Ritz Carlton Naples Florida

We just shipped a wall piece for the Ritz Carlton in Naples Florida. I am anxious to see a photo when it is installed!

Summer

Rain the end of June? Unheard of in Auburn. But the Daylilies are loving it! And the plums are juicy and sweet! Cool weather - great for glassblowing today.

Notte Bianca

We happened to be in Florence for the European celebration of Notte Bianca. All of the museums were open all night for free! The streets were full of locals and the piazzas were full of music. Action everywhere! We made it to 1:30am and only one museum - Palazzo Vecchio, the Medici palace. A magical night!

Santa Croce

Back to Italy! Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence is where some of the finest minds of mankind are buried - Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, Dante.......

Sizzling Summer Saturday Sculpting

We are having fun creating new work! Saturday is our play day...

Greyt Balls of Fire!

Saturday night was the Greyt Balls of Fire fundraiser for Greyhound Friends for Life. I love watching the intense glow of the furnace and the glass after dark. We should blow glass at night more often except it's more challenging to get up earlier the next day! Queenie enjoyed meeting people too even though she is far from a greyhound in mind and body. You may notice from the photo that Matt is back with us for the summer! We'll be open and blowing on Saturdays but not into the late hot afternoons.

Cars

I love the transportation in Italy - walking, biking and all of the small cars, scooters and motorcycles! No cars on the freeways because people take the trains! (gas is $8 a gallon) We live so far out in the countryside that we will always drive cars but ...something has to change!

Playing with sculpting

We are playing with glass sculpting on Saturdays now and on through the summer. Refreshing and fun!

New Sinks are in Florida

I just received photos of a newly renovated bathroom in Florida with two of our sinks. They are truly unique - with a hint of gold dichroic.

Florence Horses

Show me anything to do with horses and I'm happy. Still in Florence, these photos are inside and outside the Palazzo Medici. Cosimo mounted. Medici Money is the most interesting book I've read in a long time and relates to the politics of today. Still, I am grateful for the Medici's investments in the arts!

Ready to work!

We're back in the studio and ready to work! GAS Conference in Seattle was wonderful. Seattle even had sun! We watched Richard Royal and Dante Marioni make big glass. Visited the Glass Museum, Tacoma Art Museum and the Seattle Art Museum. Chihuly's glass everywhere. All the big names of the NW. Lino Tagliapietra at the Wm Traver Gallery. Bought tools, visited galleries. My favorite was Elin Christopherson's bottles full of yeast and bubbling sound at the Foster White Gallery. Just like the wine in our basement! And Beth Lipman and Ingalena Klenell's Glimmering Gone glass forest at the Tacoma Glass Museum. KeKe Cribbs and Ross Richmond gave an interesting demo. Also Jenny Puhlman and Sabrina Knowles were inspirational. Rick took a class from Karen Willenbrink Johnsen and Jason Johnsen. Amazing team so Rick is all inspired and ready to BLOW GLASS! We couldn't do it all but we did all we could. Stayed with cousin Nora and cousin Camp and family. Great to see everyone! Back to the furnace.