Sverige Through The Glass

"Art for art's sake is a philosophy of the well-fed." ~ Frank Lloyd Wright

2012-02-10T05:20:00.000+01:00

Well, I am now speaking to you as someone who has been paid for blowing glass!!! Thursday and Friday last week I worked at Wimberley and today, Monday I worked for Morgan Graff, a local glass blower! I am movin' on up in the Austin glass scene I would say :) Oh! AND, after I just wrote that I have scored myself an interview at Glass Monkey Art Studio on Wednesday! EEEEEeeeeeeeppppppppppp!!

OK, maybe I should tell you about it all in chronological order...

Thursday I went to Wimberley and I had no idea what really to expect. The day started with some drilling some holes in some lamps. Then they explained to me that they were doing a photo shoot for this vodka company that had commissioned them to make some drinking glasses. It is a local vodka company called Dripping Springs which had two photographers and their production manager come out to shoot a picture for a billboard and one for an add I think. Anyway, it took FOREVER and was really rather ridiculous, there were lots of staged, very dramatic shots of the owner spinning out a plate and lots of steam and such. Anyway... while most of this nonsense (yes, yes I know, its probably good business strategy... marketing and bla bla but oh so boring for me) I was making flowers. Yes, on my first day on the job I was delegated to making flowers... yeah... flowers... a little color, some petals and a stem. Tim (the owner) kept suggesting I make stems that kind of curled around but I don't know how to do that (and no one would show me) so I just made super twisted ones. They said I did well... but I think they were kind of ugly flowers, honestly.

Friday I cleaned up the edges of the flowers, drilled more holes in the lamp shades (really big fancy ones even!) and then went into the hot shop. Luckily, I got upgraded to making puntys, bringing handles, necking pieces and heating medium sized pieces in the glory hole. It felt like a pretty good upgrade to me. I was super glad not to be making stupid flowers any more :-P

On Saturday I went out to Elgin, 45 mins north of Austin to visit the barn that Justin would be living at when he finally got here. It is called Bit by Bit Farm and is WIDE OPEN!

"everything the light touches is ours Simba" Just kidding... but it does go as far as you can see. Its 100 acres of fields and grass!

I went out on a cold and windy day and all the horses turned out were super calm and happy seeming. Which I took for a good sign of place... happy, healthy and mentally sound horses. Also, the stalls are 15x18 feet! HUGE (normal is 12x12)! Justin is going to be living in a bigger place then me :P

And the red barn with white trim reminds me of Sweden, another good sign ;)

Some of the stalls have runs out the back of the barn and some don't, depends on space and horses' needs.

And they have a nice big sand ring. The only thing you can't see from this picture is directly to the right, across a driveway is a herd of Texas Longhorns... yes, giant cows with GIANT horns... Justin isn't even really a fan of normal cows... I can't wait till he sees them... I have become obsessed with this type of cow!

Sunday I went shopping for some postcards and etc and came across this Texas stuff... I thought it would give you an example of the place...

A baby one-sy in camo... with an orange long horn on it... because every infant should blend in the foliage!

Also, every squirrel needs some underpants... otherwise where would they store their nuts? So weird!

Well over a week till V-day and there are MOUNTAINS of chocolate EVERYWHERE!!! It is driving me crazy! I regularly want to eat it all up and go into a chocolate coma! This one is at Whole Foods so you know its good :-D

Monday morning I got woken up by a phone call from some Austin number and it turns out it was Morgan Graff, who has Glass Blowing Austin and she needed an assistant. Her's had the stomach flu which turned out great for me (that sounds bad, but you know what I mean). Her studio is in East Austin and in a sort of ware-house district. This is her hot shop:

She shares the space with some women who do slumping and fusing. They make some really neat pieces and have a great space. Well, they have great equipment, huge kilns (below), sand blasters, polishing wheels, glass saws and grinding wheels too! Now I know where I can take some of my stuff for cold working when I finally start making my own stuff!

