Glass Flowers, among other things
Last Saturday rhb and I went on a double date with his cousin and my former roommate. We traveled to Thanksgiving Point, where there is, apparently, a glass-blowing studio owned by a gentleman who is often commissioned to make stained-glass windows for temples around the world. We got a personal tour of the place, seeing all the steps to the creative process of how he creates said stained-glass windows (as well as other glass art projects) from beginning to end.
Needless to say, it was quite fascinating. And it was strangely depressing to see the pieces that didn't quite make it without a mishap; beautiful objects that were once whole now in several pieces... But very cool to hear the stories behind some of the art. I don't always appreciate art (in fact, I think that was my least favorite part of one of my humanities classes), but I could definitely see the beauty in this particular art form. No question, pretty much every piece had something compelling about it.
Anyway, before I wax too much more poetic, on to the activity portion of the visit. Our tour ended in the room where they heat and shape the glass, and they don't mess around when they heat it, either. That molten glass is hot enough to burn straight through your hand if a drop falls on it. We then learned how to shape the molten glass into flowers. We each got to do two, one clear one for practice (that they could melt down again) and then one colored one to keep. I must say, this is one type of art I wouldn't mind learning more about... it was really fun!
You start out with a ball of molten glass on the end of a big metal pole that must be constantly rotated to keep the ball's shape. You flatten one end of the ball, then take metal tongs and start pulling out bits of glass from around the edges of the flattened end to form petals. As the glass begins to cool, you start pulling more at a 45 degree angle to form the bell of the flower, and finally you pull it straight out to form the stem. You can make the stem curly or straight, then the experts take the rod and flower away and tap the rod a few times to break off the flower at the end of the stem. Then it must cool for 2-3 days in an oven very very slowly to ensure it is strong. Apparently if it cools too fast, then months or years later it is prone to spontaneous explosion. While that would be pretty cool to see, I'd rather not clean up the aftermath, or be in range of the shards... so we let it cool as long as it needed, to be picked up at a later date.
Well, today the "later date" has arrived, and you can finally see a picture of our creative venture!
Not the best picture - it definitely doesn't do them justice, but you can get an idea of what they look like at least.
rhb's is light blue and white, and mine is two shades of purple. They are now gracing our bookshelf/TV stand and looking very chic amidst our electronics.
In other news, our apartment complex has been rather incompetent lately... oh wait, maybe that's not news. At any rate, our AC keeps breaking sporadically. By breaking, I mean it stops blowing cold air and starts blowing sort of-maybe a little bit if you use your imagination-slightly cool air. Which, if you don't shut off immediately, turns the apartment into an 80+ degree heck hole. And then, if it's warm outside, it turns into that anyway after a while because opening the windows doesn't help unless it's actually cooler outside. Luckily, this weekend has been relatively cool and rainy, so we haven't suffered too much, but it's pretty much banished me from using the oven for fear I will never get it cool again. This is a problem because I need to make bread tomorrow... or just come home for lunch and eat scrambled eggs like I have the last few days... and if it warms up tomorrow, it will be a nightmare to try and get a decent night's rest. We already went through that once and we both felt extremely ill the next morning. The only thing that got me to work is the fact that it was cool there. (And I did, indeed, feel better once I was there and got myself re-hydrated.)
Anyway, the other news is that rhb started his very own writing blog to keep all of his avid fans up to date on his writing progress. So if you are interested, take a little meander over here: http://nathanmajor.blogspot.com/ I'm sure he would love it if you "followed" him and/or commented when you feel the urge. Especially if your comment says, "Ooh, pick me, pick me, I definitely want to be an alpha reader for your totally sweet new book!"
And I suppose this is fairly noteworthy too... all of our dishes are clean! Hooray! That sink was starting to scare me with the strange smells it was beginning to emit... luckily I had lots of help from our writing group and rhb, and they were well-motivated by potato soup for dinner. Incidentally, potato soup tastes a lot better when the potatoes you use aren't at the end of their usable life. Amazing the difference it makes!
I have successfully gotten a large percentage of my work team to read The Hunger Games, which is very satisfying. Of course, that also means every last one of them will be eager to get their hands on Mockingjay when we get it in August... but hey, rhb and I both read fast, so they won't have to wait too long.
Speaking of work, I fully expected this month to be rather unpleasant, mostly because nearly our entire team has planned to go on vacation in June. Everyone but the new guy, in fact, who doesn't stand a chance at getting any time off. However, it actually hasn't been too bad lately. Hopefully it stays that way! But if I can manage to only take 35 calls when we're down one person, it is a VERY good day. And that's what happened yesterday. Granted, Fridays are usually slower, but still, I would not complain a bit if it stayed like that.
