Dog Days of Summer

The month of August ends on a high note for us. We found the perfect addition to our family with our new adopted dog, Bella. She needed to be re-homed and Russ happened to find her at just the right time earlier this month. She was oh, so skinny, and in need of a lot of tender loving care. We haven't had her for quite a month, so she is not 100% yet. But she is getting as much love as we can give, and returns it ten-fold with puppy licks and gratitude. Bella was just what the Doctor ordered for our family, as we have had a bit of a rough year ever since our dear Wilson passed away in January. Maggie and the cats have accepted Bella into the pack, for the most part. We still have some work to do in that area. All in good time. What I love most is she's helped me to smile again. Such a sweet dog, and good for our souls. 💕

Our new dog Bella enjoying her new found freedom with our old dog Maggie.

We got away with the dogs for a quick trip to Bear Lake. So much fun. 

Bella is already looking much better since the first day we got her, when she was skin and bones.

The summer days are coming to an end, and harvesting in the garden is taking place. Not quite as good as year's past, as we had a terrible issue with grasshoppers and aphids this year. But enough of a harvest to enjoy the fruits of our labor. And we were able to enjoy the roses again this month, even though everything seemed to struggle in the extra hot heat of the summer sun. 

Beautiful sunrise morning.

My favorite color of rose.

This one reminds me of ice cream sherbet. 

The month of August also saw another shipment of Blown Glass Wildlife headed out the door to the Yellowstone Park Stores again. 

Blown Glass Yellowstone Wildlife

After that order was wrapped up, Russ got creative and "upcycled" some window glass onto some kaowool in the large kiln. The end result was a curvy decorative dish, seen below. It turned out so well, he slumped another one to be auctioned off at his family's reunion. I upcycled some bottles as well to finish off the trays.  The end result can be seen below. 

Firing Float Glass onto Kaowool in the Kiln.

The end result

Another upcycled piece of art was auctioned off at a family reunion.

Colorful blown glass dragonflies were also created for a customer this month.

And the last blown glass to head out the door is a Unicorn wedding cake top made for our niece's wedding in Virginia. So now that the dog days of summer are just about over, I'd better get packing now. I have lots of orders that need to be shipped today in order for us to begin the next big venture. Until next time, stay safe, and be well. 

Blown glass Unicorns with gold accents.

Dog Days of Summer

I took a picture of Russ taking a picture of a beautiful Idaho sunset. 😊

Family reunions filled up a lot of weekends this month, and already August is coming to an end. Nice thing about that, is no more air conditioning should be needed. One thing you can count on in Idaho, is our short summers. We can't complain though, while much of the country swelters in the summer sun, we rarely see the 100 degree mark. However, this August saw plenty of smoke from fires near and wide. That made it hard to breathe, but also made for some spectacular sunsets. And it did get hot enough a few days, to refer to the term "Dog Days of Summer". Makes it hard to work in the Studio at those temps., but we did manage to work on a few projects this month. One of them had to do with the passing of a friend's beloved pet. We also enjoyed spending time with some of our grand kids, romping around in our backyard playground.

Russ playing with our grand daughter in our backyard.

One of our friends lost her beloved furry companion Newton, this past month. She requested a memorial be made with his ashes. Russ came up with a slumped and fused design that incorporated the dog's ashes with the paw print. I created some flowers that also had the ashes incorporated in the middle and added it to complete the memorial gift, shown below. We would like to offer different versions of this idea to customers who would like to remember their pets in this way. We were thinking a framed piece that could hang on a wall would work well also.

Fused Glass Paw Print with a pet's ashes incorporated.

The finished Pet's Memorial.

In the picture below, Russ created a panel of trees based on the four seasons. We just need to attach it to a steel frame and it will be ready to hang.

Fused and screen printed glass - 4 Season Tree Panels

And there's always room in the kiln for a few new slumped and fused pieces, pictured below.

Striped Slumped and Fused Platter

Slumped and Fused Abstract Bowl

Once in a while, Russ gets inspired to create something for our living space. This month he wanted to recreate a slumped and fused piece inspired by our time spent in the mountains. Many hours were spent sawing, shaping with kaowool in the kiln, and sandblasting the float glass to create the scene of the Tetons. It was also tricky attaching it to the pine wood base and installing in our living room. But now that it's up on the wall, we can enjoy this very large piece of glass art work for years to come. 

We've already had requests to re-create something like this piece, so back to work we go. We'll miss the care-free days of summer, but at least the coming cooler temps will make it easier to work in the Studio. Well, that about wraps it up for the summer, enjoy your Labor Day weekend!

Wall Art - Slumped and Fused Float Glass- The Grand Tetons

Gone to the Fishing Hole

One of our Custom Blown and Sculpted Glass Trout Scenes

 What better time to get away to the local fishing hole than the month of the Summer Solstice? While the month of June was filled with honoring Dads on Father's Day, celebrating our anniversary, and spending time with our kids and one of our grandsons, there was lots of hard work in the Studio, projects in the yard, and keeping up with the gardening. So the last weekend in June we decided to stop working long enough to have a relaxing and fun "gone fishing" weekend too. We were able to make a trip up into the mountains nearby, in our new camper for the first time. We have been tent camping all our adult lives until this year, and I have to say, someone should have knocked some sense into us a long time ago. The camper allowed us to enjoy the great outdoors like it was meant to be enjoyed. I guess we aren't into the "inconvenience" that comes with tent camping anymore. It comes when you reach a certain age of sensibility, I suppose. We were much more comfortable and relaxed this time around, and look forward to many more weekends of convenient camping.

Enjoying our new camping experience.

 The past weekend was spent with our oldest son, his wife, and all our dogs. It was a beautiful couple of days with perfect temperatures, and the fish were biting consistently. It has been a long time since we could just relax and enjoy Nature's beauty. All the dogs were in heaven too, as they splashed in the water and chased sticks and birds.

A beautiful day at Palisades

The stringer was full of trout

 Well, the fun had to end. Now it's back to the grind for a while. I'm waiting in anticipation for the next getaway. It does a body good, to forget the worries of the day and just fish. Retirement is less than 10 years away and I have a feeling it will become the norm, to head into the hills at that time. Until then, we need to make a living. So off to complete more orders like the one below. Of course, when you love what you do for a living, it really doesn't seem too much like work. I hope you can find the time to balance work and play in your lives too.

A custom order for a client