Last month, Mary and I visited the Church of St. Christopher in Nisswa, Minnesota, for which we had designed a new ambry.

The ambry stores and displays the holy oils used in baptism, confirmation, and annointing. As such, it deserves to be a place of beauty and dignity and the vessels themselves ought do the same.

Phil Daniel designed and built the glass panel for the door, using circles and textured glass in response to the lakes area and the church itself, then designed the etched glass panel behind to work with and enhance the door.

Peter Zelle and I worked together to develop a design concept for the cruets that celebrates the oil itself and its organic, natural beginnings, then he formed the cruets, adding ribbons of color that nicely distinguish the oils and reflect their use. Clear: Purity, divinity - Sacred Chrism. Green: Healing, life - Oil of Annointing. Blue: Wisdom, learning, inspiration - Oil of Catechumens.

We transformed the existing two-way mirror between the sacristy and the worship space into a vibrant array of light and glass that celebrates oil and its role in the sacraments. The parallel panels of glass subtly shimmer and change as the viewer moves toward the ambry. The vessels’ fluid forms enhance the effect, and their color counterpoints the color of the stained glass. The sacristy, once hidden from view by a mirror, is now lightly veiled and is allowed to share the light of its windows.

In product and process, this ambry is a fine example of bringing together the gifts of many people for the service and glory of God.

Click here to see more photos in our Gallery.

My hat’s off to you, Ray.

You get images on your blog quicker than I can say “the deck’s almost done!”

Ray recently blogged about a deck we designed. I spoke with the owners Tuesday night at youth baseball, and the trellis was just going up. Then, by Wednesday morning, there were photos and a write-up by Ray. The hammers aren’t even back in the tool belt yet, but Ray’s camera’s already flashing.

And,

Thanks for the link, Quick Draw!

By the way, the image above is from the planning process.

It looks like the Blogosphere is taking note of our interview with Cameron Sinclair, which, by the way was really fun and (dare I say) inspiring.

Paul has posted some snippets of the interview on his blog, which you can read here.

And, here are some of the blogs that have linked to Paul’s post.

WorldChanging.com

Urbanism News

Archinect

Inhabitat

You will likely see something in the near future on our own Northfield.org.

It is exciting to see the interest in the interview! Thank you for the links!

I’m not as fringy as I thought. I think.

This map shows locations where retailers are selling biodiesel and biodiesel blended fuel across the nation. Look at them all! Minnesota alone has almost 80 stations offering biodiesel, including the Cannon Valley Coop on Highway 3 in Northfield. The map came from the National Biodiesel Board’s website. Click on it and you can get the specifics of each retailer, so you can plan your next autovacation on renewable fuel.

Perusing the list, most retailers are offering a 2-5% biodiesel blend, although a few offer 20% mixtures. The Northfield Biodiesel Buyers’ Club has filled its tank with B99, or a 99% biodiesel blend (apparently, if you sell B100, you don’t qualify for a tax credit.)

Check it out, and consider biodiesel! Maybe you’re not so fringy after all!

::treehugger.com