Artisan Sculpture Studio and Foundry Workshop

Natsog Dorje is an artisan sculpture studio and foundry workshop dedicated to develop entirely authentic ritual objects and images to support the Vajrayana Secret Mantra practices. The Buddhist workshop arose from the desire to fulfill the complete requirements of the creation of these objects. They are a group of old Dharma practitioners: qualified painters, sculptors, and jewelers who for several years, with the blessings and guidance of many Tibetan teachers, have developed and created a variety of unique items.

We are an artisan a sculpture studio and foundry workshop dedicated to develop entirely authentic ritual objects and images to support the Vajrayana Secret Mantra practices. We also produce jewelry and many more artistic and ritual objects from Tibetan ancient culture.

Nowadays, the tradition of the Tibetan Buddhism is widely spread throughout the world beyond their countries of origin, and has many teachers and followers even in the western countries. The heart of the Tibetan tradition is the teachings of the Vajrayana Secret Mantra. Here, art is closely related with the practice of this path. Thus, for example, is often required to practice various elaborated ritual images and objects that match precisely the requirements of the tradition, each item having a profound symbolism with the aim of establishing a good relationship between the internal and external dimensions.

Everything must be technically well done. And equally important, the creation and manufacturing process must be accompanied by specific practices, recitation of mantras, etc. It is very difficult to find the team that meets best technical requirements for creation of images and ritual objects, as well as having the appropriate attitude and deep knowledge of what to do and how to do it.

The Buddhist workshop Natsog Dorje arose from the desire to fulfill the complete requirements. We are a couple of Dharma practitioners: painters, sculptors and jewelers. Our Dharma names is Rigdzin Pema Thutob ༼ རིག་འཛིན་པདྨ་མཐུ་སྟོབས། ༽ and Tashi Lhamo ༼ བཀྲ་ཤིས་ལྷ་མོ། ༽. For several years, with the blessings and guidance of many Tibetan teachers, we developed and created a variety of unique items on demand.

Our main sources of mentors and blessings are great teachers as Rigdzin Namkha Gyatso Rinpoche, Terchen Kyabje Namkha Drime Rabjam Rinpoche, Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche and Gangteng Tulku Rinpoche.

Among the Tibetan and Bhutanese teachers for whom we have worked, additionally to those aforementioned, we would highlight Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche, Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche, Kyabje Dudjom Sangye Pema Shepa Rinpoche, Chagdud Khadro, Garchen Rinpoche, and many others.

Workflow

We base our work on images and objects with the blessings of our teachers, based on their teachings, as well as relevant texts and existing models. We work with iron, bronze, silver, gold, meteorite iron as well as with wood, stone, plaster, wax, polymers and other materials. The initial model of items presented here are created by hand from materials such as clay sculpture and jewelry wax, some are created directly from metal.

The main work is made in the studio: creating the master model, silicone forms removal, copies of model casting in wax and ultimate refinement in the metal. Creating the master model is creative, but laborious and hard process. It includes a selection of theoretical materials (drawings, measurements, verbal descriptions from Tibetan texts, consultations with specialists in Buddhist images area), and a further embodiment in the most suitable material.

Working With Meteorite

The artisans use whole sections of iron-stony Seymchan meteorite. While making meteor blades, oriental masters would ritually throw the “heavenly metal” into the crucible then announced this alloy "meteoric iron" Natsog Dorje use pure meteorite. Looking at these meteorite pieces, you can see the original inhomogeneous structure of the meteorite, the beauty of which he tries to highlight as much as possible. This "heavenly pattern" cannot be reproduced on Earth, in spite of modern technology.