A surprise trip to Butterfly Wonderland

Yesterday was our two year anniversary.  The last two years have flown by, and I'm so lucky to have Thomas in my life.  As a surprise, Thomas took me up to Phoenix this past weekend for a short hotel stay, a great dinner at Arrogant Butcher, and - best of all- a visit to Butterfly Wonderland.  Thomas told me to pack my camera, and I'm so glad he did!  I took hundreds of pics of the thousands of butterflies in the conservatory.  I left filled with lots of new butterfly species to explore in my own work.  Here are a few highlights: 

 A Clipper, Parthenos sylvia

 Madagascan Moon Moth, Argema mittrei, freshly emerged 

 A Malachite (one of my all-time-favorite butterflies), Siproeta stelenes

 Morpho peleides.  (While Morphos are most widely known for their iridescent blue color, the ventral view of their wings is just as gorgeous.)  

 Another all-time favorite butterfly, the Paper Kite, Idea leuconoe.  I love watching these butterflies in flight; their size makes them seem like they'll fall right out of the air if they stop fluttering even for a second (but they don't).  

 A Royal Blue, Myscelia ethusa.  

 A Tiger longwing (I think?) Heliconius hecale 

A White Peacock, Anartia jatrophae 

Brown Siproeta, Siproeta epaphus 

Common Birdwing, Troides helena cerberus  

Doris longwing, Laparus doris

Summer trip to Corning, NY

My big trip this summer was to Corning, New York to take a class with Jason Howard at the Corning Studio.  The class focused on hollow stemware in borosilicate glass.  I chose this class for several reasons, the first being that I don't do much hollow work and it's very far out of my comfort zone.  I was certainly challenged by the new (to me) techniques and I learned so much.  I've known Jason for years and love his work.  He held nothing back in the class!  We spent the first day working on flaring feet for stemware, starting with a small bubble of scalloped tubing (which is a lot harder to work with than regular tubing), opening a small hole, and then flaring it out by spinning (evenly) to get it to flare into a flat foot.  It's terribly fun when it goes well, and comically torturous when it doesn't.

As part of the class, Corning live streams a demonstration from instructors.  If you'd like to see Jason's demonstration of a Tazzo (wide flat bowl shape), click here.  The demo lasts about an hour, and it's time well spent: it's a joy to watch him work on the torch!

Below are pics of a couple pieces and parts I made during my time there.  Hopefully next summer I'll return to Corning for another week-long class! 

Custom Butterfly Mezuzah

I have had the pleasure of working on a few extra-special, heart-centered projects lately, and I'm excited to share this one with you.  A dear friend of a dear friend of mine, Emily, messaged me to ask if I'd be willing to make a butterfly-themed Mezuzah for her new home.  After lots of emails discussing ideas, colors, and form, we settled on a design, and I got to work! 

In case you aren't familiar with them, mezuzahs are decorative cases that hold a scroll with Hebrew verses from the Torah.  They are meant to be positioned inside the doorway of a Jewish household, to "write the words of God on the gates and doorposts of your house." 

We planned the sculpture for the mezuzah around a section of clear borosilicate tubing that would hold the Torah scroll, with foliage that created a framework for the butterflies.  You can see that at the top and bottom of the piece, I added two holes through which screws could attach the piece to the wall.  (I also made two glass covers for the screws to attach once it's installed.) 

I'm so very honored that Emily asked me to work on this very special piece for her home.  The entire process was a joy.