experimenting

lately I've been experimenting. with new shapes, sizes, ideas... after one too many days of staring at all the terrariums piled on our one table, it occurred to me that some of the shapes could make beautiful lamps.  the first lamp I made looks wonderful, and it really makes me wish I had a place to put them, but since the table is full they're sitting on the floor for now...

next on my ever growing list of ideas : figure out fittings for a wall mounted light...



* Edit 8/3/12:  I will definitely be putting the lamp in my shop soon, I'm looking to have it ready for the fall/winter season.  I'm making it in two sizes:

Large measures 18.5" high (with shade).  The glass lamp base is 12" high and 11" at the widest part, and the shade is 14" wide at its base x 8.5" high. 

Small measures 15" high (with shade.  The glass lamp base is 9" high and 8.5" at the widest part, and the shade is 9.5" wide at its base x 6.5" high.

I'll be offering them in either silver or with a copper patina.  And I'll be offering the shade in either chalk white or light sand.  As with all my work, the lamps are handmade using glass and a lead-free silver alloy solder.
 
I'll start taking pre-orders soon, email me for details!

tins

One of the blogs I recently started reading, Sesame and Lilly, did a post about her vintage tins yesterday, and it made me want to share my own collection with you.  My collection is from when we were living in England.  I started buying them for the shop I was working in, and slowly began selecting the ones I deemed "the best" for myself.  Since then I have gifted some away to worthy friends and family, but here is a small selection of the ones I still have.

As you can see, I have a number from Queen Elizabeth's coronation, I think her youthful image looks so lovely and hopeful.  Those three grouped together are all Cadbury's chocolates tins.  One of my favorites is the green tin in the last photo with the fairy-like woman on the front.  The tin is for Cook & Co.'s "Automatic Knotter".  Wouldn't it be neat if our modern packaging aspired to be this collectable?

the solstice

Today is the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year in North America, and also my birthday!  I'll be spending the day celebrating my 27 years with friends, and attempting to not do any work (though I've already organized the coat closet and did some more holiday decorating).  

I have so many photos to post from recent shows and commissions, so check back next week for a pre-holiday December recap.  I'll also add some new pieces on Etsy to replace sold items that I took down.  

But for now, a little break.

Enjoy the darkness, turn on all your holiday lights, and embrace the season :)

photos of the earth at night by NASA

Chihuly's Glass Baskets

I saw the Dale Chihuly exhibit at the MFA in Boston last spring.  I have always liked Chihuly's work, in my eyes he has taken great strides in showing how glass can be Art with a capital A.  Most of his glassblowing is full of color and dynamic movement, but out of all of his work I actually find his "baskets" the most inspiring.

Grossmünster stained glass

The Grossmünster is a Romanesque-style church in Zurich, one of the three major churches in the city.  Completed in 1220 AD, the Grossmünster was a monastery church, and according to legend it was founded by Charlemagne, whose horse fell to its knees on the graves of Felix and Regula, the patron saints of Zurich.

The church itself is awe-inspiring, but I am focused on the more contemporary stained glass windows, which date from the 20th and 21st centuries.  There are two artists who are responsible for the newer windows, Giacometti in 1932 and Sigmar Polke between 2006 and 2009.  It is this later set that interests me the most.  And I think you'll see why...

photos sewed together for this post, this is not how the windows appear in the church

inspire: fallingwater

I find that the most inspiring places I go to for ideas are out in the natural world.  There is nothing more interesting than the shapes that nature can create over thousands and millions of years. 

These photos are a bit old now.  They're from a trip I took out to Falling Water (the Frank Lloyd Wright house in Mill Run, PA) with my friends.  You can see how Wright took care to make the buildings one with nature and to mirror the surroundings, often even bringing the outside to the inside, so that the house feels it grew from the rocks.  As interesting as the house was, I found the land that it sits on to be the most interesting.

For me it was all about the sandstone.  These massive walls created by compressed sand over millenia.  They are geometric and hard, and yet they undulate and seem to follow the river that has helped to give its shape.  As with most inspiring things, I don't know yet how these rocks will materialize in my work.  What new shapes or colors or play of light they will bring out.  But I know that for now this experience is sitting in the back of my mind and is probably already oozing into my new work.

I also liked this little natural garden, which was growing in a nook of the house's balcony. 

Here, nature is everywhere.