Buddhist Images is run by Dhiramati (D.P. Miller), a member of the Triratna Buddhist Order. He has been practising Buddhism, meditation and yoga meditation since 1987 and, since 1999, been travelling regularly to Nepal buying Buddhist statues and thangkas. He's developed very good relationships with the local craftspeople and their families. Most of the businesses are fairly small-scale family operations that have been handed down generation to generation. He's very happy to be supporting this local artisan culture through my work.
Part of the profits from BuddhistImages go toward the Green Tara Trust, a charity working with women in Nepal. He also works with Buddhafield, a buddhist community running camping retreats in the West country with its own annual festival. If you would like to help with the work of Buddhafield you can make a donation.
He teaches yoga and meditation, co-leads rituals and do storytelling on a number of events including Dhanakosa, a retreat centre in Scotland.
He's personally very interested in Buddhist iconography, archetypes and imagery and draws much inspiration from them and in providing others with that opportunity. Some of you may be interested in some of the pujas (devotional verses) that he's written.
These photos show the transformation of the raw copper, from being poured into the clay molds, and then worked on until they are finally painted carefully by hand.

the raw material - copper

1st layer of clay

2nd layer of clay

casting the copper

pouring the copper

plunging the mold in water

breaking the mold

the casted mold

working on the statues

painting the statues

painting the statues
And then there are the wooden statues...

woodcarving 1

woodcarving 2

woodcarving 3

woodcarving 4

woodcarving 5

shop

work in progress

Prajnaparamita carved face