musings on the first

the first of october is a special day in our house - it is both my mom's and my brother's birthday... 


these are for my mom - as you know, she lost her sister last friday and her mom this spring...

and then there are firsts...

'if at first, the idea is not absurd,

then there is no hope for it.'

~ albert einstein

emily works at a glass blowing studio, but she hadn't ever blown glass... the artists who work there have generally gone to college to learn how... some have even studied in other countries... and they too, take classes around the country... 

this weekend though, em took a 10 hr. glassblowing class... needless to say, she is hooked... bad... in the best kind of way, of course... we all know that wonderful feeling... she has a visual journal now... dreams about it, talks about it... it's nice... 

so now there are two very distracted females walking around the house, thinking of things that they can make (and none of those things include dinner!)

these are her first glasses... she gets it... she can see a finished design and understand the steps it takes to create it... she has a good grasp of her medium... em has been at the studio for over a year... and i think that really made a difference... she was able to mix colors and swirl them with the foreknowledge of what would happen... 

the boys already want to start interning there...


and here is some progress with my first patina-ting of metal... i bought matte permalac... 


cars and i are both installed with an ABS... cars have an anti-lock braking system... i have an anti-shine braking system...  it is an absolutely knee-jerk response... if there is a way for me to remove shine, i do it... almost as soon as i started doing enameling, i found a way to etch it...  give me metal, i antique it...


so matte is good - but i don't want flat and unattractive... have to see what the wax layer adds... 

but i do love this process!