I Mustache You For A Drink...

 

Here is some mustachioed glassware! I need to work on making my 'staches a bit more clean and distinct, but other than that I am quite pleased with how these turned out. A little bit of sharpie goes a long way (*ahem* Carolyn K, that one's right up your alley!).

 

I'm happy with the size and straightness of this mustache glass, but for some reason my bottoms are never flat enough for my satisfaction. Ah well, just another thing to keep working on.

 

Holiday Season

Merry Christmas!

 Christmas ornaments! Products of the first trip down to Corning. This was my first time making ornaments. Most of them turned out pretty alright.

 Aaand - terrariums! From our second visit to Corning. This one has three little blown out feet that have been filled with pebble substrate, and is now a tiny terrarium that can either sit on a surface or be hung. I was only able to complete five terrariums, some of which are only for hanging. Here they are all together.

 

Photos from the third trip to Corning will be posted after Christmas. ;)

Gift Tags

Check it out... I was rummaging around my apartment for things to make cute gift tags with and I dug up an old test print from my color photo class in college, which was nice and stiff photo paper with a white back - perfect for writing on - and also a few pages ripped out of an old Sears & Roebuck catalog reproduction from waaay back in the day, full of old school drawings of anything you could possibly think of. (My favorite are the bikes.) So I cut 'em up and glued 'em together, and this is what I got:

Just goes to show that you really can make awesome creations out of very little. I feel as though there may be more of these in my future...

Corning Pilgrimage #2

So we ventured back down to Corning this past Wednesday and Thursday for some more burn-a-licious molten-glass-slingin' fun. Wednesday didn't go so well, but I was pretty happy with Thursday's haul. (Photos of pieces made will appear here soon!)

It felt very normal and natural to be in the hot shop despite the fact that I haven't truly spent any large amount of time in one since the Alfred days - Blowing glass is so enjoyable! It's satisfying in a way that not many other activities are for me. I appreciate the physicality of it, and even though I can't touch the piece I'm working on with my hands, it's sort of like a puzzle or a brain teaser trying to gauge the best steps to take, reading how the glass is acting, and coaxing it to do what you want it to. And then after all your effort, you end up with something beautiful.

 

And!! I came home to discover that I had made my very first sale on Etsy.com! I've really been meaning to revamp my online shop there, since there are currently three listed items and no banner to speak of. I didn't expect to sell anything until that happened, but I suppose it helps that it is the holiday season. So far it's been a good December. :)

Corning Pilgrimage #1

For the first time in far too long, me and a friend ventured down to Corning, NY yesterday to, get this - BLOW GLASS. Whoa. Crazy, I know...

So much fun! It was especially awesome because I got to see three of my former classmates (glassmates?) from my years at Alfred. We went nonstop for five hours, which seemed to me to be the perfect amount of time, at least for small production pieces which is essentially what we were making this time around.  No photos of the finished products yet, but we will be picking up the things we made next Wednesday, when we go down again for another five-hour timeslot.

This was our first time renting time at the Studio at Corning, and everything went well. They have very nice facilities, and I feel confident that much of whatever rustiness had built up from my long absence from the hot shop has been shaken away by this "back in action" blowslot. So, hopefully some of the multitude of ideas that have been aimlessly swimming around in my head and in my sketchbook (read: tree goblets, asymmetrical terrariums, colorful cups, and mustachioed ornaments...) will come to fruition next Wednesday!