The Keeping
Bespoke fiber altar commissions for grief, transition, and what we carry.
What it is.
Some grief is too large for words.
Some losses need somewhere to live.
The Keeping is a bespoke commission — a handmade fiber altar designed around you, your grief, and the specific shape of what you’re holding. It is made slowly, by hand, with full attention to the sensory, symbolic, and ritual dimensions of your experience.
It can be pocket-sized or altar-sized. Utilitarian or deeply symbolic. Rooted in the spiritual or grounded in the material. It is as pragmatic or as sacred as you need it to be.
Every Keeping is one of a kind and will never be replicated.
How it works.
We begin with a conversation.
You tell me about your grief, what you’ve lost, what you’re navigating, what feels hardest. I’ll ask about colour, scent, texture. About the objects and materials that carry meaning for you. About where this piece will live, how large you’d like it to be and the space it will live in
If you have fiber from a loved one’s clothing, a scarf, a sweater, a hem, we can work that into the piece itself. Their material, held in the making.
From there, I design your altar. Each element is considered: what it holds, what it represents, how it can be engaged with. I write rituals into the design itself, specific ways of returning to different parts of the piece, prompts for different pockets of grief, guidance for using it as a place to come back to.
What you receive is not just an object. It is a grief prosthetic. A talisman. A place that knows what it’s holding.
What’s included.
∙ An initial consultation (by email or video, whichever feels right)
∙ A bespoke fiber altar designed entirely around you and your grief
∙ Handmade original fibre work
∙ A written ritual guide specific to your piece — how to use it, return to it, and tend it over time
∙ Careful, considered shipping
Optional: incorporation of your own fibre materials (clothing, fabric, thread) into the piece itself.
Investment
Keeping pieces begin at CA$180 for small/pocket altars and range to CA$600+ for large altar cloths and extended commissions.
Pricing is discussed during consultation and depends on size, complexity, and materials. Payment plans are available.
If cost is a barrier, please reach out anyway. I hold a small number of sliding scale commissions each year for those who need this work and cannot afford the full rate.
Who is this for?
This work is for anyone carrying grief — the loss of a person, a relationship, a self, a life that was supposed to go differently.
It is for those who are dying and want to leave something behind.
It is for those who are witnessing a death and don’t know what to do with their hands.
It is for those who lost someone years ago and are still, quietly, looking for somewhere to put it.
You do not need to have the right words. You do not need to know exactly what you want. That is what the consultation is for.
How to begin.
Send me a message. Tell me as little or as much as you’d like.
There is no wrong way to start.
The Keeping is offered remotely across Canada and internationally. Local commissions on Vancouver Island may include an optional in-person consultation.