Once in a Blue Moon

The month of January started out with a full moon and is ending with another "super blue blood moon".

January is going out with a bang, with it's "Blue Moon, Super Moon, and Moon's Eclipse occurring on the last day of this month. Otherwise known as the "Super Blue Blood Moon".  I don't know if that phenomenon is the cause of our re-energized attitudes, but it helps that we have been able to take a collective breath earlier this month, from the holiday rush of last year. We have been able to accomplish quite a bit in the last few weeks, and have re-prioritized what needs to get done in the Studio. We've cleaned up the holiday clutter, and are setting goals to create new projects with silk screening endeavors, later this year. We are still waiting on some key components before we can get started with this new technique that we look forward to working with, on glass. 

Right from the get-go, we started out the new year with a large order that kept us busy for a while, a commission from a Tennis Club in Texas. They requested tennis ornaments with a snowflake theme. We experimented and came up with this design, using soft glass and glass enamels. We filled the kiln up a few times to get them all done in time. 

Snowflake-themed glass tennis racquet ornaments fresh out of the kiln

Another customer requested an unusual wedding cake top to go along with her passion for entertaining - the glass microphone pictured below, highlighted in silver luster.

Blown glass microphone requested for  a wedding cake top

Russ enjoyed creating the blown glass multi-colored road runner, now we're thinking it needs a float glass cactus added on to complete it. 

Multi-colored glass road runner

And of course, many times in the world of slumping and fusing, what we think has turned into a complete fail, ends up turning into a "beautiful disaster". The layered piece below was meant to be a beautiful vase, but the colors just weren't coming together, so Russ totally changed his thought process and went a whole new direction on the scene below. He used standoffs to mount it in our Studio, and I have to say it looks spectacular standing out from the wall like it does...gives it a 3D look, and a much better outcome than the vase would have been. A happy fail. 

Slumped and fused glass art with enamel accents

We also like to take time to leave the Studio now and then and enjoy the Nature around our property in these winter months. And living where we do, we still get all kinds of wildlife coming into the yard this time of year, looking for anything that isn't covered up and ready to munch on. We've had to move our bird feeder 3 different times, as the deer can't seem to get enough, and we don't want them to get in the habit of expecting a free meal. I think Russ has placed it high enough now, that old Mister Buck can't reach it anymore, like he does in the video below. We love the deer, but have also realized it's important for them to eat what they are used to in the mountains, lots of fibrous twigs and branches, and as much as I hate to admit, not our bird food.

This herd is so fun to watch from a distance. We have to be careful going around the neighborhood at night, as you never know when they will dart out in the street. They seem pretty healthy from the mild winter we've been having this year. Unlike last year, when many of our deer and elk populations didn't have enough food to eat because of the devastating Henry's Creek Fire that was human caused a few years ago. I'm glad they seem to be rebounding this year.

Mule Deer Herd in our Neighborhood

So we come to a close of the first new month, in our new year, with the new blue moon, along with new ideas brewing for the coming months. Happy New Year!