Class Day Four - Medusa - Oh My!

What a beautiful day in Murano! Blue skies and the rain cooled everything down to a wonderful 70 degrees. I did some major damage to my bank account at Carlo Dona tools (actually I had some reserve but I'm tempted to go back in there just to gaze on Roberto again - he's such a cutie and so nice).

Class today was very relaxed and we spent much of the day practicing what we'd learned. I've gotten very good at making the little torsos but tend to crack the piece when working wings or putting a loop on for a necklace. It's all a matter of heat control and practice!

We went to a hot shop today and saw the incredible skill with which goblets and other blown items were made. Since I started in glass in the hot shop, somehow this felt like "home" to me. It was fascinating to see that what I've learned in Seattle is identical to what I was seeing here.

In the late afternoon, Lucio started showing us other animals - he's fantastic at it but they're definitely not his "style". I think he did this because we have all six days with him (some classes have Vittorio Constantini teaching wonderful beetles and other bugs and animals). Someone asked for a snake demo and he said, "Ah, too simple - I make Medusa!" Wow, what a demo! It was like ballet, or poetry watching him put all the snakes on her head. Wonderful!

I feel like the week is winding down now. Only Friday and Saturday left to go and I start my (really, really) long trip home. I'm telling myself not to think about it now.

Pictures for today - the rings that I made yesterday. I can't take credit for the base of the black ring - that was done by Diego - but they're my flowers and I made the complete purple ring -

Medusa - to die for!

Class Day Three - Rings and Pizza

Third day of class - half through now. I'm trying to remind myself that we still have three more days. What a great day! We started out with demos by Lucio. He showed us how to make several different versions of angel wings. My only attempt cracked but it was still good practice. In the afternoon, Diego (Lucio's apprentice) showed us how to make glass rings. So simple once you master it but difficult to get the heat just right. One thing that is something that a beginner (like me) just doesn't get right away, it the amount of heat and cooling that it takes to get the glass to pull out in one fluid motion while keeping its shape - PPP (practice, practice, practice!).

Tonight we went to dinner on another island and we took three boats. One belonged to the shop assistant, Diego. When I saw it, the thought - "jalopy" - automatically came to mind. There was a raging thunderstorm while we were at the restaurant and when we came out, the nice boats with covers were dry and poor Diego was left bailing water out of his boat. We had a good laugh at his expense. Dinner was fantastic and it poured rain and thundered and lightning-ed (is that a word?) through dinner and we worried we'd have to take a (water) taxi back. By the time we'd had our Tiramisu and espresso though, it was fairly dry and other than Diego's boat situation, we got "home" without incident.

The rings are in the annealer so I'll have a few pix of them tomorrow. Today, here are a couple of pictures of the angel wings - first by Lucio

And now - my cracked attempt (basically, I cut the wings apart too close to the back which caused stress in the glass - I like the torso though) -

Finally, a picture of Diego showing us all how to do rings -

Class Day Two - More Anatomy

Another day of the human figure - torsos today. Lucio also did a swan, spider, scorpion and fish. He'll pretty much demo anything you ask him to and make jokes the whole time. I'm utterly amazed by his skill and lack of ego. One of the more impressive (they're all impressive) demos he did today was a costumed jester. His use of color is fantastic. I didn't get a good photo but I'm providing one of a devil he made and one of us in class.

Here are a few of torsos I made. Perhaps we were just giddy but when it came time for the male torso, well - let's just say that the "parts" were a bit too impressive (wishful thinking?). We giggled as I went through the process of "emasculating" him and made them smaller. These busts are only about 1 1/2" high (the male and female) and the odd "she-male"-looking one is about 2 1/2" high.



A few words about Murano. It's such an interesting place. Boats = cars. Yesterday we saw a Boxer dog perching himself at the front of a boat with a young woman steering and talking on her cell phone - just like home but with a twist! This the time of year for swallows - the birds swoop and soar along the canals and I'm really enjoying seeing their scissor tails above. In the late afternoons and evenings, little older ladies in housedresses spend hours perched at their flower boxed windows taking in the activities on the streets and canals. It's a fantasy world with hot shops everywhere. I think Kimberly or Corina mentioned the hum of the furnaces 24 hours a day and it's true. It's a wonderful place!

First Day of Class - Whee!

We started class this morning at 9:30 am. Immediately there was a "situation" - Lucio and Diego had a meeting in Venice and were few minutes late for class. Lucio quickly began a demo and we had another "situation" when he realized "the music is broken". All of this was quickly made up for as Lucio created a beautiful woman in a matter of minutes, and then another and another... It's magical to watch and there was more than one gasp out of our class and clapping at the end. He made a mermaid that is just amazing.

We were then encouraged to try the human figure on our own. My hands were trembling (maybe it was the two tiny cups of espresso and cake that Lucio's mother made for us for a midmorning snack) but I think it was sheer fear! I managed to make something human-like and then I moved on to a mermaid. Though just not quite right, I've included a picture below and hope to show you a better looking one by the end of the trip!

We broke for lunch around 1pm and had tortellini and salad in Lucio's gallery, surrounded by incredible works of art. Lucio made a remark that we were "much quieter than the last group" - meaning Corina, Kimberly and others. After lunch, more demos, more practicing until dinner. Anne and I went out and ended up sitting next to two American girls who were disappointed not to be getting the attention from young Italian men that they expected. It was a fun dinner followed by yet more practice. We just got in to the (air conditioned yay!) apartment and are heading for bed.

By the way, never let anyone tell you it isn't broiling hot and humid here in the middle of summer and bring mosquito repellant - they're eating me alive!

Enjoy the photos - first, my mermaid -

Now Lucio's Mermaid -

A unicorn -

And a classical woman - look at her fingers!

