Pittsburgh Photos and Comments Part 2

We'll try this again.
This is a acorn that Dante blew out of some little pieces that he fused together and blew.

Along beside it is a clear optic molded low bowl with a chartreuse lip wrap. There was just something about that piece that I really liked alot. Understated elegance maybe? That chartreuse color also really intrigued me. I remember seeing some of Dante's tall vases that were that color with a purple eggplant color. They really were beautiful and began looking then for that chartreuse color. I searched all the color places and didn't find anything called chartreuse. I just figured Dante had some special color made up that only he had. When he used this chartreuse color and said it was his favorite color (he indicated mainly because of the quality of the rod and the way it behaved, I asked him what it was. Z-94. It is not called chartreuse from the color company. I think they call it yellow-green. Which explains why I couldn't find it. I think chartreuse even sounds neat! Anyway the first thing I tried to make when I got back was a clear optic bowl with a chartreuse lip wrap. I may post a picture later. Turned out decent for me.









This is Dante and Janusz talking about what they are going to do next. Next is a clear optic on a blown foot with red wraps.


















The Red 8 handled vase I also got to hold while it was still warm! Dante used G-178 (Crimson) I believe. Beautiful!












This is a retticello "seed". Dante blows these "seeds", then anneals them and looks them over. If the air bubbles and lines are good enough then he heats it back up and will blow it out for something. In this case, it was beautiful. If I would have done it is would have been one of those "Look Mom!" pieces. But when you are on Dante's level, alas, not quite good enough. So Dante and Janusz pulled cane, and did another retticello piece, and annealed it. It was a keeper. Dante used it the next day to do a "leaf" thingy. I got to hold it when it was still warm out of the annealer.

Yes Virginia, I did feel special! It was really somethng to hold that expensive art still warm. Dante didn't even seem nervous as different ones of us were holding it!

This is Janusz picking out the pieces of cane for the new retticello "seed" and this is the cane on the pastorelli ready to go in the glory hole. They use 60 pieces of cane on each of the cups used for the retticello seed!

Pittsburgh Photos and Comments

Here are a few pictures and some relevent comments.
This is a picture of Wayne, who is from the Philly area - really friendly and a nice guy - we hung around a little. Note: I rotated the photo appropriately before I downloaded in the computer and it is still off. If I go in Photoshop and save the photo then it's allright - takes too long and I am in a hurry, It's 2:11 am and I have to be be at up at 5:30 am and be at the restaruant @ 6:00 am.

I stayed at the Omni in Pittsburgh - Really nice place. This is a picture of the lobby.

This is a picture of me (black clothes and red stripe in the shirt) and Scott Novota (Known as Gnat in the blogoshphere).
Scott was a really nice guy. I got to meet his wife known as Minimolly - (if I understand correctly, nicknamed that because she drive a mini-cooper and her name is Molly) and also got to meet Corkchop - I think thats Gnat's boss at work.

I will post more later. The pictures quit uploading. sat there for 35 minutes and still wouldn't upload. One reason I don't post more often!
Bye for now.
CM

Back From Pittsburgh

Hello everybody! I have been really busy since I got back from Pittsburgh. Busy trying to catch up at Italian Jim's Pizzeria. Busy, endeavoring to put into practice a little of what I learned in Pittsburgh. I don't really have time to post tonight. I have an early morning in the morning. I will post a little later and report on the Dante Marioni and Janusz Posniak class and what it was like meeting these two great glassblowers and great people! I got to meet Gnat, Mini-molly, and Corkchop who have posted here. I got to meet Wayne from Penn., Josh, from the studio where Bruce Ferguson operates out of and a number of really nice people. Well, don't get me started. . . too late! But anyway it was a great trip and experience - I will write more about that later. Just wanted to post something since it had been so long. I will post pictures from my new camera of the workshop that I attended and some other stuff.
I'll be back. (read as Arnold Schwarznegger)
CM

Whew! - I can almost see Pittsburgh!

Hello everybody. I haven't had much time to blow glass. I have worked on a few cabinet drawer pulls - now I can't find my little brass inserts and $40 diamond bit to drill in the knobs to insert the brass inserts- I'm sure I put the drill bit in a safe place where I wouldn't lose it. I'll find it. Someday.

I've done a few commissioned light fixtures for Dr. Stewart in Shawnee. His light fixtures are the best in Shawnee. If you don't believe me, just ask me. "Yep thats right, they are the best!" - See I told you so.

