The New Studio

Let me introduce the new studio.

Let me just say that this has long been a dream of mine, although, I never expected that I would ever have something like this in my own home.   I've been sneaking down here in the evenings to create.  It's really my one quiet place in the whole house. 

A few weeks ago, Heber finished the new studio.  I couldn't be more thrilled with the outcome.  There are still a few small things here and there to work on but it is functional and wonderful.  I have felt so inspired in the space and have already created some incredibly exciting new things. Everything is always where I leave it.  Which, if you're a mom too, you understand the beauty of things being in their place.

At the beginning of the year, I set a goal for myself to start to sell my glass work.  It's been a big process because I want to do it right.  I signed up for a vendor fair in May and have been working toward producing projects to fill a table.  This shouldn't seem like such a big deal but it is to me.   It's nerve wracking putting my work out there.


As part of putting my work out there, I just barely finished the redesign of my website, gentrigreen.com.  This was a big job and I learned some things about wordpress which have come in handy.  I ordered some business cards which means that I'm about to become a real person.  Any other free moment has been spent designing in the glass studio.  Oh, and you know, being a mom, running a home and our life here. 

Ornamentea

I visited my dream bead store yesterday.  What, you don't have a dream bead store?  Well, you are missing out.  I have been watching Ornamentea's website for years.  They have such a fresh style and new ideas, I couldn't wait to visit.  I made Heber detour our ride home just so I could stop in.  Come on, I've been dying to visit for years.

It didn't disappoint.  There were so many great ideas and I felt so much inspiration.  I think I could have spent hundreds of dollars.

I think I can feel the creativity creeping back into me.  For a very long time even over a year, I just didn't have it.  I would sit down to make something and nothing would come.  There was even a few months in there that I packed up and put away my jewelry making supplies.  I put everything in the closet.  There has never been a time in the last 10 years that I haven't had beads close at hand so that was pretty significant.  Maybe it was exhaustion, stress, processing moves, worry...it was a lot of things.  This parenthood and I guess life thing is rough sometimes.  But, it's coming back, the creativity is here.  I take that as a good sign.

I sat down at my table and I made things I've never seen before.  I brought my glass into my work and created some pieces that I am more proud of than ever before.  There is so much joy in creating something beautiful.  It buoys me up and gets me through the days when everybody is melting down or just being toddlers (you know what mean). Here's some of the things I've been making lately. 

 

 

An Unexpected Weekend

Our weekend did not turn out like I expected it to.  We have been planning for ages (we're talking months here), to go up and visit some family in Philly for the long holiday weekend.  When we finally got it worked out, we were going to head up for just Sunday and Monday but we were getting out of town, that was enough for me. 

The highlight of the weekend was heading to a Firebirds meeting.  It was one of the best I've attended and came away excited to do glass.  Here's one of the beads I made there.  We even all made it out to a movie together.  Amy did ok, it's a work in progress. 

Anyway, as we were driving to church, the brake light came on in the car and was flashing that we were low on brake fluid.  Now, I would have simply filled up the fluid but this same thing happened not 2 weeks ago.  It's funny, I've been watching White Collar on netflix lately and the guy has the same error flash on his dash board, he loses his brakes and gets into a car accident.  Total tangent but I thought it was oh so pertinent to my life.  I did not want that to happen to us. 

So, we cancelled our trip so that we could have our brakes looked at.  The last thing we need right now would be for us to lose our brakes while we're driving the three hours and to get into an accident.  It still wasn't what I'd hoped to do this weekend.  Who really would trade a weekend away for a $600 mechanics bill?  Oh boy. 

We tried to make the weekend fun still, even without a car that would fit us all.  We hung up some pictures, we watched movies together, made jiffy pop.  On Monday night, snow started to fall in Virginia and we accumulated about 6 inches.  Which in NOVA is way more than enough to shut everything down.  I heard the stores were jammed and all of the toilet paper, milk, eggs and bread were gone.  Why you would wait to buy toilet paper until a disaster is set to strike is beyond me. Even the base that Heber works at was shut down so he got to spend the day with us playing in the snow. 

 

 

 

 

All in all, a pleasant weekend, just not what I expected.  I'm happy the brakes are fixed but it made me antsy to get out and go away for a weekend.  Luckily, I won't have to wait long, I've bought tickets to go to Chicago (just me!) in March.  I am so excited!

Icicles

When I was little, we had this set of glass icicles to hang on our tree.  My parents must have been brave because we hung them there as long as I can remember.  We also had this great strand of dove lights.  Oh Christmas!

 

A couple months ago, my sister called and ordered a dozen icicles.  She was decorating her beautiful home to be in a holiday home show.  I set to work creating a set of 6 inch long icicles on the torch.  Here's some shots of what I came up with.

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If you look closely, you can see them dangling on the tree.  The pictures really don't do them justice.

My New Site...

My new website is finally finished!  It's a new site to showcase my glass work.  I have been working on it forever.  When people ask about what I do, I want a place to send them to.  So here it is....

gentrigreen.com

When I think about how far I've come in the past few years, it's so exciting.  As a stay at home mom, it's difficult to see progress in things.  This is one area that I can see big changes.  I am finding my voice as an artist and I am loving it!