Alright, so because I am slow it has taken me ages to post this... I started on Monday and it is now Thursday night... what is wrong with me? I guess I am just busy and thus tired... but the good thing is I am making money doing what I love, my horse has actually arrived(!!!) and I think I am going to get into flame working... but more on all that later!

“Some folks look at me and see a certain swagger, which in Texas is called "walking."”

2012-02-02T04:46:00.000+01:00

OK, it has been a long time... this is due to ALL the stuff that has been going on since last time I blogged! In general I have:

1. BOUGHT A NEW TRUCK!!!

I named it Skarsgård the Silverado because it is kinda like my giant white polar bear... There have been some mixed reviews on the name but I am going to stick with it! I luuuuuuve my truck!

2. Drove across the south to Big Sky Country where they also have BIG flags EVERYWHERE!

And across "the world's most complex interchange" in Houston (I didn't take this picture but it was so HIGH up on those bridges that I felt like I could have!) I have never been more nervous or freaked out while driving a truck and trailer then I was on these roads... THANK GOD I didn't have my horse in the back!

3. Moved into a new apartment! That's Sam at ours on the top right!

It is a small one bedroom place, but it gets the job done!

This is one of our two windows... we don't actually get any direct sunlight which is a bummer but maybe it will be good in the summer?

4. Sam started school!

5. We attended a Scotch Whisky tasting... where I learned I am not a big Scotch person but some of them are good and surprisingly very different tasting... I think we might stick with the simple for now though.

6. Investigated the local hot shops! I went to Wimberley Glassworks first. I had emailed them in November or December asking about a job and they said they were full so I was just going to introduce myself and see the place. Well it turned into a random impromptu interview. Where literally the owner goes "well there's our hot shop... go impress me!"

So, I walked into this hot shop and made a bowl. It wasn't a particularly good bowl but it was a bowl all the same.

So, the next week I went in for, I guess, a second interview when the production manager was in the hot shop. So, I just hungout for the morning helping around the hot shop. Apparently they were just seeing how I fit in and am to work with. I guess it went well. I ended up with a part time job!!! I will work at Wimberley Glassworks 2-3 days a week being an assistant and making little random things for the shop! Here is their website if you are interested, they make cool lighting installations mainly www.wgw.com. I also introduced myself to some other glass blowers and they said they would call on me if they needed an assistant... so hopefully something will come of that. They are too small of an operation to be working all the time in the hotshop, just from time to time.

6. Got a hair cut! (and went blonder!)

7. I am currently searching for another job to supplement the glass income pretty much every time I get on the computer. I have applied to everything from government jobs (like before boo), waiting tables, working at a taco stand, Starbucks, personal assistants, grocery person... it is like I am too qualified for so much or completely unqualified. At this rate I am going to get stuck with a job at Merry Maids... oh wait they didn't want me either... stupid maids!

8. Finally got the truck (Skarsgård!) registered in Texas... which of course was a bureaucratic nightmare... stupid government agencies.

but it is a pretty plate. The classic one with a lone cowboy is sadly being phased out so this is the new SUPER patriotic one... Yay The Lone Star State! haha

9. I have spent a considerable amount of time searching for a new home for my horse here in Austin! I have been north, south, east and west... my brain is a jumble of farms, board costs and roads which don't make any sense. But I think I have found a home for him in Elgin, which is just north of Austin. They have lots of turn out and seem to be pretty low key and not a drama barn, it is called Step Aside Farm.

10. I am also currently organizing getting my horse shipped to me in Texas from Virginia. Hopefully he will be here next week!!!

11. Sam and I have played some frisbee (disc) golf in the local HUGE cool park here, just a mile from our house!

12. And, I have also taken advantage of Sam recently becoming friends with a bunch of other food loving people who have cook outs in awesome places like this!

A rooftop... ok its the 10th floor of a super cool apartment building with a view of the capital building and a sweet pool which hopefully we can swim in soon!

So, this is the group of cooking kids and two older dudes who lived right above the pool and decided to come down and join the party and bring some super delicious fish!