I've worked a little bit on some other things for people. (people are buying other people gifts and in case the person who is to receive the gift is reading this I don't want to give it away by telling what I am working on)

I've worked a little bit on some vases to kind've warm up and improve my basic skills so I won't look like a complete idiot to Dante and the rest of the workshop people. (workshop info down lower)

As I have mentioned earlier, I am going to Pittsburgh for the Glass Art Society conference ( A big, once a year thing for glass blowers- kind've like a glass blowers convention I guess). You get to see a lot of demonstrations and techniques and tools and people. If I get time, I will try to go see Frank Lloyld Wright's "Fallingwater" house. I'm sure I will have plenty of time to relax. Yeah, right! Still, if I get time I would really like to tour that.

The big highlight for me is I am signed up for a 3 day workshop, 9 am - 10 pm by Dante Marioni and Janusz Pozniak. The way I understand it is that Dante Marioni is arguably the best glass blower(at what he does) in the United States. Janusz is not far behind if any. Look at their stuff.
Dante Marioni
Janusz Pozniak
INSANE!
AMAZING!
WOW!
UNBEEELIEVVABLE!
From what I hear, Dante doesn't give workshops very often. A rare and unparalleled opportunity! I'm pretty confident that I will probably be the least experienced glassblower in the workshop. A little intimidating to say the least. However, I intend on rising to the occassion and meeting the challange with excellence in every way. Those of you waiting on me to make some of your stuff. . . the good part is I will be better when I get back . . . that means your stuff will be better. Please continue to be patient.
For those of you who I got to and made your stuff before I left. . . you got screwed! (JUST JOKING!!!!!!)

Gnat, if you see this post before the conf. I would like to meet you in person. I should have my cell phone. The number is 405-659-6169, give me a call and we'll try to get together. I'll be staying at the Omni William Penn Hotel during the conference and at a little bed and breakfast kind of place during the Dante workshop (It's closer to the workshop)

We have been so busy at Italian Jim's Pizzeria I just haven't had time to really prepare like I wanted to. We had 15 caterings today alone! We have 11 tomorrow. My day starts around 5 am and generally doesn't end until after 1 or 2 am. We are on pace for another record breaking month! We are doing over 60% more than our record breaking month of March 2006! We are glad for the business! Well, I have to be up before 5 am this morning (4 hours to sleep). I still have to get packed. I plan on packing everything I need in one carry-on bag. We'll see how that materializes. Don't know If I will be able to post (or have anything worth posting) before the conference.

I will leave OKC Sunday morning at 7:30 am and fly SWA to Phoenix, then nonstop to Pittsburg. Then fly back next Sunday. I'll be gone one week. Linda, Micah, Krista, Kim, and Anna and all the Italian Jim's employees will help hold down the Italian Jim's fort while I'm gone.

Congratulations to Andy Boatman and the crew @ Blue Sage Studios on the Open House over the 3 day memorial weekend.
Linda, Micah and Anna, and I went over there and helped Andy celebrate. His new place on 1218 N. Western, is really nice. Not as nice as Andy, but it's really nice.

To those of you on the fence about commisioning me to blow stuff for you call before I leave for Pittsburgh, cause after the Dante class, prices automatically go up through the roof! Just joking! Most everthing will still be under $1000. (ha ha)

Bye for now.
CM

New Work

Plum and Gnat, thanks for the nice words. Here's some more new things. One is a saffron platter with a florence lip wrap and body wrap. The other is a light fixture that is pink with G-50 Black body wrap - then optic molded - then twisted (to make the fishnet pattern - and blown out with a G-50 black lip wrap. Thanks to Bruce Ferguson for teaching us how to do that "fishnet" thing last year!

Finally Pictures!

Wow, what an ordeal. Most all of this I had taken up to our restaurant (Italian Jim's Pizzeria - located at 342 S. Mustang Rd., Yukon, OK 73099 - 405-265-0919) - ( Yes, shameless plug! ) where I display and use as a retail outlet for Bella Forte Glass.

