glass again

Some very inspiring friends/guests came to stay at Mermaid's Nest last week. Marti and Cheri make things. Lots of things. Out of other things. They are creative up-cyclers who spend their free time gathering weird cast-off items in the world and turning them into wonderful things people actually want to buy and have and love.

I make stuff too, you know. But I'd almost forgotten what it was like to get out in the world and share what I do. Somehow, chatting with these talented and encouraging women jump-started something in me that's been sleeping like a snoring, snowbound bear for the last several years.

Suddenly, and surprisingly, I find myself dusting off my blog, tidying all my websites, updating everything, linking them all together, making them look like they know each other, filing with the state for a resale number, ordering new business cards, and also ordering a bunch of supplies for making stuff. This flurry of activity all started with a simple request from Marti to crochet a net for a glass float she'd bought in town.

I have several of these lovely floats hanging in my house and in the trees outside. I embellished them a couple of years ago, and then sort of forgot about them. But making this one for our friends reminded me that I loved making them. Sometimes the smallest nudge can get things rolling. And that's what happened.

So here's where it starts. I have 14 vintage glass Japanese fishing floats sitting on a tray in my living room. They're so beautiful, some greenish, some gray-blue-ish, and many with Made In Japan stamped into the big fat punty mark on the bottom.

Punty mark? It's that big blob of glass that seals the hole in handblown floats. In fancy modern glasswork, the mark is usually smoothed and polished. But in these gorgeously primitive orbs, the blob is part of the beauty.

Here I am, after years away from making glass beads, speaking Glass again. It's back, and in spherical form even. But this time, it won't cut me or burn me... I can touch it at every phase of my interaction with it. I can do my work with it in my living room, in my lap, in the car, and in public places.

It's not beads, and it's not jewelry, but it's beautiful adornment that makes my eyes and hands so happy.

The whole situation is a wonderment to me.