Mickey and Madeline Art Glass

It's been forever

2010-08-22T06:40:00.000-07:00

Okay.....so I've been a posting failure. I've been busy making things for the upcoming fall festival crush. We'll be traveling from Tallahassee, Fla to Banner Elk, NC and all parts in between over the course of the next few months. I've been developing new designs for pendants, blowing out some ornaments as prototypes for the coming year and Madeline has been making beads, bracelets, necklaces and earrings. We can't wait to get back out there and show people what we've been up to. First up is Newnan, Georgia for the Powers Festival of Coweta County. Here's a sample of what's coming.

Savannah was Terrific!

2010-02-23T03:48:00.000-08:00

We just got back from a show in Savannah. We had a great time and made some really terrific new friends. We're on the road all Spring and I'm going to start posting a list here of where we will be and when. All I have to do now if figure out how to do that.

Snow!!!

2010-02-13T04:16:00.000-08:00

It snowed on us last night. We're getting ready to go to Savannah for a show at the end of this coming week, but I had to stop to look at the beautiful snow fall. This is a shot from the front of the house looking out. I love the muffled sounds that come with a snowfall. I hear it so seldom. I enjoyed this very much.

2009-11-24T10:47:00.000-08:00

Gosh, I've been a way for a long time. It's Thanksgiving and I'm a blogging failure. I have been making some glass though. I've been going some shows and having a great time with the people that have come to see us. I want to thank all of those that came to look and especially those that took something home with them. I really hope they enjoy it for years and years. I have some photos of things I'm going to put up so you know what I've been working on. Thanks for stopping by. (I'll try to do better in the coming year.)

Show and Tell ... Sorta

2009-08-11T07:40:00.001-07:00

Alright!!! So I've been making Christmas ornaments. Lots of them... I love these darned things. They take way too much time to make, but I can't stop. Here are a couple just to show you what I'm doing.

What have I been doing?

2009-06-19T06:52:00.000-07:00

Right? What HAVE I been doing? Well, we run a blueberry farm ( in addition to other stuff ) and it's blueberry season (and we've done a few shows) and ummm...I've been busy doing other stuff. I have recently relearned the very first pendant tricks that learned. Mushrooms. Almost every borosilicate glass worker learns how to do these early on. They are just too much fun to make and I'm having lots of fun just making.... Mushrooms. I'll get serious again soon. I promise.

Turtles .... Slow, but slow

2009-04-16T12:17:00.000-07:00

So I promised a picture of a turtle.....they really are fun to make. I try to give them a little personality and some visual texture. I don't name them though, that would be way too much detail. Owners are free to name them.

2009-04-15T13:13:00.000-07:00

So I spent the day getting ready for the Spring Fling in Spartanburg, SC that starts on May 1st. 3 Days of entertainment, food and arts in the heart of the city. It's a beautiful little city in upstate South Carolina.

I spent the day marking items, making last minute corrections to pieces and sculpting a few turtles. I have them in the kiln right this minute and tomorrow I'll take a photo or two so you can see what a turtle that I make looks like. I can hardly wait to see myself.

I just wanted to put a little something up before the day ended. Come see me and Madeline and Billy S downtown Spartanburg!!!

New Stuff for an Upcoming Show

2009-03-18T03:50:00.001-07:00

So, March is winding down and April is close at hand. I have a big show (at least it is for us) in Spartanburg, South Carolina on May 1. It's called the Spring Fling and I'm really looking forward to being a part of it. (I went to College in Spartanburg and lived there for several years, once upon a time, so it'll be interesting to see if I recogize a soul while I'm there.) So, I've been working toward getting things ready for that show. I've been making pendants and Madeline has been making earrings and other things. I thought I'd show you a pendant that came out nice. The picture has lots of reflection in it, but I think you can get the idea. Here Comes the Sun King. Doesn't it look just like a Sun King? I think this may have to become my pendant.

So....Bamboo Jungle?

2009-02-23T10:52:00.000-08:00

Continuing in my odd glass journey, I learned how to make some organic forms from a terrific glass blower named Mag Mangkang. Included was bamboo. Mag is part of the Frabel Team that will participate in the Annual Art Glass Invitational meeting this year. So here is a very small bamboo forest. Expect more of these forests in the future. I can definitely get lost in them

Valentine's Day

2009-01-23T08:58:00.000-08:00

So I always try to do something for Valentine's Day. This year I decided to make something that florists could use as a promotional. Sooooo.....I started making glass flowers that could hold in their little hearts a little glass heart on a silver chain. That way, the Valentine gets real flowers, a glass flower to keep and a heart to wear. I think they make a great gift! What do you think?

Tagged!!! I'm it!!!

