March Madness

The howling winds of March are here. This is what we Idahoans call "March Madness". They are relentless this time of year, wears a person out just listening to them. Even inside the studio I can't escape the high pressure waves of endless and excessive wind gusts. Spring is rarely pretty up here, and slow to produce any blooming bulbs like daffodils or tulips. Jealously I'm aware they are already popping up in lower, less hostile environments, unlike our high mountain desert. 

So we have no choice but to improvise from our desire for a lovely windless Spring day full of flowers blooming and birds chirping. We create our own "Spring" lamp working glass scenes like the one below. Of course you can get a lot done in the Studio when the winds keep you from tooling around in the garden and yard. We have been working on a number of projects this month to keep our minds off the howling winds outside.

Daffodils and butterflies created for a customer

Below are two donations we made for the Snake River Animal Shelter's Fundraiser to be held at the end of the month. They are raising funds to build a brand new shelter for our town, and we are happy to help donate to their cause.

Scalloped and Engraved Float Glass Incorporated with Blown Glass

Last month we showcased the Papa Murphy's heart shaped glass pizza award. Lucky for us, they enjoyed the finished piece so much, that they place another order for more. We should have this large order complete some time in April. This takes a huge amount of kiln time, as there are so many layers and lots of cutting, crushing, and sawing parts to complete the pizzas. 

Many pieces of glass are needed to create a life size version of a pepperoni pizza

Every piece has to fit exactly right and fire in the kiln correctly or it could spell a recipe for disaster, and the process starts all over again.

Fitting on Pepperonis  before firing in the kiln

Thank goodness we invested in this Cutter's Mate, it has helped ease the process of cutting so many pieces of glass to a precise dimension.

Cutting out parts with our Cutter's Mate

Hopefully by the time we complete the above project, the winds will have died down and we can get to the business of planting bulbs, listening to birds chirping, and enjoy the rebirth of Spring in our gardens. Meanwhile, we'll just stay out of the volatile weather and create our own Spring renditions inside our warm Studio.

Blown glass hummingbirds and flowers created at the torch

Love, Not Some 1/2 Baked Idea

February is just about ready to exit stage right, so I thought I'd write a quick entry about the month of affection. We didn't allow any "down time" after the Holidays, as we prepared our many unique and delicate heart felt gifts, rosebuds, and bouquets of glass flowers. We worked on these projects throughout the months of January and February. Below are samples of the variety of Valentine gifts we offered our customers. We are always happy when a customer likes to think outside the traditional route of fresh flowers. Every now and then it's good to go with a non traditional gift for your Valentine, keeps things fresh and new in any relationship. And unlike the fresh flowers, glass gifts also last longer than a week.

Cupid's arrow through a glass heart

A simple, yet elegant heart shape

Red hearts swirling

Sculpted Glass Yellow Rosebud

Sand Blasted and Pink Luster  Glass Rosebud

Etched White Rosebud

Amber Glass Rosebud

Pink Luster Glass Rosebud

Deep Red Glass Rosebud

 Not only did we have a variety of rosebuds and floral bouquets, but we also brought back "Hot Date Night", where couples could sign up to learn to make a rosebud together with instructions from our head glassblower, while they were at the torch. It was a lot of fun to see couples young and old alike, create their own rosebud from "scratch". We enjoyed packaging up their finished project which they were able to take home at the end of the session.

A Snowfire Rose a midst red roses

A lovely vase of sandblasted and pink luster roses

The highlight of February came from an unusual source, as we were commissioned to create a realistic heart shaped pizza for Papa Murphy's Corporate Offices. They are very sentimental as a company, when it comes to the season of love, as every Valentine's holiday they offer their customers delicious heart shaped pizzas. We were honored they commissioned the piece below to symbolize their expertise in this field. Yes, I'd say love is not some 1/2 baked idea. But you have to constantly strive to create news ways to show that emotion to those dear to your heart. Find the right ingredients, slowly bake up your idea, and cook up  your love to a golden perfection. Show love in ways that are unique to those closest to you, and the love will be reciprocated.

Corporate Gift Art Work

And the Award goes to....

Wow! Almost two months has gone by since we last talked. What a busy time in the studio! This time of year, we're lucky to take those pups of ours on their daily walks. And boy, do they let us know it! Well, sorry furry friends, it's only gonna get worse. Or better, depends on the perspective.