Lastly, moving day T-34 days! Family reunion in 13 days!
Needless to say, it was quite fascinating. And it was strangely depressing to see the pieces that didn't quite make it without a mishap; beautiful objects that were once whole now in several pieces... But very cool to hear the stories behind some of the art. I don't always appreciate art (in fact, I think that was my least favorite part of one of my humanities classes), but I could definitely see the beauty in this particular art form. No question, pretty much every piece had something compelling about it.
Anyway, before I wax too much more poetic, on to the activity portion of the visit. Our tour ended in the room where they heat and shape the glass, and they don't mess around when they heat it, either. That molten glass is hot enough to burn straight through your hand if a drop falls on it. We then learned how to shape the molten glass into flowers. We each got to do two, one clear one for practice (that they could melt down again) and then one colored one to keep. I must say, this is one type of art I wouldn't mind learning more about... it was really fun!
You start out with a ball of molten glass on the end of a big metal pole that must be constantly rotated to keep the ball's shape. You flatten one end of the ball, then take metal tongs and start pulling out bits of glass from around the edges of the flattened end to form petals. As the glass begins to cool, you start pulling more at a 45 degree angle to form the bell of the flower, and finally you pull it straight out to form the stem. You can make the stem curly or straight, then the experts take the rod and flower away and tap the rod a few times to break off the flower at the end of the stem. Then it must cool for 2-3 days in an oven very very slowly to ensure it is strong. Apparently if it cools too fast, then months or years later it is prone to spontaneous explosion. While that would be pretty cool to see, I'd rather not clean up the aftermath, or be in range of the shards... so we let it cool as long as it needed, to be picked up at a later date.
Well, today the "later date" has arrived, and you can finally see a picture of our creative venture!
Not the best picture - it definitely doesn't do them justice, but you can get an idea of what they look like at least.
rhb's is light blue and white, and mine is two shades of purple. They are now gracing our bookshelf/TV stand and looking very chic amidst our electronics.
In other news, our apartment complex has been rather incompetent lately... oh wait, maybe that's not news. At any rate, our AC keeps breaking sporadically. By breaking, I mean it stops blowing cold air and starts blowing sort of-maybe a little bit if you use your imagination-slightly cool air. Which, if you don't shut off immediately, turns the apartment into an 80+ degree heck hole. And then, if it's warm outside, it turns into that anyway after a while because opening the windows doesn't help unless it's actually cooler outside. Luckily, this weekend has been relatively cool and rainy, so we haven't suffered too much, but it's pretty much banished me from using the oven for fear I will never get it cool again. This is a problem because I need to make bread tomorrow... or just come home for lunch and eat scrambled eggs like I have the last few days... and if it warms up tomorrow, it will be a nightmare to try and get a decent night's rest. We already went through that once and we both felt extremely ill the next morning. The only thing that got me to work is the fact that it was cool there. (And I did, indeed, feel better once I was there and got myself re-hydrated.)
Anyway, the other news is that rhb started his very own writing blog to keep all of his avid fans up to date on his writing progress. So if you are interested, take a little meander over here: http://nathanmajor.blogspot.com/ I'm sure he would love it if you "followed" him and/or commented when you feel the urge. Especially if your comment says, "Ooh, pick me, pick me, I definitely want to be an alpha reader for your totally sweet new book!"
And I suppose this is fairly noteworthy too... all of our dishes are clean! Hooray! That sink was starting to scare me with the strange smells it was beginning to emit... luckily I had lots of help from our writing group and rhb, and they were well-motivated by potato soup for dinner. Incidentally, potato soup tastes a lot better when the potatoes you use aren't at the end of their usable life. Amazing the difference it makes!
I have successfully gotten a large percentage of my work team to read The Hunger Games, which is very satisfying. Of course, that also means every last one of them will be eager to get their hands on Mockingjay when we get it in August... but hey, rhb and I both read fast, so they won't have to wait too long.
Speaking of work, I fully expected this month to be rather unpleasant, mostly because nearly our entire team has planned to go on vacation in June. Everyone but the new guy, in fact, who doesn't stand a chance at getting any time off. However, it actually hasn't been too bad lately. Hopefully it stays that way! But if I can manage to only take 35 calls when we're down one person, it is a VERY good day. And that's what happened yesterday. Granted, Fridays are usually slower, but still, I would not complain a bit if it stayed like that.
Lastly, moving day T-34 days! Family reunion in 13 days!