AND THE BEST THING>>>>> Tomorrow is my first day as a PAID GLASSBLOWER!!! I will tell you all about it! But for now just send good vibes to Texas! My goal is to make myself completely invaluable so they will hire me full time! I will also try to post more... I don't think I will be so all over the place in the future and hopefully I will be making lots of cool glass and money!

"Time is a circus, always packing up and moving away." ~ Ben Hecht

2011-12-20T02:38:00.000+01:00

Hey guys! I have been super busy the last little while. First I went to Oslo to visit Rosanne for a few days. It was great, SUPER cold but a really nice time. Today (Monday) I have been packing and saying goodbye to everyone and it is insane! Tomorrow I fly to Raleigh to spend some time with my family, then VA to see Sam and my friends up there, AND HORSE,then back to NC for New Years Eve then on to TEXAS!! Yeah, my life is a bit fast paced and insane at the moment... But I will try to keep you all updated!

But, I thought I should do one last post from Sweden... I don't have much to say... today is very bittersweet... and wonderful. Is that possible?

But, I look forward to getting home and being back in life... an active member of society moving forward and all that. Sad to be leaving the glass for a bit, my great friends and teachers here and of course the complete lack of responsibilities that come along with being a student. Don't worry, I will see them again, get back to the glass ASAP and I won't forget all that I have learned here about glass, life and myself!

So, thank you Orrefors! See you again one day <3

Westward I go!!!

"I don't know where I am going from here, but I promise it won't be boring!" ~ David Bowie

2011-12-16T00:24:00.000+01:00

The count down to being home in America started a few days ago but now it is really on because I am in single digits now... pretty exciting and TERRIFYING. I guess it is the definition of 'bittersweet' right? I am sad to be leaving school, all my good friends here and working with glass ALL the time... excited to be back with Sam, living in Austin, Tx, seeing my friends and family and having my horse again! A lot of complex emotions are rolling around in this body...

Well, my last few days have been filled with graals and ariels on my last blanks. These pictures are actually stuff I did list week but somehow I have managed not to take hardly any pictures this week...

So, here I am marvering some graals to flatten the designs so as not to get any unwanted bubbles:

This one has the penrose staircase on it... should have done it in a nontransparent color....

This one is 3 carousel animals going around it in pink and blue. I tried to pick it up first but didn't get it stuck to the pipe properly and dropped it on the floor! I managed to get it back on the piece after Vegard did some running around there was a lot of reheating.

Here is the penrose one... can't hardly see the design :( Oh well, I guess it was a learning experience in the long run... and it had nice straight sides luckily.

And here is the finished animals one. Those bubbles you see at the top of the horse are the only evidence of a whole lot of cracks which resulted in the dropping. But with some luck and a lot of heat they melted back together and all I have are these bubbles!

I think the swan looks a bit scary... or angry haha.

So Wednesday I spent trying to finish up everything I liked. So, here I have both of the above graals, a polar bear graal with some special northern lights effects (sort of), an ariel, a nice stripy graal which could out live almost any natural disaster (it is super heavy and big) and of course the wonderful encalmo. Also a couple of christmas ornaments thrown in there.

Now I am packing, trying to weigh my suitcases and figure out how on earth I am going to get everything I want to home! This weekend I am going to Oslo to visit Rosanne for a few days which will be a really nice distraction from the stress of moving home and then moving to Texas and all that entails! Also, I am slowly saying goodbye to all my friends here and trying not to be too sad... just lots of little sads spread around I think Monday will be the big sad day.

“I've got spots; I've got stripes, too.” ~ Ani Difranco

2011-12-11T23:56:00.000+01:00

Well, this past week was the week of the encalmos.... But it was also the week of a little snow :) Finally!!

I said I wanted to try to make an encalmo plate with as many stripes as I could... I was thinking 12... My eyes were a little bigger then my stomach in that case I think. Anyway... here is attempt number 1:

We accidently bumped one color onto the piece where it was a stripe of another color... so it got trashed at this point. Opps!

Attempt number 2 begins:

Here I have 5 stripes on and Marianne is making my 6th and final layer of color... which will be the center most piece.