It seems lately this year, that one thing has led to another, and we are now so inundated with new projects we can't see straight. Better adjust those rose colored glasses, and get focused on the new venture at hand.

But first, I think our readers (if there are any out there in the blog-o-sphere) would like to see just what it is that's kept us so busy. Since we last talked, besides training for a 1/2 marathon, (a personal goal of mine for turning the big 50 this year. And yes, I ran the whole way and completed it. Just don't ask how I felt the next day. :) ) we had another opportunity to create some unique awards for our local art museum's 10th anniversary celebration. We just wrapped that project up, and then loaded up the rest of our glass for a 3 day Beaux Cadeux event at their lovely facility. We enjoyed packaging up a variety of our ornaments and glass gifts for several art patrons during this show.

Funny how things work, their director had heard we created the VIP gifts for the King Tut exhibit, and asked us to do something along similar lines. This time the task was to create a unique award for all the patrons and volunteers that helped make the museum what it is today. It's had 10 years of success as The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho, thanks in part to the support of many in our community. So a brief description will offer you the inside look at how we came about with another unique glass project, thinking outside the box.

We've attached pictures of the different phases of the award. First, we cut float glass two layers thick, then cleaned them up and came up with 4 different colors of glass frit that we sandwiched between the two layers. Then we fused them in the kiln. The process took 12 hours for two awards. We created a total of 30 awards.

Cutting float glass

Glass frit colors

Fusing glass awards

Fused glass

Next, we used a mold to slump the pieces into a beautiful  curved shape, and again for every two pieces, the slumping process took close to 12 hours. Below is an example of the finished piece. It has an organic feel, as the back of the award has a great texture to it, and we were happy with the end result. A unique award going out to some well deserving folk in our community. We were glad to be a part of this venture.

Unique glass award

And now, another local business has caught wind of our ability to think outside the box, and they want us to create 650 hand sculpted glass rocks! Oh my, looks like the torches will be roaring full time from here on out.  And our Open House is two weeks away. So much to do, so little time! We could use an extra pair of hands about right now. I've learned a great lesson here, "Be careful what you wish for"! 

Going with the Flow

Ahh, Summertime. Nothing like waking up in the morning to a day of sunshine and bird songs by the flowing water cascading at our back yard pond. Gets the cobwebs cleared from the mind and helps reinvigorate the soul.

As I enjoyed the subtle sounds of our waterfall on this beautiful summer solstice morning, I reflected on how Nature seems to just go with the flow. Maybe we could all learn a thing or two from our Mother Earth. Take time from our busy schedules and just "Go with the Flow".

So, let's see if that works in the the glass shop this summer. Now that we have pushed past our deadline with the King Tut project, there are endless possibilities to be explored. It's how we explore them that counts.

King Tut Project

As an Artist you have to set goals on what you would like to accomplish with your medium, so we started using a vision board for the endless ideas that seem to roam around in our brains. They seem to sprout from many encounters we have in our daily lives. For instance, walking the greenbelt in our lovely city inspired this one-of-a-kind ornament of the waterfalls in downtown I.F.

Fused Ornament of the "Falls" in Idaho Falls

Russ and I feed off of each other's creative thoughts and combine our ideas. When we work together, our minds seem to meld into one (They say that happens when you have a partner of longevity, you start thinking each other's thoughts, and it definitely happens with us quite often.) We discuss and formulate new ways to express the beauty we encounter through our glass works. So, when we slow down and ponder and put our thoughts together, that seems to be where the best inspiration comes from.

Of course, sometimes other individuals jostle our creativity. Our sons were the source of inspiration of the piece below. They asked if we could come up with an unusual award for the owner of the company they work for, Papa Murphy's Pizza. At first, we didn't slow down and think about this, didn't "Go with the Flow". But once we did, it all seemed to fall into place, the way it should have. It taught us patience is indeed a virtue.  

Glass Pizza Slice Award

When we stop and listen to our artistic instincts, they are usually right. It got us thinking how fun it would be to create unusual glass awards for various companies and larger corporations in the future. Why stick with the ordinary when you can have extraordinary glass awards? I can tell we're going to use that vision board a lot this summer. When we stop and just go with the flow, that's when the best ideas hit the surface. Next blog will highlight some of those ideas and what we've got planned for some local art shows this summer. Until next time, just go with the flow. Works for us.