I had to bubble wrap, put in boxes, load in pickup, carry home, take out of pickup, carefully unwrap, clean with glass cleaner,(still missed a few spots), go to Home Depot, buy more lighting, come back home, install new lighting, photograph, wrap up, load pictures on computer, upload on blogger, load in pickup, take back to pizza shop, yeah, you get the picture. Note to self, "Next time, TAKE PICTURES BEFORE TAKING THEM TO THE DOGGONE PIZZA SHOP!"
Anyway, I like the "Gold Ruby Extra" pieces with the "Florence" interior and accents. This was the first time I had used the Gold Ruby Extra - A new favorite color!
Sorry the photograph of the Violet Blue Bowl with the lapis blue lip wrap was washed out - The Cerulean Blue with florence set is a favorite as well. The Saffron platter was okay, I liked the saffron really well but should have chosen another color for the lip wrap. (Brain freeze!) The last photo is Old Gold Transparent with lemon yellow body wrap & red lip wrap.

Micah Says, People want pictures of Glass!

Yeah I know. That's what I go for too. Here's what happens. I blow the stuff, usually I am pretty excited about the things I have blown (at least some of them). I check the annealer @ about 14 hours. Still too hot to open, 15 hours, still too hot to open, 16 hours... 225 degrees - Okay, I take a quick peak - open and shut the door real fast. Wait a minute, Wow the temp is about 200 degrees, but it's climbing back up. Open again real quick, everything made it. back down to 200 degrees. Climbing back up . . . Okay, I'll crack the doors now and let it cool down. Leave the shop. Walk in the house. Get a drink. Walk back out to the shop. Get to thinking "Man it would be stupid to pull out a piece premature and have it crack. Go back in the house. Use the bathroom come back out 3 hours later... (just a joke - the 3 hour part) come back out a few minutes later. Open the doors to the annealer wider. Reach in and touch to glass to take it out - even though the annealler says its 147 degrees, the glass is still probably over 200. Bad idea. Get frustrated at my impatience, go back in the house for 30 - 45 minutes, come back out and every piece is cracked! (Another joke - every piece cracked part) Anyway, come back out, can't wait to touch them and pull them out and look at them. Still pretty warm, get excited, wrap them in blankets, put them in a box, take them to Italian Jim's Pizzeria(our pizza restaurant) and put them in the display case, still warm from the annealler. Spend time getting everything placed just right. Switch other stuff out. Move and rearrange. Satisfaction! Looks like something on a Chihuly website. (Not really - but looks pretty good for what I'm used to) Then, I think, "You know, it's going to be a whole lot of hassle taking everything out, hauling it back home where I have all my picture taking stuff at. I'll take the pictures someday......" Pictures never get taken. Have moved on to making the next new hot thing that I can't wait to see and get to the display cases at the pizza shop. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat!

Now you know what I have to deal with when I have to deal with ME! What a pain.

Okay, this time I really will, Get the glass, Take it out of the display cases at the pizza shop, Take a chance on the right person coming in looking at the empty spaces, seeing the old stuff I blew (which of course is not nearly as good as what I just put in the display case), them thinking, "There's no new stuff here!" and leaving.

But I really will get the glass and take the pictures and post them. I really will. I really will. I really will. With God's help I really will. If I repeat it enough, it will happen. I really will. . . .

Note to Gnat and MiniMolli:
Those plastic jars I use to put the frit in: I used to use glass bottles because glass is just really cool. Dropping and breaking a full really cool glass jar of frit is not, so I opted for really cool plastic jars with big mouth openings. (A lot better than the smaller mouth opening that I had). The bigger mouth makes it a whole lot easier to dump frit back in the jars at cleanup time.
I ordered one each of the 16 oz, 24 oz, 32 oz, 48 oz, & 64 oz plastic jars to see which size suited me best. I chose the 32 oz because it would hold over a kilo of frit and then some. I bought them from US Plastics.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=usplastic&category%5Fname=3&product%5Fid=165

Stock number 66269
Pet® Clear Jars For Packing
Virtually unbreakable jars are ideal for packing industrial products and foods. Made of the same material that soft drink bottles are made and meets FDA standards. Caps are included. Dimensions are listed diameter x height.

Pictues will be coming. We have done some pretty neat stuff. Also will post picture of my new grinder. It is a fine piece of equipment! I have been grinding my bud vases that I blew for the restaurant and the bottoms of platters etc. A great touch to finish off a piece! How did I ever do without it?

Still working on getting those knobs like I think couple of folks (you know who you are) want them.

Quick Post

Hello, sorry I haven't posted any pictures. I took some pictures but I took them in a place that wasn't the best for taking pictures and they came out too dark. Don't like dark pictures!

Anyway, we have been blowing some basic stuff, just trying to get back up to speed after 3 months off. Most have gone decent - a few went south - a few were awesome.

