Art from Ashes

Our dog Wilson lives on, with a piece created on glass using his ashes.

March 31st already, and I realized I have been getting behind on my monthly blogging duties. My mind has been a bit distracted the last couple of months, dealing with loss. Losing our very best companion and furry friend due to lung cancer this last January, has taken it's toll on my partner and I. Grief is a very hard and real emotion to deal with. Maybe because the love and loyalty of a dog is so pure. Actually, between our son's dogs and ours we've lost 4 furry friends within 12 months time. It's been especially hard for us with our dear Wilson, a Lab/Retriever. We have always been "Dog People", but when Wilson came into our lives, we knew there was something extra special about this good and noble soul. Now after just under 11 short years, we are adjusting to the new reality of life without him. Those who don't care for animals probably wouldn't understand. But for me, the grief is still raw and real. So I decided to blog about it to show what has come from the healing process so far, when dealing with a loss of this sort. The loss of the unconditional love of our furry friend, has turned into an art form of sorts. 
I thought I'd share what has been created in the Studio, as  memorial keepsakes for all the dogs. The picture above was created by screen printing some of Wilson's ashes onto a sheet of white glass. It was then fused in the kiln. And the picture below is a painting Russ created of our dog, using glass enamels. It was also fired in the kiln and will be added to the keepsakes we have, to remind us of the great dog he was. He will forever leave a lasting imprint on our hearts. And now with the glass art created, we can see daily reminders of his goodness and love he exuded. 

The essence of Wilson: Painted with glass enamels and fired on glass. 

The next picture below was also screen printed onto glass using a black enamel fine frit. It was created as a memorial to "The three". After carefully sifting the fine frit, it was then annealed in the kiln. Our son and his family's now-departed dogs, and our "grand puppies" -the late Bear and Tank, are pictured alongside Wilson. Back in the day they were the best of friends and frolicked in water and on land. Their memories are chock full of the happy adventures enjoyed in years gone by with all of us.

Wilson, Bear and Tank Memorial made of glass.

And we had to have a piece to remember dear Copper, the oldest of them all. He was also a good and furry friend that deserved the best we could give him. We adopted him from family members and he lived with us since 2011. He passed last July, at close to 15 years of age. I created some string art in his likeness. Russ fired some of Copper's ashes onto a red glass heart, pictured below. We spread the rest of his ashes behind our property, where he used to teach Wilson and Maggie how to hunt mice.

A memorial to our sweet dog Copper.

I suppose the hardest part of the last two months has been watching our last remaining dog Maggie, become so confused and lonely without her BFF. She is filled with a sadness I can feel. It has truly been gut wrenching to deal with. But with time, we move onward as best we can. It has really taught me to savor the little moments in time. Before you know it, they are forever a memory. Life has a way of teaching us all lessons if we are willing to learn. I am forever grateful for the time I have got to spend with all our furry friends through the years. It has taught me the great lessons of compassion and empathy.  Russ and I are so thankful they were in our lives and filled our homes with love and happy times. So fortunate to have had them, even though just a short blip on the time-clock that is our associated with our own lives. 

Wilson and Maggie's last walk at the Park before he passed. 

Maggie missing Wilson, sleeps on his old bed. 

So dear reader, if you have gotten this far in my blog, thank you for allowing me to share my grief. It is somewhat therapeutic to write about. Meanwhile life keeps moving on, waiting for no-one. We are trying to get back into the rhythm of working in our Studio. The art piece pictured below was selected to display in a National Juried Art Exhibit this month at one of our local galleries. Russ received an honorable mention for it. The name speaks to the viewer to contemplate what is important in each of our lives. Not everything in life is black and white. When we look deeper, life can take on new and colorful meaning, if we think outside the box. We can be held back by small thinking, or move forward to progress to a deeper and more fulfilling life on this planet, working in harmony with all the planet already provides. "The future is in your hands" is a powerful testament to that. 

"The Future is in Your Hands"

 

Loving and Loss, Learning and Leaping

We had a busy Valentine season, selling many different roses.

 The month of February was one of loving, learning, loss, and last but not least, "Leap day". We started out the first part of the month by creating many glass roses of different styles and varieties for our Etsy customers. Then we worked throughout Valentine's weekend on our "Hot Date Night" glassblowing lessons. This has been a tradition holding steady for quite a few years now. It is a unique Valentine that couples really seem to enjoy. Some are a bit nervous to start out, but Russ is a great teacher and seems to be able to calm most people's fear of the hot torch flames. Others are eager to work in the Lamp Work flames and seem quite natural for beginners.
I also wanted to share the picture below, made in the past, regarding a unique memorial created for a beloved family pet. 

An idea to incorporate a beloved pet's ashes into glass.

This month projects were also completed that represented some great loss of beloved pets. My sister and her family lost their canine companion last summer. Her name was Rozy and she was part of their family for close to 16 years. Russ finally had the time to create some unique pieces for her. He cut and slumped the white glass first to create a puzzle effect. (She is the missing puzzle piece to their family.) Then he painted on and fired in the kiln, layer after layer after layer of glass enamel paints, until he got the replica of Rozy as accurate as possible. It took about a month to complete. 

Glass Enamels were used to paint these portraits onto glass puzzle pieces.

And finally, we are dealing with heartbreak at the end of the month, as our first grand puppy Bear, has passed away from cancer. It has been really hard to process. We have been through the loss of  our own pets before, but this is the first "grand"dog to pass on. He belongs to our second born son and his family. He was a Shelter dog and had a heart of gold. It never gets any easier, and the grief is still in the raw stage. My heart hurts when I think of all the good times we shared with this great dog. It has been very hard on my son and his wife and kids too. But I take solace in the fact that he has passed on to "Rainbow Bridge" without any more pain from cancer. He was yet another dog that loved unconditionally, like so many that passed before him. And this being a rare leap year, I like to envision him leaping into his new life with joy and memories of the good times with his human family. Until next time, make sure to tell the ones you love, how much they mean to you.....both human and furry companions. 💕💗💕

Grieving the passing of our first grand puppy this past month.

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