Beautiful edition to my Guanyin shrine.
I just wanted a vertical incense burner, and this one looked awesome! The bowl is beautiful, the lacquer is fantastic quality, and you can tell a great deal of care was taken in its manufacture. Arrived solidly packed in styrofoam inside of a nice box. Even USPS couldn't break it! The lotus piece works perfectly well, and apparently they threw in a small brass incense stick holder with mine as well, so both the lotus and another thing with various incense stick sized holes (see photo). I'll probably put both of them to use in the bowl.Not gonna lie, when I saw this with a set of crystal cubes, I immediately thought they would make good whiskey stones. Since I hardly put any stock in the power of crystals, aside from piezoelectric phenomena and radioactivity (neither of which I'd want to be anywhere near...), the 7 pack of chakra crystals went straight into my freezer to bolster my collection. They were all cut and polished into about 1" square pieces, and one of the agate cubes is almost exactly the same as the set I already have, so they'll fill that role quite nicely!The baggie of crushed crystals was loaded to the gills before they sealed it as well. I'm a geologist, and I once got an advert in a sandwich bag with a handful of river gravel in it. I threw the ad in the trash and spent the better part of an hour digging through the gravel in the baggie... This bag of polished fragments was no different. Unfortunately, there weren't any pieces that react to UV, so I was a little disappointed with that, but there were many different varieties of stone: Several different color variations of quartz, including a nice piece of rose quartz, tiger eye, agates, a tiny piece of what looks to be sedimentary mudstone, various bits of granites and marbles (probably old countertops) and possibly a piece of jadeite (I doubt it though, and I don't have my moh's kit to test for sure... It's more likely olivine or something more common)The majority of it, though, is glass. There's quite a few unfinished beads in the mix, many of which look like they tried to create a string hole and it failed. Some look like the sort of glass rods I've seen glassblowers use to add textures to their creations as well. Much of it looks like simply bits of bottle glass (the browns and greens scream beer bottle) that have all been tumbled until they're clear and polished. You can easily distinguish the glass because none of it has imperfections or inclusions. I'd estimate around 60% of the bag was glass.I think this is cool for two reasons: They're recycling old glass that would otherwise end up in a dump, and I don't mind one bit that it wasn't all "crystal" (your mileage may vary, depending on how strongly you feel about the healing properties of pieces of beer bottles :D) The baggie was just a bit of geologist candy to me, and something to pick through and practice IDing rocks. Perfectly acceptable to me! Still looks pretty in the bottom of the bowl, and the purpose it serves hasn't changed. I'm just stoked that I got a little extra value out of it with my hand lens too. :D I've had to pause multiple times while writing this review and go back to digging through the bowl, so I have a feeling I'm gonna be here a while.TL/DR Nice incense burner with a baggie of rocks, or a nice baggie of rocks with an incense burner, depending on who you buy it for.
I just wanted a vertical incense burner, and this one looked awesome! The bowl is beautiful, the lacquer is fantastic quality, and you can tell a great deal of care was taken in its manufacture. Arrived solidly packed in styrofoam inside of a nice box. Even USPS couldn't break it! The lotus piece works perfectly well, and apparently they threw in a small brass incense stick holder with mine as well, so both the lotus and another thing with various incense stick sized holes (see photo). I'll probably put both of them to use in the bowl.Not gonna lie, when I saw this with a set of crystal cubes, I immediately thought they would make good whiskey stones. Since I hardly put any stock in the power of crystals, aside from piezoelectric phenomena and radioactivity (neither of which I'd want to be anywhere near...), the 7 pack of chakra crystals went straight into my freezer to bolster my collection. They were all cut and polished into about 1" square pieces, and one of the agate cubes is almost exactly the same as the set I already have, so they'll fill that role quite nicely!The baggie of crushed crystals was loaded to the gills before they sealed it as well. I'm a geologist, and I once got an advert in a sandwich bag with a handful of river gravel in it. I threw the ad in the trash and spent the better part of an hour digging through the gravel in the baggie... This bag of polished fragments was no different. Unfortunately, there weren't any pieces that react to UV, so I was a little disappointed with that, but there were many different varieties of stone: Several different color variations of quartz, including a nice piece of rose