Please go check it out and let me know what you think.

Glass Knobs and Adventure

We have been tired here lately.  The "I just had a baby" kind of tired.  I can still claim it even if it's 3 1/2 months out, right?  Well, I am.  Honestly, I haven't been that excited about life lately but tonight was a good night.

Last week I was reading HGTV Magazine.  Do you read it?  You should, there's so many great ideas, bright colors.  I like it.  Anyway, there was an article on knobs.  I thought, I could make that on the torch.  I'm one of those people who get a lot of ideas (well, I used to before I had a newborn).  Heber (who is ever supportive of my crazy ideas), ran down to Home Depot the very next day to hunt down some hardware.  Heb is a problem solver.  He likes to look at a project and figure out how to make it happen.  It's one of the things I love most about him.

Leo was excited too!

I sat down to the torch just tonight to try it out. As a first run, they came together way better than expected.  This is why I love doing glass, there's always something new to learn.  It's in that newness, that adventure that makes me excited about life again. 

 

 I saw this quote recently.  It is so true.  It is in those moments of adventure (which is really getting out of your comfort zone, doing something new, embracing change), that life becomes worth living.  And in those moments that we discover who we are and stretch beyond. 

Lighting the Flame

It's been nearly 5 months since I've been in the glass studio.  I have missed it so much.  Some people meditate to clear their thoughts, I sit down to work on the torch.  There's something about the quiet rhythm of melting glass that helps me think.  

We've slowly been gathering equipment, starting with the the torch itself all the way back in September but there were a few items that were harder to find for the right price.  A few Saturdays ago, we just bit the bullet and got what we needed.  The best part was that we got to make a trip to Smithfield Implement. 

It's still hard to find time to get in the studio, which is out in our garage, with our curious two year old and newborn but just knowing that it's a possibility makes me happy. 

Last week, the Young Women from our ward came out to see me work on the torch.  I did some demonstrations of fish, hollows, dots...it was a great time.  I felt so cool having a hobby that I could share.

 

Leo always likes to see what comes out of the kiln.  He kisses all of my fishes (and breaks some too).  He likes to see what's going on.  Did you think I was joking about the kissing?  Oh no, I was totally serious.

The Hot Shop

Do smells remind you of memories?  Whenever I smell things burning, I think of fireworks in Grantsville or sitting around a campfire in Logan Canyon.  It's filled with good memories.  That same smell will now remind me of the hot shop.

For Christmas, Heber gave me a class in the hot shop, which is the full size glass blowing studio.  We are talking a kiln filled with hot glass sitting molten and fiery hot at over 2,000 degrees.   It's large scale rods handled with both hands with the possibility of making vases, cups, bowls.  

I have done this once or twice before but never week after week like at this 6 week class.  It's a slower process then expected in many ways.  Larger projects take a longer time to build up the heat to work the project.  The other unexpected is how much I enjoyed taking it slower. 

Glass is becoming less of a mystery.  Watching glass react to my actions or being able to tell when there is enough heat to work it is endlessly fascinating to me and I'm actually getting better at it.   It has become a real passion in my life (as you can tell from the blog).  I've been thinking about passions lately, they bring a lot of joy to my life.  It's one place that I can see myself progress and develop.  


Here's some of the projects I made.  It's just too bad I didn't get a chance to have a picture of me doing it.

A Hollow Victory

Way back, before I started doing glass work, I wanted to learn how to do hand blown glass work.  How to make things hollow and airy inside.  It's been a skill I have never been able to master.  It started way back in a trip to the Oregon Coast.  Heb and I made a round float at a glass house (like the one below).

I was fascinated with the idea that you could take glass, mix things into it and then actually breathe life into it.  I, having done jewelry pretty much all my life, wanted to implement this idea into my work.  Heber found a flameworking class (you can see the post about it here).  I never looked back but creating hollow work has eluded me.

I can't deny that it's been difficult moving across the country and leaving everything behind.  It's been a challenge.  What has been the silver lining in all of this has been the Workhouse.  Every week, I'm able to go down and work at the glass studio with other flame workers.  I watch the glass melt and things come to life.  I also get to interact with a great group of glassworkers who share their skills. 

This is what the workhouse looks like.  It used to be part of a prison.

 Me with Leo inside.

 The studio where the magic happens.

Last night, it happened.  I created my first successful hollow beads.  This is a big step for me.  I can see how I have grown and improved over the past while.  This has been a skill I have worked on for quite a while.     

You can see how the process has progressed:  (This is after I learned the disk technique - you don't even want to see the ones before this.)

The not hollow in any way bead because the glass has just collapsed in making it a very heavy bead.

 The "I'm so close to almost mastering this and then blow one breath too many and blow a hole in the side" bead.

 The "collapsed on one side so there's just  a bubble" bead.

 And then sweet success:

 Well, they still aren't perfect but I'm getting the hang of it.   I'll continue working on it but I have to celebrate these little victories.