The Colors of October

"Hiding in the Woods"

If you know anything about me, you know that October is my favorite "color". 😊 And some of this month's glass creations just happened to reflect some of those vivid orange, red, and yellow hues of Autumn, currently on full display in many of our forests. The Slumped and Fused piece pictured above is nestled in a Birch branch.

Idaho's Fall Colors

Also residing in the Autumn foliage are a good number of mule deer and some white tail deer. Russ sculpted the mighty Buck pictured below, and placed it on an antler.

The Mighty Buck

I also finished a bunch of bright red blown glass chili ristras for a customer this month.

Glass Chili Ristras

The slumped and fused vase below incorporated just about every color on the spectrum.

Colorful Fused Glass Vase

This next creation wasn't inspired by the beauty of the Fall scenery. However, this month Russ was driven to create the piece below because of what has been going on with the political discourse in our country. His thought process went along the lines that the issues we are facing are not just a matter of "Black and White." Labels continue to tear us apart..... "Right vs. Left," "Wealthy vs. Impoverished,"  "Straight vs. Gay", "Christian vs. Agnostic," etc. etc. If we don't get our collective acts together soon, and figure out how to work together instead of continuing with the current polarization going on, our Democracy could melt into an uncertain future. What if we worked harder at embracing each other's ideas and worked  towards solutions for the common good. After all, "the future is in our hands" to create a colorful, healthy and vibrant America, and remember what it really means to be a great country. Lately it seems we have lost our way, it's time to get back on track. 

(A little back story on the creation below.)

"The Future is in our Hands"

The many layers in the fused piece below were another October creation.

Multi colored fused glass plate

To end a very busy month of October, Russ is taking on a rather large endeavor. There are many layers and contours to fill in with this project. 

A work in progress

There have been multiple firings in the kiln, of this Crested Crane, and Russ is working on the background environment. Still a work in progress.

Many firings in our kiln until it's complete, stay tuned.

Well, that's a wrap for this month. Looking forward to the little ghosts and goblins coming around to  trick or treat. That reminds me, I better get some pumpkins carved. Yikes!

Pumpkins from our garden.

The Pumpkin Patch

Black glass cat in our "glassy" pumpkin patch

I come from the generation that first fell in love with Charles Schulz's classic, "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown".  This year really dates me, as they are celebrating 50 years of the classic cartoon. Linus, Snoopy and the gang were a much anticipated Holiday treat that we first watched back in the 60's at both of our homes. Still to this day, I eagerly anticipate watching the whole Peanuts gang on Halloween night. Makes me feel like a kid again, and there's nothing wrong with bringing out the inner child now and then. Along those lines, while we didn't have much luck in our own pumpkin patch this year, (Only a few good pumpkins were picked) we enjoyed creating some out of glass, black cat included.

White Glass Frit accents our Snow Owl

We have also had our share of owls visiting the neighborhood this year, probably from the abundance of rabbits. Russ got inspired by the nightly hoots and created a cute glass Snow Owl this month.

Slumped and Fused Glass Vase accented with Fall colors

He also experimented with various scrap glass pieces and created a few new slumped and fused vases, including the one pictured above. 

Glass Display Stands in the Studio

It was time to update our display stands for an upcoming Art Show, so Russ used his welder for the base of the new stands. Then, using the scallop tool on float glass, he created the display stand pictured above. It accents the slumped and fused pieces quite nicely.

New creation of a slumped and fused decorative plate

Another iridescent and colorful plate was created this month. It has a riverbed of glass rocks fused and incorporated into this decorative piece.

Now if you will excuse me, I've got to be short and sweet on this month's blog, as we have lots of prep work before the first show of the holiday season. Here's hoping you found your own "Great Pumpkin" and have a spooktacular Halloween!