All-State Game

Linda and I and our family unhooked over the weekend to attend the All-State Football game in Tulsa. Our son, Micah started and played extremely well as Linebacker #44. He played on the "West" team and the "West" team defeated the "East" team 23 to 10. Everybody there played well, but we of course were extemely proud of Micah. He's 5'11" and 220 pounds of solid muscle.... Just like his dad... more or less, kinda / sorta.

Linda had found on the internet some months ago a glass studio in Tulsa called, Tulsa Gathering Place, so we stopped by there on Saturday and were warmly greeted by Jody and Sharon. They have a very nice place there and we look forward to going back and visiting again. We told them we came out of Andy Boatman's Blue Sage Studio. They were familiar with it and spoke well of Andy and his crew there.

We had a good time in Tulsa. Many thanks to Ryan, Jeremy, Adam, & Daniel for filling in and helping while we were gone. It's great to have great friends!

It's possible I could light the fire sometime toward the end of the week or the first of next week. Looking forward to making my first $8,295.00 piece!

Man, It's Been Hot!

I've been real busy and it's been real hot. Haven't gotten much done.
Having said that I did get my gas line started today and have one more electrical outlet to install which also got started today.
It's entirely possible that I could light my fire by next Thursday. No promises.

Little by Little

Yesterday I met with Larry @ Federal Corp. He's very knowledgeable and has helped me figure out a way that will save me a little money and maybe I can get going a little quicker than what it looked like day before yesterday. It's amazing what a new day can bring. Sometimes good and sometimes ... better.

Also, yesterday Micah and I moved the behemoth furnace (now affectionately referred to as "Scriv" onto the new concrete pad and made more room inside the studio. Micah and I got a little more work done in the studio. Looking better.

Looking forward to good things.

3 Steps Forward, 1 Step Back - What's Bella Forte?

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

More Progress, Photos, and Friends

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Another Step In The Right Direction

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Things are happening!

I talked with Denver Glass Machinery this morning and found my 2 remaining pieces of equipment was shipped yesterday! I am looking forward to getting them. Once I get them, I anticipate about 3 weeks in getting them hooked up and operating to a limited degree. We'll see how fast that all happens. I found out my equipment at the powder coaters won't be ready until next Monday. In the mean time I have concrete lined up to pour this Saturday for my furnace and glory hole to set on. I will post some pictures as soon as I get time to take them and download them to my computer.

My First blog

Greetings to all interested parties!

Many have expressed an interest in how the glass studio set-up is going. Yesterday Micah and I set up the forms to pour the concrete pad for the furnace and the glory hole to set on. Hopefully one day this week we will get to pour the concrete. My annealer and glory hole was supposed to be loaded up and start their journey from Englewood, Colorado to central Oklahoma by Tuesday, July 5th. If you want to see what my annealer looks like go to: http://www.denverglass.com/gfa36.html To see the glory hole, go to: http://www.denverglass.com/glory.html I got the GH-18. I'm guessing it will take about 2 weeks to get here once it ships. I completed construction on the glass blowers bench, rolling yoke, and rolling heat shield last week (My new Lincoln Electric 215 MIG Welder is awesome!) and delivered them to Powder Coating Plus to be powder coated. I will try to get some photos posted later of all the equipment. I wanted to acknowledge Andy Boatman of Blue Sage Studios http://www.bluesagestudios.com in my first blog simply because without him I don't know how I would have gotten into glass blowing. Andy is a great and patient teacher of glass blowing and an even better guy. My life is richer because of him, Brent and Drew are great also and I have enjoyed my time and what I have learned from them. Hats off to Andy and his crew at Blue Sage Studios!