This year for pumpkins, yes pumpkins I am getting an early start so as to avoid the nightmares come August, I am playing with some new color combinations.  Some are odd, some are down right weird. Take a look and let me know if any should be repeated. Other colors to be tried will be Purple (in the form of Amethyst) and more Yellow combinations.  Not just the pumpkin colors will be played with, although it is difficult to tell from the image, the stems are also being "altered".  Double color, double trouble.

After my little (only a "couple" of months) posting sabbatical I am back.  In the midst of pumpkin season nothing interesting to report except I am starting to have pumpkin making related nightmares.  It all starts with me making one type of pumpkin with some specific pattern, looking away for just a moment and when I look back it's a completely different pumpkin!  Very distressing with  a very specific order for pumpkins this oct.  

Two pumpkin patches, one boutique, and an ongoing display, later I have found that over the course of this last pumpkin season around 183 pumpkins were made.  That is a 300% increase from last year!  With numbers like that I shudder at what may be produced next year.  Major thanks are due though to all the help and patience I received from Larry and William (super thanks guys.)  On the done with pumpkins side of my life I may now make squash.  Although not a big change from pumpkins it adds just a little bit of something to the mix.  

Who needs pitchers when decanters work just as well without the additional issue of a handle?  I say this since my frustration with pitchers is at an all time high.  I have the shape down (or shapes depending on my goal) and I can attach a handle, the issue comes in at doing this straight.  So far I have a lot of side handled pitchers.  And while this may be useful in the restaurant biz for servers, it's not so appealing for everyday use.  The trouble is you have to keep the whole thing spinning!  If you stop your whole piece sags, and then so does my spirit with sadness.  I was given some recommendations on alternate ways to attach the handle and I will work on those.  Mostly will try with less rotation redundancy.  Right now I am implementing almost a double flip, losing heat and my center point.  The plan is to do the whole shbang upside down, that way only one flip.  Will this work?  Will find out tonight.  

For you fans out in cyberspace, this one is for you.  Fan may have been an overstatement but starting tonight you can now plugin to Watch Me blow glass.  At about 8pm tonight Jan. 12th, those of you who log in will get to see me make the first pumpkin of the year.  Comments are enabled so if you feel like sharing or requesting something let the class know.  Don't be shy and I will try not to burn/maim the camera or the camera man (Thank you Larry!)  Tune in to see the magic.

So today I will work on some requested long stem roses as well as continue working on the cloud pattern.  Not sure on the patterns but some challenges with using talc from last time that I am going to try and avoid will be 1. Use gloves:  my hands were burning due to the proximity to the piece.  2. Use tools:  this was kinda stupid on my behalf but i did grab the talc with my bare hands and threw it at my piece.  Not advisable something about the powder super heating in my hand and under my fingernails that make this a less than desirable approach.  Also a suggestion has been brought forth on making indentations in the glass where the powder will  layer to maximize the color depth.  Another approach I may consider is a variation of the throwing color and see maybe about layering powder on shards.  The goal is to have a clod look to in terms of colors and depth.  If you have requests for long stem roses for your sweet ladies/gentlemen in your life let me know.  You can pick the color.

Like the day outside todays glass will probably have a lot of blues and greys. Going to have to continue working on pumpkins so will take the time to do some color experiments leading up to what I will probably call the "Sky" series.  Will be attempting layering blues and greys to get certain kinds of cloud colors.  But to make my own silver lining I will also do at least one or two yellow colors to see what would look best as the sun.  Interesting how weather affects moods and perception.  Todays turn for the morose has also soured my effort in working with brighter colors.  Hopefully both the colors and the clouds will be brighter soon.

As Mother's Day fades into memory, with the pitcher done, I will begin the long and repetitive journey into pumpkin land. Lots of color experiments from last year as well as some new ones will be incorporated so that at least, even though I am repeating the same motions on the pumpkins, I get to experiment with color.  With glassblowing it is always a quest to find new and awesome color combos and reactions.  So far I have two favorites: a yellow/aqua and red/gold.  Need to find some more that work and call to me on that oh-so-deep-soul level.

Colors: 

A third attempt is in order for the pitcher gift.  So far my efforts at the body of the pitcher have improved, color and shape, but the handle is still .... well pathetic.  Or more positively ... "decorative".  Something about over stretching and just not getting it lines to match up.  Also in the exciting news like category I may do up to two new pumpkin patches this year.  This news is still in rumor form so may not pan out.  Hoping that the pitcher works out and maybe adding more pumpkins to the storage today should be pretty packed.

Colors:

Pitcher from last time turned out usable but a little on the "leaning" side of balanced.  So for this round I will try the experiment again, with the same colors.  Also need to start ramping up for pumpkin season, as I am sure that it's right around the corner.  So probably not a over exciting night but doing pitchers without Treg and training Larry instead.  So I need to train 
Larry on making pitcher handles and to train myself to not make leaning tower of pitcher.  I may also make a clear carafe for a friend that may be leaving the country soon as he is a big wine aficionado.

Colors:  

Today I will be working with Treg Silkwood on making a gift for my mother.  She has one of Mark Murai's pitchers and its about time to have one of mine. On the menu for today is an emerald green overlay and a loose pickup of some grassy green cane.  Hopefully I can make a decent shape and thinness to the pitcher so it won't weigh 10lbs.  Then if there is time a second attempt at a pitcher this time with a light honey yellow body and minty grass.  The themes are somewhat Spring-ey.  

Concerns:  

So while this isn't glass related specifically it is my site related. I always look for ways to keep my website active with the least amount of effort. In place I already have picassa web albums embedded so I only have to update the albums the photos go to. I have an Eye Fi card stored at BAGI to auto update into the albums from a camera sans the computer.  I have google checkout set up, so that the only thing that is updated is a spreadsheet rather than a whole page.  And I have this blog page which is built into the google sites capabilities. So while if you are reading this, you may ask "why are you giving away your secret sauce?" I really am not, just sharing what I do to make my presence on the web efficient. This site is dedicated to my glass rather than to me as a website expert.