Now we've got them all together, I am shaping and smoothing and stuff. Anyway, it was going really well, it got huge and we ended up having to run to a bigger glory hole because even with ours wide open it was still too small. But, at the end I was exhausted and when I was spinning to open it I accidentally let it fall back. The edge of the lip folded all the way back and touched the bottom of the plate and got stuck. We saved it, put it in the annealer but just to be thrown away the next day. That was Tuesday I think.

Wednesday was cold shop and a dressage lesson. I thought maybe I could get Pia to take a picture of me actually on a horse, not another picture of me in the mirror. So, here I am with Vaaagner!

Thursday morning we did attempt THREE of the encalmo. This time I was going for 7 stripes!

Above has 4 and below has 6!

Putting on number 7!

Big and smooth and stripy!

It is dark purple and an aquamarine blue alternating.

Here I have gathered once over this giant pot and I am trying to cut in a neck line before it gets too huge.

After a bunch of blowing and hard work done by Vegard, Marinanne and myself it was finally time to punty!

Getting it good and hot so it will open to a plate! Thanks to Vegard for doing most of the heavy lifting!

And now we have an open plate!!! It is big and heavy and I am so sweaty and tired but happy :)

And here I am on Friday with my masterpiece! I am super pleased with it... it is kind of heavy and I don't know how to get it home, but I figure I can wear it like a turtle shell on my back or something haha! I am holding it against my body, it really is wider then I am!

I have thought about trying to make another one of these plates but go for 9 or 10 stripes but doing just 7 took around 2 hours of work... and that was three of us working hard. So, maybe 12 would take AGES!

I had a funny conversation with Micke about the piece and it went something like this:

Micke: "Oh, this is a nice piece, how many stripes is it?"

Me: "sjut!" (pronounced huwt kind of, I don't know how it is spelled)

Micke: "I'm sorry what?"

Me: "sjut, seven!"

Micke: "Ohhhh! Seven is sju! SjuT is shit!"

Me: "ohhhhhh! yes, sju, seven not shit!!! haha"

Thursday Eva came to visit me (sadly she missed the making of the giant plate) and stayed on to Friday. I blew some graals on Friday that she got to watch also a very interesting after school session with Marianne where I think Eva was terrified that she was going to have to call Swedish 911 because we almost lost the piece! But it all worked out and I am so happy she came to visit. She talked to everyone and got to see a lot of different things going on. I will show those pictures after I have taken a picture of the graals :)

Now, I am off to bed... I have ONE WEEK left of school! I don't know what I am going to do... I have some more graals to blow up... but I don't really have time to fix them afterwards if I need to... It is a bit weird to figure out the timing of things. Oh well, I will manage I am sure!

"I have a microphone on one ankle and an ankle bracelet on the other, so I'm well balanced today." Martha Stewart

2011-12-04T22:55:00.000+01:00

I decided to try and channel good ole Martha and make a big thanksgiving for my friends here. I invited my classmates and a few others to come over Satruday night. I thought it might be amusing to take you through my thoughts while cooking my turkey dinner for 12 people, I have a feeling Martha didn't have these thoughts! Most of the time each sentence is a completely new thought which took place anywhere from directly after the first sentence or 20 minutes after the first sentence... be prepared (maybe you can sing that like in the Lion King... BE PREEEEEEEEPAAAAARED!!!!!!)

Monday: find recipes for dinner... "oh god, this is going to take a lot of timing, better make a schedule.... easy peasy"

Tuesday: at the grocery store: "it does not seem like I am buying enough to feed 12 people... holy shit I can't find a turkey!!!!" At a NEW grocery store "hmmmm, what is lbs to kilos again? Well, this is the biggest one, I will take it.... oh fuck, I can barely carry this!" At home: "Thank god there wasn't a bigger bird... this one barely fits in my fridge!!!"

Wednesday: "What is this gross liquid flowing out of my fridge?!?!? Oh god! Its turkey juice!!!!! What the hell... no one said you had to put it in a container to defrost!!! There is turkey juice everywhere!" Then I argued with Sam the merits of cooking the casseroles ahead of time or not... When should I boil and mash the sweet potatoes and what to do since I can't find cream of mushroom soup at the store.