A Day In Venice

My roommate, Anne, and I went to Venice this morning via water taxi. It's been very hot and humid since we arrived and so we grew tired and soggy as we made our way through the quaint streets to Piazza San Marco where we saw incredible architechture (and a ton of pigeons and tourists like ourselves!). I'll post a few pix below. We had the customary piece of pizza for lunch and a gelato (Amaretto - second only to Chocolate!). I can't seem to ftp to my server from here but I can post pictures to my blog so the 147 (literally!) pictures I've taken so far will have to wait until I get home but I'll put up a few each day this week so you can see what we're up to.

Tonight, guess what we're having for dinner? Why, pizza, of course! Most of our group should be in by 8pm when we plan on meeting Lucio for the first time at his studio and then going on to the only pizza place on the island that is open on a Sunday night. More tomorrow...

A cool lamp on a Venice street.
Close up of on the statues at San Marco.
Marzipan (yum!) in one of the shop windows.

I'm here!

I made it! Murano at last! (That's really the way I felt, by the way, after the flight from Seattle to New York to London to Venice and then water taxi to Murano). Oh my gosh is this place incredible! I wandered the streets (needlessly, I later found out as the apartments are pretty much a straight shot up the street from the taxi) and saw the most romantically old buildings, people doing their Saturday shopping, sitting in cafes - much of what I expected but so much nicer in person! I'm in an apartment with a view of the canal - I'm including some pix below. My roomie and I went up the street to the supermarket and bought food to cook in our little kitchen. What did we make? Why, fritatta of course! We're going in to Venice tomorrow, which is a short water taxi ride away. More pictures then!

Janelle

P.S. On a sad note , when I got here, I found out that my dear grandma had passed away. This trip will be very special as I will remember her and my Italian glass experience.

View #1 from the apartment.

View #2 from the apartment.

The street on the way to the supermarket.

English Politeness (and Venice here I come!)

Hello - I'm writing from London where I was, thankfully, able to spend the night after two extremely long flights yesterday. We circled Heathrow for about half an hour when they waited for a gate for us - excruciating after 11 hours of flying and 3 hours of layover but I finally made it to my hotel and was reminded of the politeness of the English.

I was awakened at 3:30 in the morning to the sound a of fire alarm - only this one was different than anything I had ever heard before. It was a polite English woman's voice saying something to the effect of, "Notice - we've been informed of a potential need to evacuate the building due to a fire alarm. We will investigate and let you know if you should leave the building." This went on for several minutes until the voice came back on saying, "We're sorry for the inconvenience - it was a false alarm. There is no need to evacuate the building." I've never heard of such a thing but I was grateful I didn't need to groggily run into the street in my jammies as I don't think it would have left me in a very good mood for today!

Which reminds me - I'd better get going. I have to take a bus back to Heathrow airport where I will catch a plane to Venice and then a water taxi to Murano. Can't wait! More updates soon.

Ah, it's nice to see family...

I just had family here visiting this weekend. It's so much fun to haul out the beads and vessels and "show off" to my siblings and to my mom, who I don't see often enough.

Seattle is showing it's best weather today - just nothing to complain about. There are only a few weeks of the year when it's unbearably hot here - but it's only about 80 degrees today, blue skies - gorgeous! It does cool off in the evenings in time to torch. Very nice!

I did some shopping for the trip. Someone recommended some little cheese knives from Bed Bath & Beyond. These are used in glass sculpting. It's amazing the things you can use - spoons, butter knives, dental tools. Someone who didn't know what I was doing would be quite confused by my workbench!

I wanted to share another vessel with you today - this one is a lapis blue, coral and lime green hollow vessel - made off the end of a mandrel. I have an idea for a precious metal clay stand for it that I'll make when I come back into Seattle in a few weeks. I plan on selling these little perfume bottles when I get back as well.

A few days closer...

Another week gone and a few days closer to the trip to Murano. It's Saturday morning and I just turned on the kiln. I've been trying to prepare for the trip by doing one perfume bottle/vessel each time I torch in addition to beads, plant stakes. I have this idea that I want to get my own glass collector card and the photo I will use is a grouping of my little bottles. I've actually only been making them for a few weeks now and I love the challenge. I hope you like them too and I'm including my latest one at the end of this post. He's a cute little guy at about 2" tall and he actually sits quite flat on the table (which is actually no easy thing with hot or warm glass).

Well, off to the torch - so bright and early. It's a good start to the day!

Pigeon Point Glassblog - First Post

Hello!

I decided to start blogging on my site to let you know what I have been up to in my endeavors in glass. I really should be heading to bed as my "real" job requires me to be up and at 'em early enough.

As you may have seen from the front page of my website, I will be heading to Italy next week to study with glass master, Lucio Bubacco, at his studio in Venice (Murano). I have spent several years in Europe but I never made it as far south as Italy so I am really looking forward to this trip. I even took an 8-week course called "Italian for Fun & Travel". We had a book called "Italian in Ten Minutes A Day" - yeah, if you actually spend the ten minutes! Life is so busy - it's nice to be able to take a week out every now and again to fuel your passion.

When I look at my diary from when I was a 16-year-old exchange student in Germany, I see large chunks of time where I was a prolific writer and equally large (if not greater) chunks where I was mysteriously silent. I consider those the times when life intervened. I certainly won't write every day but I will try to update often. If I can get to the Internet cafes in Venice (I'm not sure what's available on Murano), I'll do that too but rest assured, I'll have a huge update when I get back if I can't post while I'm there. I'm a photo nut so I'll make sure to include lots of pictures.

To keep you satisfied, here's a picture of a new perfume bottle I made on Sunday night from Bullseye Cranberry and Pink.