany Hardwood Mani Prayer Wheel

Hi everyone,

This is a new prayer wheel that was made from Mahogany hardwood. till not so long ago we could not make prayer wheels from this hardwood because when I lathe this kind of wood, it produces a fine red dust instead of wood chips like any other wood. This red fine dust settles on EVERYTHING.... so before we had our studio, this was not possible...

Now, we can make these beautiful prayer wheels!

Enjoy!

http://www.galgamaniartproject.com/

New Prayer Wheel Testimonial Button

Hi everyone!
just wanted to tell you that we added a "Prayer Wheel Testimonial" button to our website.
may you all enjoy the kind words our customers have sent us over the years...
Micha & Ayelet Strauss
+

http://www.galgamaniartproject.com/

Studio Is Making Prayer Wheels!

Hi everyone! 

the first 5 prayer wheels have been made in our new studio! this is amazing!! thank you all for all your support. non of this could have been accomplished without your help :-)

Studio Update

our new studio is closer then ever to its grand opening and our coming in and working there...

we had a very nice guy and his family come and have the entire ceiling covered in polyurethane foam for the insulation of the studio against the Israeli summer, and this week all the parts for the lathe will arrive and away we go!!

this is SO amazing... after years of making holy prayer wheels in the tooling room of the factory and Ayelet's finishing in our house, finely we can work like it was meant to be :-)

thank you everyone for helping us achieve this dream by believing in us and buying our prayer wheels, for without you, non of this would have been possible! 

will update as things move along, with some photos too....

As promised, some photos of the "Lathe Project"

http://www.galgamaniartproject.com/

Our New (old) Lathe!

today we will receive and move the lathe we got as a gift! it is a bit old, but it is amazing! and it was a gift from the factory so it did not cost a dime... well, it still needs some new parts that will cost a bit, but still...

today after we finish working in the factory, a bunch of friends are helping us move it to it's new location, OUR STUDIO!! woo hoo!! this is SO exciting! we have been waiting patiently for 3.5 years for this to happen... and today it will..

on Tuesday, the man that will put the insulation on the celling will come and do his thing, and the studio is almost ready! this is just F A N T A S T I C!!

i will upload some photo of the moving of the lathe

thank you all!

Prayer Wheel Practice

I would like to say something about prayer wheels.

What do they mean for us? We should ask our selves that question, because it is the meaning that makes the difference in the outcome of our actions.

To me, a prayer wheel is very sacred and should be used with mindfulness and the right intention. When I spin the prayer wheel, I either chant the mantra out loud or if I am in a place where that is not an option, I chant the mantra in my mind. As I am chanting, internally or outwardly I am applying the visualizations given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche, either seeing the white light coming from the mantra in the spinning prayer wheel and growing and growing, purifying the negative karma of all beings, or seeing the opposite, where the prayer wheel is taking all the black smoke (karma) of all beings being vacuumed by the spinning wheel and the mantra inside, and as it comes to the center of the wheel it is being purified.

Then, at the end of the practice, I dedicate all the merit to all beings to close the practice

I found the practice of spinning a prayer wheel to be very comforting and bring much happiness into my own life, as well as huge benefit to all beings.

http://www.galgamaniartproject.com/

Response-ability

Every day is new. every moment we face new situations. it is our response to the situation that determines the outcome, so it is our "Response-ability" to make it right.
please be attentive to your reactions as much as possible.
thank you.

Prayer Wheel Studio

our studio, which is nearly completed is going to have it's final touch ups this week and hopefully, by next week will be up and running! this is going to be something amazing... i will up date as we progress...

Prayer Wheel Pendant

our new prayer wheel pendants are just beautiful! i wanted to share a photo so you can all see what it looks like.

it is made from Walnut wood and contains 1 million Mani mantras inside on microfilm.

enjoy!

 http://www.galgamaniartproject.com/

a word of advice

Happiness is not an accident, it is a study and then it is a practice.
It you want to be happy, hang around happy people, study what they do and then practice it.
Success is not an accident, it is a study and then it is a practice.
If you want to be successful, hang around successful people, study what they do and then practice it.

Thank You All :-)

Hi everyone,

Yesterday I was talking to a dear friend about our prayer wheel project and we got into a deep and meaningful conversation about the whole thing called Prayer Wheel.

He was amazed to hear about the benefits of this holy object and the benefits of constructing them.