Thursday: "Well shit (said mentally with a super southern accent), its a good thing I decided to boil the potatoes today... it is taking me THREE pots!!! Is this enough potatoes? This isn't so bad.... dear god, why did I get so many potatoes... these are a bitch to mash!!!"

Friday: Back at the grocery because of course I forgot a few things "This is Bridget Jones searching for the crispy onions for Wake Up Britian (said mentally with British accent).... At a NEW grocery store "well Nancy Drew, the case of the crispy onions has been solved! Reward yourself with a chocolate muffin!!!" At home: "When I snap green beans I imagine long ago generations of southern women snapping green beans in the exact same way... except they are sitting on a big wrap around porch looking out over tobacco fields... not drinking Danish beer in Sweden, small details.... Oh holy crap! None of my casseroles fit into the pans they are supposed to go in!! Hmmm, smaller pans should work right? Yes, now I will have two small pans - one for each side of the table!! .... I wonder how much of a difference it will make that I am using frozen tranberries, shit cranberries, for this sauce instead of fresh.... How much longer will this shit boil?!?! Oh, out of beer!"

Here we have the turkey, both casseroles assembled and the cranberry sauce chillin' out, relaxin' and amazingly I have room to spare... maybe because there is nothing in there except stuff for Saturday's dinner!

Saturday: THE BIG DAY!! 11 AM: "why didn't I clean yesterday? uh oh, how much beer did I drink?... Hmm it appears that the turkey is still slightly frozen, oops!"

12 Noon: "fuck its cold! why didn't I do my recycling yesterday when I had long underwear on?!?! Ok everyone, out of the fridge... you need to reach room temp, not you cranberries, you stay here and don't stress! Hows it going turkey, want a rubber ducky for your cold bath?

1 PM: "OK turkey... its you and me... I am going to rock this! ... EWWWWWW!!!! Oh god, the turkey was not so gross when it was all wrapped up! What the hell have I gotten myself into? Can I do this without having to actually touch the bird? Maybe if I just plop it into the pan it will work...

Oh nooooooooooo! There is stuff inside it.... A NECK?!!?!? (physical gagging at this point) ew, ew, ew, ew, what the fuck is this?!?! Are these giblets?? Who the hell came up with that word? They are fucking gross is what they are!!!

Now I have to wash it?!?!? Turkey bath.... singing in the tub gooble gooble.... Dear turkey, it is crucial to have clean arm pits... don't want to be smelly.... ew ew ew ew.... (Now I have stuff the turkey with a lemon, onion, thyme and a whole head of garlic) What fresh hell is this?!?! This shit will never fit in that hole.... Ok turkey, time to play just the tip.... See that wasn't so bad right?! Now we smother you in butter, salt, pepper and tie you up... this is getting kinky... Clearly I should have paid more attention in calf roping school how the hell do I get these legs to stay together?!?!"

2 PM: "Oh! thats right! I needed a meat thermometer from Sigrid and Vegard!! Crap... its raining! Thank goodness for their coffee and pizza, I can't remember what I have eaten today!"

3 PM: "Turkey... this is your moment, it is all up to you... You need to become DELICIOUS orrrrrrrrr... OR ELSE!!! Oh shit you barely fit in the oven!! Well, you definitely don't fit with that thermometer sticking out of you... fuck fuck fuck fuck... OK... got it!

(While setting the table) Why is it so hard to count to 12? Maybe I should have invited less people... it looks like a lot of chairs... oh shit oh shit... pull it together Theresa.... mmmm turkey smells good... Oh god, check the schedule... you are probably behind... Nope! I am awesome... I should have been a politician's wife, clearly I am a dinner party throwing MASTER!"

