A New Look

A new look for our website!

This last month has been rather eventful for us, with many projects going on around the home front as well as the Studio. We have been collaborating with our Graphic Designer (who just happens to be our son) on a new look for our website. We rolled it out earlier this month and couldn't be happier with it's new design and user friendly application. If you haven't already taken a look you can find it at www.glass4gifts.com There is also an active link to shop on our Etsy page. Countless hours of tedious work have paid off, and that is one more thing we can check off our list of "to do's". I'm sure our son is breathing a sigh of relief too. 😊 He went beyond our expectations with the new look.

I also wanted to share a photo of a slumped and fused abstract piece Russ created for one of his sisters. She and her husband had just finished building a beautiful little home last Fall and he wanted them to have some new art to hang on their walls. A  housewarming gift that went to an appreciative home is pictured below. 

Abstract Fused Glass Art created for a family member

We also spent a lot of time these past few months outdoors on our property. We became aware of a Robin's nest a few months back, in one of our pine trees. I wasn't sure if there were any birds in it for quite some time, so Russ finally snuck in and took a picture and found out that yes indeed, there were newborns in the nest. There are only 2 pictures because we didn't want to disturb Ma and Pa Robin's babies too much. I can now say that they have weathered all the crazy winds, freak snow storms and loud lawn mowers passing by, to finally become independent of their parentals. I still see them fluttering around the yard, learning to feed themselves as their parents taught them. It was a joy witnessing the whole process from newborn to independent, flying around the property. 

Baby Robins on our property. 

Russ got to take some time off on Father's Day and enjoy our newest grand puppy, Moose. He is a beautiful Retriever! 

Russ chilling with Moose in our back yard.

The greenhouse is starting to pay off now. Russ has done a lot of tweaking to it. We never grew broccoli before, this was a first for us. It was delicious! And the tomato plants are coming along nicely. It continues to be a learning experience, as some plants are thriving while others seem to struggle. No matter, a great new hobby for him, since his hobby of glass blowing has turned into a full time business. 

Plants are starting to take off in the greenhouse.

We are still collaborating with an Author for her book series. This glass Gryphon was the latest created. The last one to work on will be a glass Phoenix. I already shared the dragon and unicorn in my previous blogs. We like thinking outside the box when it comes to commissions. 

A Blown Glass Gryphon Commission.

And lastly, we are working up to the last minute on a special commission, an artistic bench. Below is a sneak peek. The rest of this project will be revealed in another blog post.  Speaking of which, it's time to wrap this post up, so I can complete the final details of this huge undertaking. 

A sneak peek of a special artistic commission....

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!

"May" Be a Disaster, "May" Be Not

As with most professions, there are good days and bad days. And no matter how much preparation and thought are put into our glass works, things cannot possibly run smoothly all of the time. We have experienced highs and lows in the Studio, it's just the nature of the beast when working with glass. Well, this week has had it's share of low spots for us. It's pretty frustrating, but all we can do is pick up the pieces "literally", and chalk it up as another learning curve. Nothing like getting woke up at 4:30 am (on a Monday morning, no less) to the sound of one of your favorite pieces (a glass wall clock) crashing down to the floor with a deafening noise. Not only did the clock meet it's demise, but it took out a large amount of our inventory with it. Glass shards were everywhere, and it took quite a bit of effort to clean up every last piece.

We also had our share of breakage when it came to shipping glass roses this month. Beautiful hand crafted and blown flowers were flawless before the shipment. Beforehand, we meticulously and carefully wrapped and double boxed the flowers as we always do, only to hear they arrived across country broken due to rough shipping and handling. It's not often this happens, but when it does, it's disappointing to both us and the customers. And we have no choice but to start from scratch all over again.

Mother's Day glass floral gifts

Rose broken during shipping

That's one of the reasons for this artistic statement below, it's currently hanging on one of the walls in the Studio. It's a hard glass (borosilicate) hammer smashing a soft glass (Float) window. We titled it "Stressed". For us, it portrays how many times we have been frustrated when projects don't end up the way we'd like, or beautiful pieces end up in shatters. It's devastating, especially after meticulously working for hours to create them.

"Stressed"

However, for every disaster, there are many more successes to counter-balance the losses. I suppose that's why we don't stay stressed too long, as the rewards are outweighing the benefits. We have to take the losses with the profits and realize every day will not "come up roses". Learning from and dealing with mistakes and accidents never ends when one is a glass artist. Of course, learning from successes is what we would much rather focus on in the Studio. Below are some of the successes created this month of May.

Glass Dragonfly with Lilies

Glass Fairy on Glass Lilypad

Blown Glass Lizard on Manzanita Wood

A beautiful slumped and fused glass collection

If we can focus on the overall results of our labor, the disappointments won't be so hard to deal with. And this week, we are focusing extra hard. Patience is indeed a virtue, that much we have learned for sure.