He asked me how many we have made over the 3.5 years of our project and I said about 200. He also wanted to know if we made such wheels and sent them to teachers and I counted the list for him, he was quiet amazed! And I must say that so was I! When I got to think about all those prayer wheels turning in the hands of all those masters and people I was overwhelmed…

So, I wish to thank ALL the good people who chose to have one of our prayer wheels, thank you for performing the task of praying for all beings, through all of you many blessings come into existence for the sake of all beings.

Thank you so much, and may there be many more prayer wheels to come!

Your friend,

Micha Strauss

OUR ONLINE STORE!!

Dear all,

After 3.5 years of prayer wheel making, we have a store online!!

You can now order a prayer wheel made by us at a click of a finger...

Hope you all enjoy our work, and please, feel free to give us feedback :-)
Enjoy!

galgamaniartproject.com

our new web site!! please come in and take a look

http://galgamaniartproject.com/



Hi everyone! We have opened a new website with all of our art together
in one place for your enjoyment, there you can see Ayelet's paintings and our wooden boxes.
enjoy!

Ayelet's 7th wheel

Hi everyone!

This beautiful prayer wheel was made for my wife Ayelet… and now is the time to tell a small story about her prayer wheels.
For an unknown (to me) reason, every wheel I make for her soon leaves her. This wheel is her 7th so you can catch my drift…
Someone ALWAYS comes and sees her wheel and needs it now! Either because he is leaving today to some other country today or needs to ship it immediately to some other country, or a Rinpoche is here in Israel for two days and the sanga wishes to give him a prayer wheel made here in Israel, or for many other reasons…. Every wheel she gets, leaves.
Now, with this wheel she has declared that it is staying with her no matter what!
We will see….
Enjoy!

http://galgamaniartproject.com/

10 Million Mani Mantras Made With Walnut Wood

Hi everyone!

This amazing work of art was made for a 3 year old girl for her birthday! It was made to her mother's request, and we hope it will stay with her for the rest of her life! What a great present to get!
Enjoy:-)
http://galgamaniartproject.com/

One More Dark Wheel!

Hi everyone!

This is a 10 million Mani mantra prayer wheel we made for a really nice women from the USA. She has been searching for a prayer wheel to fit her budget and hands for a long time, and this one was perfect for her!
It has made all the way to her in Yellow Spring OH, and it will be blessed soon by Garchen Rinpoche him self!

Enjoy!

http://galgamaniartproject.com/

New Wood Type!

Hi everyone!

We have started to work with a new type of wood, Walnut! It's dark and beautiful!
The following posts will show the new wheels that were made from this new dark wood.
Enjoy!
http://galgamaniartproject.com/

The New Website!

Hi everyone!

After 3 years of working "underground", we have a new web site! It holds all of our art work, be it prayer wheels, wooden boxes or Ayelet's paintings, all in one place.
Soon, after some red tape gets sorted, we will have a paypal button there and buying will become SO easy! Just press a button and you are ready to go! This is going to be much more relevant for today's customers....
So, enjoy this new site and let everyone know it's up and running!

http://galgamaniartproject.com/

thank you!

Micha.

Hi there everyone!

Just wanted to tell you what is happening with us here in Israel in the world of prayer wheel making…
We are receiving so many orders, it feels as if a damn broke and the flood is coming! That is amazing! For the past 3 years that we are making prayer wheels as a side occupation, we have managed to produce 182 prayer wheels to date! That is just incredible considering that we make them only on weekends since our day jobs are so demanding….
For the past 3 weeks we have been working very hard to set up the studio we received from the Kibbutz we live in and it is coming along great! It is almost ready… we are so excited!
From the 20th of April to the 30th we are traveling to the USA for a 10 day traveling exhibition of Ayelet's art work, so we will not be able to make prayer wheels at that time. Hopefully all the open orders will be ready and shipped out by then, but since we have SO much to do before we go it is unknown at the moment… we will see…

That is all the news for now, I will keep you posted as things move forward, and in the mean time just remember, YOU are in control! No one else is… make the most of the time you have left in this body.

Micha Strauss

Lama Tsering Rinpoche's visit to our yurt!

Hi everyone,
I wanted to share some photos of Lama Tsering Rinpoche when he came to our yurt for a cup of tea and an encompassing explanation about life in the Kibbutz and what it's like today, 75 years after "birth"... we all had a great time!

Art Work!

Hi there!

Look at this prayer wheel! My darling wife made it for me as a gift! What an amazing art work! It is a 10 million Mani mantra prayer wheel, and it is just stunning! Every one wants one now…
Enjoy!