Over a year ago I noticed a friend had an empty blue bottle on his counter that had contained a supplement he takes regularly. When I commented on the blue he said he was saving it for me knowing my Cobalt Blue muse. I now have over 20. I use one as my salt dispenser. It is the perfect size to hold a small ~3 inch espresso spoon I use to scoop up and sprinkle salt. The bright red lids screw on and have an easy snap flip top that can be used to dispense the contents without removing the lid. I don’t trust this flap to work forever, and when it snaps off I will safe a few to replace as needed.
Since I began collecting these bottles I have mused about using a bottle cutter and recycling them as juice glasses or votive candle holders. I read about a variety of cutters and settled on the one where the bottle lays on its side and best utilizes gravity to align the cutters. Naturally this was the most expensive one as well. Last Friday I ordered the Ephrum Bottle Cutter system! It should arrive this week! I am excited about the possibilities. Next weekend I will be going north, up to Port Angeles, to visit family for the weekend, so may not get any cutting done for another week. Pretty sure I don’t want to try this for the first time on an evening after work when I will be tired and less careful.
I have another friend who has a small kiln for annealing glass beads. It can also be used to fuse glass; I thought I would save all the broken pieces and find a way to make something from them as well. Perhaps little dishes will work if I can find molds that will fit his kiln. However I might be able to convince the kiln owner to make small pressed pendants from the fragments. He has made some wonderful pieces in the past that came out well using a soap stone mold he hand carved, another idea to muse. I’ve also been contemplating glass etching, would be a unique possibility, particularly if I design and hand cut the mask needed.
I’m including an image of the bottles. A difficult blue to photograph! My mother collected blue glass, as do both my sister and I. I wonder if we do it for a sense of the familiar, a small comfort from the past to carry into the future. Oh I’m an armchair psychologist! I have continued beading on the mountain, nearly finished! Then on to the eagle! I have been playing with the way I want to quilt the eagle; I may opt for machine quilting with monofilament to not distract from the collage effect. We will have to wait until I get closer to actually doing it before I decide!
Since I began collecting these bottles I have mused about using a bottle cutter and recycling them as juice glasses or votive candle holders. I read about a variety of cutters and settled on the one where the bottle lays on its side and best utilizes gravity to align the cutters. Naturally this was the most expensive one as well. Last Friday I ordered the Ephrum Bottle Cutter system! It should arrive this week! I am excited about the possibilities. Next weekend I will be going north, up to Port Angeles, to visit family for the weekend, so may not get any cutting done for another week. Pretty sure I don’t want to try this for the first time on an evening after work when I will be tired and less careful.
I have another friend who has a small kiln for annealing glass beads. It can also be used to fuse glass; I thought I would save all the broken pieces and find a way to make something from them as well. Perhaps little dishes will work if I can find molds that will fit his kiln. However I might be able to convince the kiln owner to make small pressed pendants from the fragments. He has made some wonderful pieces in the past that came out well using a soap stone mold he hand carved, another idea to muse. I’ve also been contemplating glass etching, would be a unique possibility, particularly if I design and hand cut the mask needed.
I’m including an image of the bottles. A difficult blue to photograph! My mother collected blue glass, as do both my sister and I. I wonder if we do it for a sense of the familiar, a small comfort from the past to carry into the future. Oh I’m an armchair psychologist! I have continued beading on the mountain, nearly finished! Then on to the eagle! I have been playing with the way I want to quilt the eagle; I may opt for machine quilting with monofilament to not distract from the collage effect. We will have to wait until I get closer to actually doing it before I decide!
I haven't done discharging to speak of for a long time, perhaps this summer I will get back to the process for a few of the possibilities running in my head! I love the organic look it creates.
You can see a portion of my studio's chaos in the background! I am finally actually working within my space again. I am only partially finished with the reorganizing begun weeks ago but the progress is helpful! The project under the blue and white bed is one I finally made progress on! It is a three layer applique' of a mountain that once trimmed (I used the reverse applique' or mola technique) demanded I bead it, it may prevent it's completion by a date I would like it to ... the way my muse operates! I am going to combine it with an element I made a year or so ago when working on the quilt project I did with a friends first grade class. The eagle is made with the raw edge fused applique technique, it is still waiting for it's quilting/embellishment but ideas are going through the design viewer recently! The background sky fabric is fabric I painted and manipulated. Fun to see it in context of the eagle!
