Time Marches On

And just like that, the month of March is fleeting. It's easy to let time slip through our hands, as we dabble in a variety of projects, both in the Studio and around our Property. This month's posting is short and sweet, as we really haven't spent much time in the Studio. We're finishing up loose ends on projects around the property, while we wait on a large order from the Yellowstone Stores to come through at the end of the week. So for this month's blog I thought I'd post some pictures of past projects we worked on for previous customers, to show the diversity we are capable of creating with both blown glass and slumped and fused glass.

Blown Glass Balls with Slumped and Fused Decorative Plate

Fighting Elk Scene

This month repairs were made to some glass that was damaged and broken. Past customers brought them in to have updated, including the blown glass Elk above, and the fun green Gecko below. 

Whimsical Gecko

The Swordfish below was a bit of a challenge to create, as the blue colored glass can be tricky to work with, as it tends to crack easily if it's not annealed right away.

Swordfish leaping out of the Ocean Waves

 The artistic piece below was sculpted in the Lamp Work flames a while back, and is still one of our favorite pieces to this date.

Labrador on the hunt for Pheasant

The floral bouquet pictured below, of tulips and daffodils, was sculpted this month to welcome in Spring. The pastel colors are fun to work with in the flame. I'd compare it to pulling taffy. Arrangements like these help brighten the mood of the room they are in. And that's about it for this month. Next time I write an entry, I'm sure we will be knee-deep in our contract to create a multitude of blown glass wildlife figures. So, off to finish a few more projects in the yard, before we head to the Studio for hours and weeks worth of work. Until next time, enjoy the Spring weather.

Spring Blooms sculpted in our Lamp Work Flames

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