New Year, New Projects

A Large Glass Snowflake hangs in our Studio window.

 On a positive note, there are only two days left in January.....then time to say goodbye to the January blahs. Actually, not much to complain about today. We are enjoying fairly normal weather while much of the country is in a deep freeze. And as I've said in the past, a cold, cloudy day brings out the creativity in the Studio. So actually, January is a good time to get busy around here. And busy we've been! But it's not all work. We managed to enjoy a weekend at the Driggs Winterscape festival. (Always nice to take time off to have some winter fun now and then.)

Snow sculpture at a winter festival in January.

January storm blowing through.

Our dog stands patrol while I shovel on a winter day.

The month started out with a big fusing project. It was requested by a tennis pro shop in Texas, for an award they were giving to their tournament participants.  Clear COE90 glass was cut into hundreds of circles, then enamel paints were hand painted on to create a tennis ball ornament, adorned with a snowflake on top. It was a big project to start out the year.

Hundreds of tennis ball/snowflake ornaments were created this month.

Tennis Ball Ornaments ready to be fired in the kiln.

The finished ornaments.

 And now we have a new project we are working on for another Non-profit organization in Utah. The heart ornaments below are created using a large, high heat lamp work flame. Colored pyrex rods are added for a light airy, and wispy effect. These large hearts are using up a lot of oxygen. Russ went through one tank in a day! Hundreds of these will be completed in February. We are also gearing up for "Hot Date Night", where Russ will teach couples how to make a glass rosebud for Valentine's Day. It's a fun event we try to do for the locals every year. 

Currently we are working on another large order of blown glass hearts.

 The trick is to stay busy at the torches in the winter months, so we can enjoy the Spring and Summer months in the great outdoors. A customer brought in the flower sculpture below that they had purchased from us a few years ago, to get repaired. We were happy to have the colors of Spring in the Studio, for a fleeting moment. Well, time to get back to work on this cold January day. Until next time, stay warm out there. ☃

This colorful blown glass piece makes us look forward to warmer weather.