I resurrected the "Artifacts Series". I blew probably the best of that series that I have ever blown. They were a little bit bigger - they are the biggest to date. The color combination is . . . well it's. . . . . STUNNING! I used "Florence" which is basicly a creamy white with just a faint whisper hint of pink - and then. . . . Gold Ruby extra. WOW! I then blew a 2 piece Sea Form type set to match and then placed the 3 piece "Artifact" set and the 2 piece Sea Form type set together. 5 pieces that are . . . . . . well I just like to stand there and look at the beautful color combinations. I 'll have to get some picts of that and post it.

Also, I have been supposed to make some curtain hold back knobs and have experiemented but not happy with what I have done yet. Still working on that.

Just finished a couple of pieces tonight - now I have to go work out. I have lost about 19 pounds in the last 3 or so weeks. I want to be in shape when I go to Pittsburgh so I can perform at my optimum there learning from Dante. In a perfect world, I need to lose about 40 more pounds - Sounds mind boggling sometimes. Anyway will take more pictures and hopefully post soon.
Thanks
CM

Back in the saddle again

Well, we blew again for the first time in about 3 months! We made 2 platters - one with a body wrap and lip wrap and 4 bud vases. I think everything is going to make it. Not one piece was lost! Micah understands why Dale Chihuly quit blowing glass with just one eye. Until he gets his lense replaced it was hard for him judge depth and deal with spacial awareness. In spite of all that he did good.

I may post some pictures of what we did.

The new burner head works great - my furnace seems to be burning much more effiecient. I also tweaked the burner on my glory hole and packed some refractory insulation around the burner head. Mr. Guiberson said the burner head will do better and last longer if the top part of it stays as cool as possible. I could even touch it for a little bit! I hope to blow some tomorrow.

Bye for now.

CM

Started the Furnace Again

We started the furnace today!

As most of you know we shut down the furnace about the middle of January due to Micah's injury (again, not glass related). I wasn't in the glass blowing mood and with no helper I just shut it down for a short time.

We were going to start it last week but as we were checking it out and tweaking a few things, I saw that the burner head was trashed. I ordered a new Giberson Burner Head from Mr. Giberson @ Joppa Glass. It came in Friday. Also, I had ordered a new Flat Lap Grinder with an assortment of different diamond discs from Holly @ Denver Glass. It also came in on Friday. It is really sharp! It will make grinding a whole lot better. We can grind our paper weights and vases flat and optically clear. We really needed one.

Micah is doing better. For the first couple of days, it looked like he might lose his eye, but he is not going to lose it. The doctor is going to fit him with a new lense later this month. We are confident he will be able to see then. I want to thank everyone who has written, called, or conveyed their concern for him. It meant alot to us!

We are exicited to get back to blowing glass and creating some great art!

I expect it to take 4 - 6 days to slowly bring the furnace up to temp. It was almost full when I shut it down. From what I have been told, it needs to go back up slowly. We have been so busy at the restaurant, we haven't had much time to do a whole lot on the studio. Out of the last 12 months we have set a new all-time record in sales for 8 of those 12 months and are on pace to break our last record which was set again last month, by a significant amount. Good problem to have! Anyway we are going to do our best to finish tweaking the studio during the start-up time.

We will be posting when we start blowing.
Bye for now.
CM

Pics of glass color (Rods & Frit) New Optic Mold

I recounted and I have 105+ jars of frit with a number of extra frit for refill and about 80 something colors of rod.
Here's that new Jim Moore Tools Detachable Fin Mold - It's really cool!
CM

Glass Blowing Weather

Just found a photo of something we blew in December of 06 that I had meant to post but didn't. I really like the pink and black color combination. (We've sold 2 of the "Sea LIfe" sets in that color scheme.) It has the fishnet pattern on it. We were pleased with how it turned out.

Well, Micah and I started tweaking the studio on Wednesday. What that means is thowing a bunch of junk away and trying to declutter the studio. I had ordered a new optic mold and got it in. It is the Jim Moore stainless steel and aluminum mold that has interchangeable ribs or fins. ( http://www.toolsforglass.com/store/other_stuff.html ) (scroll down until you see the 5th picture. It is the "Detachable Fin Mold") I eagerly look forword to using it. I recently ordered hundreds of dollars of color from Olympic Color Rods and it came in last week. I believe I now have about 80 different colors of rods and about 96 different jars of frit. I have been getting all the new stuff labeled and organized and also updating my frit jar system the last week or two. I was using glass milk bottles and glass "fuse" drink bottles. Glass bottles are really cool to put my frit in, but the bottles weren't really big enough and the mouths of the bottles weren't really big enough to make pouring the frit back into the bottle easy when I was cleaning up. Also, a huge reason to make the switch to large mouth plastic jars was I could only imagine what I would feel like if they dopped to the concrete floor. So, cool or not, plastic it is. Now I can sleep at night.

