July - is summer here?

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Here we go - it is supposed to be summer now, and hopefully that is true. The last couple of weeks have had some interesting days. The CVCM was rained out a weekend ago, and this last weekend the Comox Valley had a long and drawn out thunder and lightening storm. It has been overcast and wet all week, but THEY promise that it will be 27 by Saturday.

The markets have been going well, but I have to say that the economy is definitely having an impact on spending. It is funny how different the two markets and customers at each are, given that the Valley and Campbell River are about a half hour apart.

Here are some pictures from the Pier Street market we do on Sundays in Campbell River.

John doing a great job paying attention to the booth

John being majestic, with a shot of our neighbors,
Nico and Naomi teWinkel from mulBerryLand.

The Art in mulBerryLand booth. It was great to be beside them, and
I hope we are beside them for the rest of the summer!

A close up of the dynamic duo, and Naomi's gorgeous art.

And a Ghost Town Glass post would not be complete without at least one dog picture! This is Mia, my Mom's new housemate. She is a 12 week old Shih Tsu/Maltese/Lhasa Apso cross. She is a total cutie pie, with lots of personality packed into a 5 pound body!

She has not met Haley or Annie yet, but that is coming soon. She screams when she is scared or unhappy, so I am taking earplugs!

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The Summer Market Season

The longest day of the year has come and gone. It is hard to believe that we are already heading back to darker days!

The markets we have been doing have been going well. So far the weather has been nice. Simms Park, where we have the Comox Valley Community Market, has been just beautiful. The grass is very nice to be on and there is a lovely breeze off the river. A picture from the end of a market day (yeah, I was lying on the grass, about all I can do by that time of day):


We changed around the display again. It is interesting to see how different configurations work or don't. This is what it looks like right now:


Well, part of it anyway. We have been getting great feedback and making sales, so that seems to be working!

I made a set that I did not expect to sell at the markets - I priced it higher than any other necklaces so I would have it as a centre piece. The first markets it got a lot of attention, but once people saw the price, they moved on to less expensive pieces. Yay!

Then on the second day of the CVCM, after running around doing manager chores, I came back to the booth and it was gone. Someone bought it. Without flinching at the price at all. Sigh. Now I have to make something else! Good thing I just got in a huge order of supplies!

The master at work.

I went out to the studio to ask John something, and found him making a border collie. The light seemed good, so I took a video. I also took some stills. Warning - the sound on the video is just noise from the fan, oxygen concentrator and the torch, and it is LOUD. So turn down your sound or mute it.



Sorry for any jerks but I was shaky (that makes beadmaking fun, I can tell you) and trying not to let him know I was there, because I was afraid he might drop the bead or hurt himself!

It gives those people who have not seen a torch in use a sense of what we do anyway. At the end of the video he is putting the white tip on the dog's tail. I will do another one closer for more detail at some point. As you can see, he puntied up to the nose (the rod of black glass is attached so he can hold it - called a punty - he will melt that off at the end, hold the dog with tweezers and firepolish the nose to remove any marks). Apparently it was on mandrel at first, but came off.

Close up of above, so you can see the creature a bit better.

As you can see, the bench is full of stuff. I will be very glad to divide into two torches, since I tend to sit down and decide what I need while holding hot glass and a mandrel. We don't use the same tools, so the stuff I need is never out. And I never remember that ahead of time.

I will post a picture of the finished puppy when it is out of the kiln.

Divine Ms Karen and her eyeball fetish

I met Karen last year and knew right away that we would be friends. She makes very cool art, and several of her dolls and pictures grace my house. Oh, and skull flowers! She makes "Dark Art" and sells both locally and online at Studio Eclectica

She requested that John make her an eyeball, which he did. Since then, she has gathered a pile of them, although not as many as she wants. He can be hard to motivate some times! She posted this picture on her Facebook, and I got her permission to post it here.


It is a great way to display eyeballs, and I know that she wants even more!