2008-10-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

Okay...so there are apparently these internet games and I've been tagged. I'm it. Actually I was dual tagged, once by Rosegardenfae and once by Formfireglassworks, both very talented artisans. I'm supposed to spill the beans about secret/interesting things about myself. There is so little to tell actually and precious little of that is interesting, but if you'll pretend it's interesting, I'll write down some things.... so I can get on with tagging the next victims.....hehehe

1.) Both of my kids went to a special school for the arts all through high school. My daughter attended in dance and my son attended in Visual Arts. This was a school that choose about 200 kids each year from the whole state to attend a boarding school which in addition to providing the usual High School classes added on about 6 hours of intensive study in their specialty each day, 6 days a week. I'm very proud of them. They both won scholarships to very good colleges as a result.

2.) My wife, and partner in crime, holds a B.A. in fine art from a really good college in Maryland and is a huge creative muse for me and force in our house.

3.) My first car was a 1959 Fiat 600D convertible (think a downsized VW Beetle with a canvas flap that covers a square hole in the roof). I got it in 1968 when it already had over 100,000 miles on it and I drove it all through college. It was a miracle car.

4.) I live on a farm with about 60 goats, 5 dogs, 1 goose, 1 cat, 9 goldfish (in a yard pond) and a rooster. The farm has 350 blueberry bushes that our family (including the kids) planted about 14 years ago and is open as a U-Pick operation in the Summers. Every year we have a few more pickers. We love it.

5.) I've started several companies from scratch. Some worked out pretty good, others not so good. As they say, Good judgement comes from Experience, Experience comes from poor judgement.

6.) My great uncle and cousins started a glassblowing plant that operated from the great depression all the way until the end of the 90's. Robert Hamon, one of the cousins, is a fairly well-known and famous glassblower that I used to love to watch when I was a young lad.

7.) We raise a kind of livestock guardian dog known as an Akbash. They are large, gentle, intelligent dogs that know what to do if the goats are theatened and they go about settling that particular problem. They know when to escalate and when to chill. They come from Turkey and have beautiful Turkish Names. Inci (pronounced like In Gee), Suhayla, Jansu, and Mavi.

Hehehe...now...I'm off to find a couple of unsuspecting victims....hope you enjoyed this.

Christmas is Coming

2008-10-02T06:24:00.001-07:00

Okay....so we survived the Arts in the Heart of Augusta show and had such a great time. The people really were amazing, nice, and seemed to enjoy our little shop. I made WAY too much stuff for the show, but hey, Christmas is coming so I have some inventory.

It's time to start cranking up the ornaments. I love making ornaments. Large hollow balls of glass with color or silver fume to scatter light in all colors. How could I not love them?

Tomorrow is the big day

2008-09-18T13:13:00.000-07:00

Well.....oh man...it's finally here. Tomorrow I go to set up the booth for a three day show in Augusta, Georgia. I have more stuff than I've ever had at one time. I just hope that I don't have to lug it all back home with me. On the brighter side.....what I don't sell I have for Christmas and maybe by Christmas Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, AIG and all of the other big deals in the country will have stopped collapsing so that everyone is running around like chicken little. Nothing like impending financial doom to encourage folks to go out and buy!!!! Oh well...I've bought a bright new Hawaiian shirt to wear for the event and I'm going to have some fun. I'll try to take some pictures to post next week. Thanks for stopping by.

Going to the Show!!!

2008-08-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

So I made it into the Show!!! I've been working like mad to get stuff ready and I thought I'd post a picture so you could see.

2008-07-18T03:51:00.000-07:00

So, I've never really participated in a juried show before. They want photos of my work as well as photos of my typical display table. It makes me super critical of my work, of the pictures, of the display design of everything. I have no clue if I'll be accepted to this show or not. So, I put together my latest work and Madeline took some great photos. Here's hoping.

May's Coming and Going

2008-05-15T05:30:00.000-07:00

I took a class from Andrew Brown. He was great. The class was great and I learned to make some new stuff. I'll be posting things that I learned how to make from that class for a long time to come. Here's the first.

April Passed

2008-05-01T09:47:00.001-07:00

Yep...I made it all the way through April and didn't post a darned thing. Which reminds me of what Oscar Wilde used to say. To lose one parent is tragic, but to lose them both is just plain irresponsible. Not writing a thing for a whole month...well that's just irresponsible.

It's been a busy month. I've made a lot of things, I've attended a class which taught me a whole new way of looking at a pendant. I'll post some of them as I make them. There were a couple of the new ones on the etsy site, but one of them is gone already. I suspect the other will disappear in short order too. I'll be making some paperweights this month as well and I will post some of those here too.

We own some blueberries (some translates to 350 bushes) and I'll be spending some time in the fields with them soon as well. I'll post more later....promise...no really, honest.