4 PM: Sadly Erica and Natalie can't come (they were supposed to bring the dessert!!!)... And Malin and her boyfriend might be kept home due to the weather... "everything is falling APART!!! Where is the wine? Ok, wine and make up... now everything is good again... I wonder what I should wear... I don't want to look sweaty... FUCK, OW! Concentrate on the mascara and you won't stab yourself in the eye dumbass!" "OK Mr Turkey... you need to be basted... I wish I had oven mitts... my ski mittens should work... hmmm you aren't putting out much juice for basting with... I will just rub you with a stick of butter... this is because your juice is all over the bottom of my fridge, fucking turkey..."

5 PM: Both ovens going: "It is hot as hades in here! How does Sam work in a kitchen all the time?!?! Changed, basted turkey again, more wine, CHECK!" Now Malin and her bf can't come due to the weather... "and then there were nine... great now I have a VERY male dominated table... Sigrid is my only girl companion... should be an interesting mix of people! Now more waiting... what am I supposed to do now? Oh, I could organize my Itunes... boooooring, more wine"

5:30: "Maybe I can light the candles now? Oh god, I need more deoderant! Maybe I should check the temp of the turkey... wow it is rising super fast... OH SHIT ITS WAY TOO COOKED!!!! crap, crap crap, this is going to be like on Christmas Vacation when the turkey cracks open and is black on the inside... what have I done?

Why is only the green bean casserole bubbling and not the sweet potatoes? Can potatoes bubble? This is Bridget Jones pondering the deeper questions of our society... can potatoes bubble?!"

5:55: "hmmmm.... no one is here yet... well, I am in Sweden, that land of the very prompt... maybe they will show up at exactly 6! Stop looking out the window... you don't want them to think you are a spaz... Oh wait, they already know you so its OK. Maybe I should start boiling the water for the stuffing"

6:09: "WHERE IS EVERONE?!?!???!?!?! I have nothing to do while I wait... I have a potentially horrible turkey resting (though I don't know why it should rest... it didn't do any work in the oven), casseroles bubbling and not bubbling, table is set, candles are lit, music is on, I brushed my hair.... hmmm maybe I can carve some on my graal blank.... WHERE IS EVERYONE?!?! Oh, I must have said 6:30 to them..."

6:15: Sigrid and Vegard arrive with their kids!! "I do have friends!"

6:30 Bjorn and Jonatan arrive with the cheese plate

6:40 Kresten and Martin arrive with the salad

7:00 "stuffing fluffed, turkey cut, marshmallows on the sweet potatoes... these guys have no idea what they are in for with these sweet potatoes! Hmmm.. I bet Odin and Sune will eat the rest of these marshmallows.... get them all sugar hyper mwahaha. Oh shit I forgot the gravy!!!!"

7:15: Everything is on the table! Success! "oh shit, I didn't taste test any of this.... NOT A SINGLE THING... I hope I don't poison them all!"

7:20 Sitting at the table, Jonatan says grace "Normally when you say grace you hope that the food is going to be good, but I have already started and I know it is good so...." And MIRACULOUSLY everything was good! It was prefect... I am not sure I could do it again if I tried :)

We all ate, talked, laughed, drank, and in general had a pretty nice night of food and good company. I told everyone that I was so happy they could all come, they mean a lot to me and have made my time here better. They have helped me grow, change and seen me figure out my life over the past year and a half and I so glad that I have gotten to know them all. Then we watched the kids dance to funny Swedish pop songs and some Micheal Jackson and had chocolate bars for dessert.

The only thing missing was my friends in the States and of course Sam... I wish he could have been here for another Swedish Thanksgiving and to witness my cooking mastery. Also, it would be nice for him to really meet these guys, the people that I have stayed consistently friends with the whole time I have been here. As we were sitting around the table I had the thought that one day I will be doing this again and maybe it will be my kids running around the table... one day, a long way away from now but one day I think. (Does this mean my biological clock is starting?? eep!)

Anyway, so this Thanksgiving I am once again thankful for all the support from my friends and family back home, especially Sam. I am thankful for my wonderful friends here, how much I have learned at school and having the opportunity to come to Orrefors. And, I am thankful that I am a grown up... and soon I will be living with Sam again and starting a life that I think will be very rewarding and fulfilling.

