I named these the "Phoenix" bells because they literally rose out of the ashes. I made the original holder over a year before for the original bells of the first St Mary Magdalen church from 1956.(pictures below). Last Sunday night, the church caught fire and was almost entirely destroyed. The biggest loss was the full array of stained glass windows that were made by a single artist, Maria Orr, over the course of 3 years. They were dedicated last year.
I knew where they kept the bells in the front of the church, so yesterday, Tim, Bob and I sifted through the rubble a foot deep with a shovel and rake and we found all three bells. We wanted to have a chance to look before an end loader cleared the area. The 3rd and 4th pictures shows what they looked like after the fire. The brass inserts also survived and I used them over on this holder.
The holder is a bit different in contour and it is made of quarter sawn white oak with Zar 120 stain. The finish is clear matte spray.
The bells were a surprise for Fr. Godfrey when he said the 5 o'clock mass on Sunday at our temporary church at the East Kentwood high school auditorium. They lived on !!!!!!
This was posted in 2012 on Lumberjocks. .....................Jim Original holder is below:
Hi Steve. I really liked that church in the round. Finding those bells in the ashes was like finding a treasure! They built a new fancy , modern, real high church and it is not as "comfortable" as the old one. Plus it is very hard to decorate 3 stories up!! I wish I could have been present at the design phase of the new church !!!