Question to glassblowers: What size/s frit do you like to use the most and why?

The weather was perfect today for blowing glass. Did we blow glass? No, my furnace is off. I certainly have the glass blowing itch. I will prob. turn on the furnace in about 3 or 4 weeks. Micah is healing up nicely. Thanks again to all who have called, written, and come by to express your concern. It means alot.

I may have to take some photos of all the color that I have and post them. I just like going out to the studio and looking at all the jars full (some 1/2 full or so) of color. It brings inspiration.

We are going to try to do some welding and other little projects while the furnace is off. It feels kind of good knowing a steady stream of $10 bills are not flying out the window 24 hours a day while the furnace if off. I can actually go do something and sort of relax when the furnace if shut down. Having said that I really miss blowing glass and can't wait to start again.

Did I mention that in December of 2006 that I was the first one to sign up for a 3 day workshop given by Dante Marioni ( http://www.dantemarioni.com/ ) and Janusz Pozniak ( http://www.jpozniak.com/ ) at a pre Glass Art Society Conference in June of 07 in Pittsburgh? Man, am I excited about that! I'm even a little intimidated about that. I am told there will only be 10 or 12 in the workshop. Class will be from 9 in the morning untill 10 at night with an hour break at 5 - 6. I am really looking forward to learning alot! I hope Dante and Janusz are patient, kind, persons with the ability to bring the best out of people! I intend on my best coming out.

Linda and I went to Chicago about 1 1/2 months ago and went to the Marx-Saunders Gallery (Mr. Saunders was a really nice guy) and saw some of Dante's work in person for the first time. Amazing!
Warning!! Novice's opinion, WARNING!!
As beautiful as Chihuly's work is... and I DO think it is beautiful, I believe that not everyone that could do Chihuly type of work could do what Dante does. Anybody that could do what Dante does could easily do what Chihuly does. The technical precision is extraordinary!
(Novice's opinion about famous glass is over)
We saw Lino Tagliapietra's work also for the first time. ( http://www.linotagliapietra.com/ ) Magnificient!! I think the least expensive piece of Dante's was about $17,000.00 and the least expensive piece of Lino's was about $33,000.00 up to $50,000.00. FOR 1 (COUNT IT) ONE PIECE OF GLASS!!! We also saw some pretty neat stuff from Stephen Powell. ( http://www.stephenrolfepowell.com/index.html ) I can't wait to go again and take Micah with me and show him. Chicago is a pretty cool place to visit.

Whats Been Up

As some of you know, Micah got a severe injury about 4 weeks ago. (Not glass related) I haven't blown since then and finally shut off the furnace about 2 weeks ago until he can get healed up and I get my head back on straight. Micah had another doctor's appt. today and got a good report. About another month or so he should be able to help and I will turn the furnace back on. We are continuing to sell glass at our retail outlet @ Italian Jim's Pizzeria. We have sold a couple of nice sets in the last week. The newspaper is wanting to do a story on us. We are looking forward to getting going again.
CM

Speaking of a "fully involved pizza". . .

Glad to see Scott come up for air! Hey, the bottom photo shows a pic of our Super Pepperoni pizza I told you that I would put up sometime. Yes, this is a normal 20" "Big Jim" Super Pepperoni and yes, that is layers upon layers of pepperoni! We even have a bigger one. It's called the "Humongous Jim" and it's 24". How's that for "fully involved"!

The photo at the top show some more of our pizzas. They are larges (14"). I took the photo right before we put them in the oven and cooked them. The pizza with stripes is a Meat Combo, the "Work of Art Looking Pizza" is a "Garden Veggie", a couple of "Super Pepperonis" and a couple of "Chicken Fajita" pizzas. When they're cooked, they look a little better, but we had to get them to where they need to go ASAP and didn't have time to photograph afterward.

Thanks!