quartz, tiger eye, agates, a tiny piece of what looks to be sedimentary mudstone, various bits of granites and marbles (probably old countertops) and possibly a piece of jadeite (I doubt it though, and I don't have my moh's kit to test for sure... It's more likely olivine or something more common)The majority of it, though, is glass. There's quite a few unfinished beads in the mix, many of which look like they tried to create a string hole and it failed. Some look like the sort of glass rods I've seen glassblowers use to add textures to their creations as well. Much of it looks like simply bits of bottle glass (the browns and greens scream beer bottle) that have all been tumbled until they're clear and polished. You can easily distinguish the glass because none of it has imperfections or inclusions. I'd estimate around 60% of the bag was glass.I think this is cool for two reasons: They're recycling old glass that would otherwise end up in a dump, and I don't mind one bit that it wasn't all "crystal" (your mileage may vary, depending on how strongly you feel about the healing properties of pieces of beer bottles :D) The baggie was just a bit of geologist candy to me, and something to pick through and practice IDing rocks. Perfectly acceptable to me! Still looks pretty in the bottom of the bowl, and the purpose it serves hasn't changed. I'm just stoked that I got a little extra value out of it with my hand lens too. :D I've had to pause multiple times while writing this review and go back to digging through the bowl, so I have a feeling I'm gonna be here a while.TL/DR Nice incense burner with a baggie of rocks, or a nice baggie of rocks with an incense burner, depending on who you buy it for.
Such a beautiful piece, a gift for someone special
Such a beautiful piece, a gift for someone special
I have to give this 4 stars because while it looks nice, the base that holds the incense stick is engineered to very loose tolerances and lets the incense stick flop around by many degrees. Unless I meticulously set it up, the top of the stick will lean outside of the holder and drop ashes onto my table.
I have to give this 4 stars because while it looks nice, the base that holds the incense stick is engineered to very loose tolerances and lets the incense stick flop around by many degrees. Unless I meticulously set it up, the top of the stick will lean outside of the holder and drop ashes onto my table.
It's as advertised, I really love the look!
It's as advertised, I really love the look!
I like it, it's as described, the only thing is you will need something under it and a small vacuum as the incense ash can make its way out of the circle. Overall, very happy with it, and it looks nice win in my office
I like it, it's as described, the only thing is you will need something under it and a small vacuum as the incense ash can make its way out of the circle. Overall, very happy with it, and it looks nice win in my office
This is really a great ensemble of a piece. The incense holder is great since it has various sizes of input to accommodate the different sizes of incense sticks. The ceramic bowl is nicely made and the chakra stones are a nice addition. The only drawback is when the ash falls it often drops inside the crushed crystals and that creates a problem to clean.Overall, it’s not a bad piece.
This is really a great ensemble of a piece. The incense holder is great since it has various sizes of input to accommodate the different sizes of incense sticks. The ceramic bowl is nicely made and the chakra stones are a nice addition. The only drawback is when the ash falls it often drops inside the crushed crystals and that creates a problem to clean.Overall, it’s not a bad piece.
The piece looks really beautiful, but the center golden piece that holds incense doesn't sit flat on the lotus in the middle, which tilts the incense in an unstable way. You have to be really careful to aim it to the ash falls in the flower petals and not the stones
The piece looks really beautiful, but the center golden piece that holds incense doesn't sit flat on the lotus in the middle, which tilts the incense in an unstable way. You have to be really careful to aim it to the ash falls in the flower petals and not the stones
This is absolutely more beautiful than the picture let on. I actually gave it to my husband to put together because he thought it was so cool and pretty. He got so excited over the “rocks” (crystals). The one thing I have to say though is it’s a pain to clean because the incense ash gets all over the crystals and you have to wash and dry everything individually. The incense fit perfectly and it works.
This is absolutely more beautiful than the picture let on. I actually gave it to my husband to put together because he thought it was so cool and pretty. He got so excited over the “rocks” (crystals). The one thing I have to say though is it’s a pain to clean because the incense ash gets all over the crystals and you have to wash and dry everything individually. The incense fit perfectly and it works.