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.

A Very Brisk October

My Halloween decor is covered in snow this morning.

 Wait, what?!! Sub zero temperatures and it's only October 29th?! Welcome to Idaho, the State where you never know what the weather gods are going to throw your way! This morning is no exception. Bone chilling temperatures probably means not many trick-or-treaters in a couple of days. Sigh....more candy for us I guess! (Not that I need it, oi! Maybe I'll dole it out to the grand kids.) 

Anyway, we are staying warm in the Studio (of course!) Fires are going non-stop. Even though we are a couple of "Old-Schoolers," the age of the Internet has kept us hopping all year, and this month is no exception. Internet orders continue to pile up. At the beginning of the month we created a couple of wildlife sculptures for the store in Jackson Hole. They are added to our other collections  at Wild West Designs, an amazing western-themed storefront. All kinds of hidden treasures can be found there. If you are ever up that way, pay them a visit, you'll be glad you did. 

Blown Glass Bugling Elk

Blown Glass Wolves

Before we got super swamped with ornament orders Russ had time to complete a personal project. He created a unique frame with some willow tree branches found on our property. It will be on display at the Beaux Cadeaux Artisan show next week.

Many hours were spent on the fox, using glass enamels which were fired on in the big kiln.

 The Fall-themed artistic piece below is still in the works, but will really stand out when it is completed. Russ enjoys creating when the time allows. Beats the heck out of making the same ornaments over and over. I keep thinking when he retires, his creativity will know no bounds. 

A Fall scene is in the works, using glass enamels and fused glass.

A new design of sledder ornaments were created this month.

 Speaking of ornaments, some new ideas were created for a customer this month, colorful glass sledders along with a preview in the kiln of what will end up being many hundreds of reindeer. These items are being shipped to Minnesota as soon as they are packaged up. (Haven't quite figured out the packaging process on the deer, as they have fragile antlers. There is a science to packing to avoid breakage of the glass while it is being shipped around the country. This one will be tricky.) 

A kiln full of annealed glass reindeer.

                Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go shovel snow so the little trick-or-treaters that DO                  show up at our door won't be slipping and sliding all over. Sheesh! Gotta love Idaho!  

September Senses

The Grand Tetons on a September Day.

       

September is a month for all your senses to wake up and take in the change of the seasons. There is so much to behold in the air, earth and landscape around us. I relish the vibrant colors and wonderful, woodsy and earthy smells. We got to re-charge our spirits, from spending time in our favorite National Park this month of September, enjoying the splendor of the Grand Tetons. I have also been enjoying walks off the beaten path with our dogs. Russ came across an owl in a dead tree while walking the dogs near our property. Amazing what you can see when you pay attention to your surroundings. 

September morning walk with the dogs

Gorgeous waterfall at Grand Teton National Park

An owl said hello...Whoooo is he staring down?

I can't get enough of this natural splendor!

Now that we are re-charged, there have been many projects to attend to this September in the Studio. Lots of little miniatures have been created, like the snowy owl pictured below. And our daughter-in-law received some new pieces to add to the Wall Art we gave them as a house-warming gift last year. The whimsical owls finished it off nicely. 

Miniature Snow Owl

A family of Owls accent this fused glass wall art.

    Russ is working on a commission of various mythical creatures for an author. The green dragon is the first endeavor for this commission. 

And I am packaging up a large order of music-themed ornaments for another customer. Here's a kiln full of treble clefs. 

Blown glass treble clef ornaments

We have lots of requests for scuba diver ornaments year round. Especially now, right before the holidays. The fires will be roaring all the way through to the end of the year

Blown Glass Scuba Divers

Well, that's about all I have time for this month. (These rescue kitties seem to be taking up much of my September days. Good thing they have not been introduced to the Glass Studio yet!) 

  

      

Spending some time with Family this March

A rainy day at Zion's National Park

 March was the month we were able to quickly slip away from our Studio for a few days, and enjoy family time at Zion National Park. (What a national treasure!) We also went down to Arizona to celebrate Russ' Dad's 82nd birthday. It was a quick trip down in a rental car, (Our cars are showing their age) but we appreciated the time away, even if only for a few rainy days. The Southwest's scenery did not disappoint.

We hiked in the rain, but still enjoyed the scenery.

One of many arches in Zion.

Lots of red rock to explore.

We saw a number of mountain goats.

Meanwhile, many different projects are going on this month, many Yellowstone wildlife glass works, alstrom drops for a Non-profit Organization, never-ending Etsy orders, and some new art that I'll highlight next month. In the meantime, this month I am highlighting some past glass pieces that were created in our Studio over the years. Well, I'll keep the blog short this month, I need to get behind the torch. Russ and I will be working nonstop the next little while to catch up on orders. Until next time, enjoy Spring...

Sculpting glass at the torch

Spring Florals for a wedding cake top

Slumped wine bottle with florals and dragonflies.

Blown glass Bass on Manzanita wood

Slumped and fused "Seasons" on wood base.

November's Never-ending Orders

Blown Glass Musical Ornaments

 'Tis the season......our torches are in beast mode once again. With the advance of technology, the Internet has kept this little "Ma-Pa" business hopping!  I wanted to make the time for one more Blog entry before November slips away....

Glass Hot Air Balloons waiting to be packaged.

Blown Glass Hot Air Balloon

  Companies are purchasing large ornament orders to give as tokens of appreciation to their employees for the holidays. It's all the two of us can do to keep up with the requests. We try our best and hope the end result is worth it. Meanwhile, I give the USPS a lot of business this time of year, as I ship many packages on a daily basis. And they all need a fragile sticker, because well, GLASS! 😉

Shipping packages all month long

Orders lined up, ready to be sent out to customers.

 Every year Russ makes the time to create a new ornament, like the one pictured below. I'm afraid that will probably have to do it for this year. Not enough hours in the day! Hopefully next year we will make the time to create some more new ornaments.

A new red and white striped icicle ornament

 Our Etsy Store is doing really well lately. Customers are coming back for more, (We like our repeat customers.) like the variety of roses pictured below.

Customers are requesting large orders of a variety of  roses.

 Russ doesn't have much time to fill the creative niche' this time of year, too busy filling orders. But   he did manage to create a slumped and fused piece this month. He added a screen printed fox to the     glass art below. Can you find him hiding in the woods?  Well, gotta run...the orders are piling up! 'Til next time, I hope you enjoy the season of giving. 🎄

The latest slumped and fused "Seasons" 

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