Just wanted to take a few minutes and say "Thanks!" to all who checked out our website and a "Big Thanks!" to all who came into our retail outlet at Italian JIm's Pizzeria @ 342 S. Mustang Rd. in Yukon and bought glass this last year. We sold quite a bit here at Christmas and I want to thank all who chose to give the beautiful, lasting, tasteful, gift of hand blown glass from Bella Forte Glass Studio. So far the feedback that I have gotten says people like to receive the distintive gift of custom blown glass.

As I have said, gifts are important. Proverbs 18:16 (Amplified Bible) A man's gift makes room for him and brings him before great men. Gifts speak to people. . .
What does a Gift say?

A gift says something about you, the giver.
It also says something about the recipient to whom the gift is given.
Distinctive glass, given as a gift, says alot!

We hope you had a Merry Christmas and may you have a prosperous New Year!

Going to town on new "Sea Life' series

Here are 3 more sets of our "Sea Life" series that we blew recently. The first picture is pink with black accents. The second picture is Cerulean blue with cinnamon accents, and the third picture shows in a little more detail what we call the "exploded body wrap" underneath the main platter of the set we blew last night. It is opal sky blue(I think - not for sure) with crown yellow accents.

BLUE SAGE STUDIOS HOME SHOW!!!
THIS WEEKEND FRI-SAT- SUNDAY
In addition to our retail outlet @ Italian Jim's Pizzeria @ 342 S. Mustang Rd in the Yukon-Mustang Rd-Reno area, we are planning on having some things out at Andy Boatman's Blue Sage Studios in the Lake Arcadia Area.

From Edmond Rd @ 1-35 (Where that big white cross is) go about 4 miles east to Post road and then about 1.7 miles south to Andy's place. Blue Sage Studios is behind (west) of the old rock house. Micah and I will probably take some turns doing demos on Friday, Sat. and Sunday

CM

New Photos!

Here's the new set Micah and I did! What do you think? All the colors are the same, but we did each of the accent colors with a different technique. We used crown yellow and lapis blue.

Another new technique!

We spent about 2 1/2 - 3 hours tonight blowing glass. We tried a new technique that we are kind've excited about. Nothing big, just new to us. Can't wait until 2 pm tomorrow until it comes out of the annealer.

If it turns out cool, I will take some photos and post. Sometimes you're really excited when you finish a piece; then all the waiting and it comes out, and it really wasn't that cool. Hope that's not the case this time.

We also blew another set of our "Artifacts" Series.

See ya.
CM

New technique done pretty well!

It was great to hear from our good friends, Randy and Anna, in Colorado. We miss you as well and look forward to you coming back around the Thanksgiving & Christmas season! May I suggest you start up your own blog and post a photo or 2 of yourselves in the be - u - tiful Colorado scenery. Seriously, you ought to do a blog if you want to. I suspect you will find a Bacon Cheeseburger pizza with your name on it when you come back.

Krista, here's some of those new photos and you need to come in and see the new red and cream one with the new technique we did. It looks pretty good.

Hello Andy! Hello Gnat!

Hello everybody else! I would not have guessed it would have been a month and 2 days since my last post. Time flies.

Here's some new stuff. We have started making an Indian Basket Series. I love combining bold and constrasting colors and this series gives me a format to do just that. They seem to be well recieved. I am in the process of getting more of a "retail" "yes-I-want-to-sell-that-glass" look in the restaurant. I bought some point of purchase (POP) stuff on Friday and hopefully next week I will get it put up.

I've got 2 basket series together on the same shelf. One is basicly orange and black and the other is crimson and cream. I call them the "Bedlam Baskets". If you are from Oklahoma or even know a little bit about Oklahoma football you know why I call it the "Bedlam Baskets".

Micah and I are really excited about our new technique of optic molding the piece, threading a body wrap around it and "exploding" the wrap and then blowing out the piece. It turned out so good! We were really pumped about it. Can't wait to try some light fixtures and different colors and shapes with the same technique.

Here they are. ( I didn't take the time to put the pieces in my little photo booth thing. Some of the pictures were even taken behind glass.) Here they are.

Some New Stuff!

Here's a new shape we started doing.

The pieces are about 7 inches high and 9 to 10 inches across.

The First one is blown out of a rod of of Reddish Opal Orange. The second one is blown out of a rod of Cerulean Blue with a Light Blue body and lip wrap. The third one is a combination of Opal Nile Green - F-3, Curry F-3, and a lip wrap of Diablo Red. While we know there is plenty of room to improve, we are pleased.

Some more pictures of the Italian Jim's Expansion - A New Technique

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