El­speth Dun­can

"I col­lect gems and min­er­als from the four cor­ners of the uni­verse."Al­ready I know that my con­ver­sa­tion with Ras Nolan is go­ing to be about more than the arts and crafts he makes to sell in his lit­tle shop op­po­site the Buc­coo Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tre. Hand­craft­ed jew­el­ry and hand­bags, in­cense, oils and se­mi-pre­cious stones adorn walls, shelves and glass show­cas­es.

"I am in­to crys­tal ther­a­py and the sev­en chakras, from root to crown. If you want your third eye to open, I know what to use," he tells me as he scrapes the in­sides of a small cal­abash in­to dark wa­ter in a buck­et.He is prepar­ing cal­abash­es to be­gin work­ing on 500 pieces in time for Car­ni­val 2014."Cal­abash spoons, bowls, bot­tles, flower vas­es, nap­kin hold­ers, mask faces...I will take cal­abash to a dif­fer­ent lev­el," he said.

There is al­ways some­thing to learn, even from the sim­plest en­counter with some­one. I note his fo­cus. He knows what he wants to do and how and by when he will get it done. I think mo­men­tar­i­ly of my own life and the ar­eas I want to take to the next lev­el.Les­son 1: Fo­cus and do it.Is he from Buc­coo? No, Bethel. So why did he choose this Buc­coo lo­ca­tion for his shop?

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