Gentelmen,
I just wanted to thank you for your kind words.
It was most kind of Antonio to share our unusual project here as well, and it was certainly a pleasure to work on.
I shared a brief backgrounder on another forum, I hope you dont mind if I paste it here just to contextualize the spirit of the piece:
As Antonio mentioned, our approach and intent was primarily sculptural, and while Antonio's design drew inspiration from older ethnic forms, the idea was not to get overly bogged down in trying to make an academic study of the significance of the totemic forms and thier symbolisms, but to translate certain ethnic forms and treatments into interesting sculptural elements devoid of thier spiritual significance so as not to blindly parrot what we dont understand or are culturally removed from. Rather than setting out to make a historical replica, instead, we tried to stay connected to the cultural tradition by sticking to some old-school techniques while creating something new. It's mostly hand-work in an open fire, laminating steel with softer iron, and etching with "calamansi" juice (a local type of lime) but not feeling too tied to sticking to what would be considered historically correct. It's something new but nods in approval to what came before
I look forward to sharing more in the future. Thanks
Best,
P. Abrera