30,000 year old swamp kauri manaia

I have just finished this manaia out of 30,000 year old swamp kauri. Swamp kauri is our "bogwood". As a timber it is normally very bland, but put it in the swamps for a few thousand years, and the minerals leech into it giving it these amazing rich colours and showing up the grain. This is made from root wood, so makes it even more so.  A manaia is a spiritual guardian. It has the head of a bird, the body of a man, and the tail of a fish, so has guardianship over air, land and water.