Growing

2008-03-27T05:20:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to work larger and larger over the last couple of months. I've made lots of little jars and bottles, but they just aren't the size I'm looking for. The truth be told, I probably won't really be satisfied until I'm working in a hot shop with a full furnace and glory hole set up so that I can make human sized vases and bowls. For now, I have to settle for smaller sizes. It's good practice for technique anyway. Thought I'd share.

Okay so I missed Easter

2008-03-20T02:54:00.000-07:00

So I never got around to putting any Easter Eggs up. I'm sorry. Mea Culpa. I got them off to the shop downtown without taking any pictures. BUT I managed to make a nice (for me) little jar. I'm going to put a couple of pictures of it up below....hehehe up below....anyhow. I'm excited about taking a class under Andrew Brown. He makes some incredible glass "geodes." I'll post more on that as it comes closer. That's all for now.

Ah, The Hearts are nearly past

2008-02-12T01:55:00.001-08:00

So. I survived the Valentine's Day shows!!!! I just am not good with people. I like people. I like being around people, but I don't like selling to people. That's some kind of talent that some folks have, but a skill that I greatly lack. Oh well, ya can't be everything. SO...... Madeline made this GREAT necklace from a heart. It's beautiful ( I think). Next month, I'll be working on the glass easter eggs. I'll put some up as I'm making them. I think they will be great fun....bunnies and eggs.....what an odd concept.

I've been working on Silver and Gold fuming and I have to tell you. This piece is special.

Need a new Heart????

2008-01-15T02:37:00.000-08:00

So, February is pressing in on us and I'm making hearts as fast as I can. I accepted slots in two shows for the first week in February and it's really not as fast as I'd like. These things take more time than it looks like they would. It's all about prep work. Mixing the cane up to make the colors I'm looking for seems to take forever. I'll post one or two so you can see what I'm talking about. They're looking good so far I think. Glad you stopped by to see what I'm up to.

Hearts, Hearts, More Hearts!!!!

January

2008-01-07T10:40:00.000-08:00

Man oh man.....time is flying past. I tried some new stuff this last week-end. One was a bird feeder. I have it hanging outside right now and as soon as I find out if birds will actually eat out of it, I'll start making some. They are pretty cool. I also made a batch of new pendants recently. I put a couple up on Etsy. http://www.gimmebeads.etsy.com/. Go check them out. Here's one that's up there. It looks great out in the sun. We've named it Double Dahlia, even though the spelling is questionable.

2007-12-17T11:03:00.000-08:00

December is winding down. The Christmas season has been very good. I've made more ornaments that I ever imagined, but I enjoyed it immensely. Every project gives new opportunities to learn about how glass behaves and to help me understand some next steps that I can take to improve my techniques. I love paths that lead to yet other paths.

I suppose the next items that I'll be making will involve hearts for Valentines. Pendants and hanging hearts will be all over the shop. I like making heart pendants anyway so this will be perfect. I'll post more soon. (And maybe find a picture of an ornament to put up).

December Already

2007-12-04T04:55:00.000-08:00

Wow! December already. Let's see. I had my first show ever on November the 28th. It really was fun and it went well for me. I a few ornaments and jewelry pieces, of course it was really a very limited show that consisted mostly of folks that work in the office building with me. Still, it was a pleasant start.

I'm looking to really start my business off officially the first of the year and I'm looking for ways to process charge cards and to build a website to put together a shopping cart with. I promised to post some pictures so here's a pendant that I made over the week-end. It reminds me of the mouths of the Sand Worms in Dune. Talk with you soon.

2007-11-12T05:35:00.000-08:00

SOOOooooo..... I've spent the last several weeks making ornaments. They are everywhere. The kitchen table (full)....the dining room table (full).... the chairs in the living room (full). All sorts of colors and sizes. They've gotten progressively better (?) as I continue to make them. By better, a loose term, I am suggesting that round is better than "near round." I'm melting colors in more completely. The loops are better centered and uniformly round. The composition of the ornaments seems to improve as I identify techniques that bring out the glass. Only 2 more weeks before the "big show" where I'll find out if anyone really likes these darned things. I could be in for a disappointment, but it's all part of the learning curve. talk with you soon.

2007-10-29T05:07:00.000-07:00

I'll have to see if it makes sense to keep a blog. I'm Mickey, the male half of the team. I've been working glass for only 2 years now. Every time I pick up a piece of glass now it nearly automatically begins spinning. As time goes by, I will post pictures of the pieces I'm working on. As it's nearly November, I'm blowing out Christmas ornaments. Not traditional ones, but ones with the secret places that the color of borosilicate will take you. I'll post more again soon.