“Man - despite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication, and his many accomplishments - owes his existence to a six inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.”

2011-12-03T13:22:00.000+01:00

So, I was google-ing quotes as usual to find a title for this blog... I was google-ing "layers" and came across this gem... it is not related, but it has LAYERS in it and is of course hilarious!

“First you must find... another shrubbery! (dramatic chord) Then, when you have found the shrubbery, you must place it here, beside this shrubbery, only slightly higher so you get a two layer effect with a little path running down the middle. ("A path! A path!") Then, you must cut down the mightiest tree in the forrest... with... a herring!”

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

How can I not share that with you?! Anyway, I have been doing a lot of layering in terms of glass...

Here is a nice blue plate I made at the beginning of the year and I decided finally to sandblast a peacock on it!

^the taped version, and below is the sandblasted version.

I am going to polish the bottom some so you won't see the punty mark but I really like it :)

I also decorated this piece to do as an ariel. I have engraved different constilations in it and hope you trap a nice air bubble where each star is and then leave a faint line connecting the stars. I have lots of different ones, Orion, the big dipper, Cancer, Aries, Draco... but no Cassiopeia which I regret... it is so fun to say :)

I also did another graal with the penrose stair case on it, well two of them interlapping.

I forgot to take a picture of the sandblasted one, but here is the lay out. I am going to blow it into a straight sided cylinder so you can really see all the lines hopefully.

At the barn Poseidon is sick :( I am not sure with what but I don't think I am supposed to even pet him... So, on Wednesday I rode good ole Vaaaagner! I had forgotten what it was like to jump a horse A horse that doesn't over jump everything! It was really nice to remember.

I have also been working on making the Ravenna plates for this design:

It had caused a lot of discussions between all the teachers, how to pull it off, different techniques to use and etc. The tricky part is that I want the bubbles which will be like reflections on top of the water to go over the fish, not cut into their colors and I want the bubbles to go out into the clear glass. So, the technique we seemed to have settled on is that I will make two plates, one in colors, one in clear and pick them up on top of each other and then blow them into a plate... hopefully it will work!

Here is a plate with the colors that I will cut the fish design in to.

It is white on top, orange in the middle and blue on the bottom.

Oh god, I have weird looking fingers! They look like they belong to a 100 year old japanese sock maker or something!

Annnnnnnyway, here I am blowing up the clear plate that will have the bubbles cut into it and will go on top of the colored plate. It has to be pretty thick so I can cut the places for the bubbles pretty deep.

Thanks to Vegard for the pictures... this is what happens when I leave my camera out on the assistant bench.

When I have my own place I will make the bench smaller so I don't look so funny sitting in it I think...

On Thursday I attempted to blow up a big graal with purple inside and white on the outside. I messed it all up and had to get Ake to come save it! He worked on it for 30 minutes at least and managed to save it thankfully! I had let the white get too cold before I pushed it all the way over the color and then I ended up with a big blob that had a sort of giant, really hot skirt on it... not so good, at all.

BUT!!! On Friday I managed to do it all by myself!!! It was exhausting, and really hard but I managed to get a giant ostrich egg graal with white on the outside and purple inside! It is wonderful!

I am going to put a MC Escher scene on it with the stairs going every direction... hopefully!

After school I stayed and helped Marianne who was making a gift for someone. She asked if I could be her assistant and I said yes... then sort of regretted it because I thought maybe it would be really stressful... often being her assistant is kind of scary... I always make the punty wrong, bring a weird bit or do something wrong. But it went really well. She was in a good mood and the piece turned out really well. It was a bit exhausting being at school for about 8 hours but I guess it was good practice for one day working by myself!

After school I went to the barn and jumped Sheridan! He is so cute and tries so hard to do the right thing. How can you not fall for that face?!

The lesson went really well. I didn't have to hold his face so much and could just let him gallop along and jump which was really nice. Pia said she thought he liked the way I rode... I think it was because he knew I had a carrot in my pocket ;) but it was a really nice ride all the same!

