Butterfly Memories

Mom's Butterfly

Today is a day of reflection....it would have been our Mother's (in-law's) 82nd birthday. We said goodbye to this beautiful soul not quite 2 years ago. At the time of loss, Russ was moved to create a special blown glass butterfly especially to remember her by, pictured above. This month he just happened to be creating more butterflies for others in the Studio....coincidence? Or was she there helping him create? Whatever the case, butterflies will always remind us of our dear Mom and her graceful ways. Russ inherited his love of creating from his Mom, and it shows in so many of his works. 

Some other ideas and creations were also completed this month. We were able to hang the Chickadee Art work in the Studio, along with a new piece of kiln work, depicting a school of fish swimming in the Ocean current. Russ really enjoys creating new works in between working on the orders that need to be filled for clients. One of our customers requested glass bobbins for bobbin lace making, an interesting commission that was created, and pictured below. 

Glass Bobbins

One more fused piece was just completed last week. Multiple colors were cut, then fused in the kiln. The final step was to slump on a mold, and smooth down the edges of the bowl. Blown balls compliment the finished fused glass bowl. I really am fond of the earth tones. That is the latest coming out of the Studio for the month of April. We hope the coming month of May allows you to spend a day or two with your own Mom, or reflect on happy memories of her.

Finished Fused Glass Bowl

February was Fierce

February started out nice enough....we had quite a few snowstorms this month and played outside in the white powder with our furry friends. We also celebrated a couple of birthdays in the family, including our youngest grandson turning 1 earlier this month. But midway through the month we both came down hard with the Crud! It hit us something fierce! It especially hit Russ hard, so our annual Valentine rosebud lessons had to be rearranged until he got to feeling better. Today is the last day of the month and he's still not quite 100 percent. This is the first year I can remember whole school districts shutting down because of that nasty bug spreading all throughout our valley. I'm glad we are on the mend now.

Our 5th grandchild turned 1 year old this month.

 Before Russ got sick, he had time to create a few new fused projects, including the wall art below...a callalily scene for our daughter-in-law, who celebrated the big 30 year mark this month. He used stand-offs to hang it in her home. It took multiple firings in the big kiln.

Fused Callalilies ready to fire again in the big kiln.

Finished art work

A large order of blown glass hearts and many roses were also worked on and shipped out this month, in between each of us dealing with fevers and coughs and sniffles.

Another fused scene (pictured below) completed this month represented the many chickadees that come to our property in winter in search of food. It can also be used as wall art and is for sale in our Studio. 

 We had a request at the end of the month for these medallions to go along with a book that a local author had written. We were barely able to squeeze this order in, after dealing with the sickies for weeks on end!

A custom order of Star and Heart blown glass medallions

 Now that we have just about conquered the Crud, we are really looking forward to warmer weather and Spring flowers blooming, akin to our glass tulips pictured below. Believe me, we are so done with "Cabin Fever"!