Now I am putting together my first, all alone, dinner party! I am having a bunch of classmates over for a Thanksgiving dinner at my house. I am making turkey, sweet potato casserole (with marshmallows), green bean casserole, stuffing (stove top), gravy, cranberry dressing (from scratch) and some people are bringing some other stuff. I think it will be 11 or 12 of us all together! I will take lots of pictures don't worry :) I but I should go clean that turkey!

"The only normal people are the one's you don't know very well." ~ Alfred Adler

2011-11-30T15:52:00.000+01:00

Well, all is normal here in Orrefors. Last week we continued working on the two colors... I made a plate with a folded in lip. It took me all week and I finally got one slightly crooked one... Not my best week.

I also spent a lot of the week working on these graal and ariel blanks which always takes forever. I don't know why I never give it enough time to decorate them...

I also found the upstairs of my house! I went up there to see if it was large enough to host a small dinner for my friends and I found a FOOZEBALL TABLE (table soccer)!! It was a little bit broken but we got it working and had a nice quit evening of playing foozeball on Friday night with Jonatan, Bjorn, Rune, Philip, Frieda and Tanja. It was nice to hangout and not be at a party, just very chill.

Saturday was the open house at school. We sold some glass for the Venice trip to the visitors. There were a lot of parents from the highschool students, they were doing parent/teacher meetings also. Malin and I sat with the table in the front hall:

We also sold fika, or coffee/sandwiches to the visitors.

Natalie and Sofie sold saffron buns, cheese sandwhiches, ham, cookies, coffee, saft and glugg! It was great for us because most of us hadn't eaten before we came to school and we got it free.

Here is the school's Christmas tree... you would think it would be more decorated since we are a glass school but it just has little glass candy canes on it. But! It is the first tree of my season :)

This weekend there was incredible winds here... lots of trees fell which is not so normal for around here. It was amazing the length of the storm also. So, naturally I spent the day inside hiding from the cold and wind and rains. I emailed glassblowers in Austin, worked on more graals and planned how I am going to cook a sort of Thanksgiving dinner for my friends this coming weekend!

This week has been more of the same... I will post some pictures tomorrow of how it is going :)

“Coexistence... what the farmer does with the turkey - until Thanksgiving.” ~ Mike Connolly quotes

2011-11-25T00:31:00.000+01:00

Dear god, am I full! We just had a little Swedish Thanksgiving celebration. Once again, two Americans and bunch of people who have only see turkey in the movies... what is wrong with this part of the world? Why do they not eat turkey?!?! I mean, of course, they don't have Thanksgivings... they didn't have pilgrims and Indians... but they still have turkeys right? Or do they just grow (live?) in America?

So, here is our Thanksgiving Turkey Feast!

Chef Rune carving the bird:

(there was a lot of debate if it was a turkey or chicken or some hybrid... or a very small turkey... it tasted good no matter what!)

And now the spread!

We also had gravy and a curry sauce for the potato strips I think.

Home made bread! And some potato salad, fruit salad, roasted veggies, and, I think thats it!

So, we have Phillip at the head of the table furthest away... Linnea to this right, me, Tanja, Rune, Jonatan, Bjorn, Signe and Frieda is taking the picture. A very mixed group of Scandinavians!

For dessert we had Toscatårta (kind of like coffee cake) and chocolate balls (though here they are called something very racially incorrect), both of which were also home made!

So, you can see why I am super full. I think I had two plates! Then we all went around the table and did a very traditional "I am thankful for...." thing. It was sweet, we all had the similar thing of being thankful for supportive family back home and for the new friends we have made here and how close we all are.

Then! I had a nice, surprise, video chat with the whole Addison/Massie clan in VA! Meaning Sam's family, this aunts and uncles and grandfather and some other relations. It was really sweet and nice to see everyone. They all came down in the basement to talk to me on the computer even though dinner was finally ready. It was nice to see everyone and know they are all doing well. Mr. Massie (Sam's grandfather) said, maybe 5 times, "Hurry home!" and it made me laugh.

This week at school (since this is Sweden, we have had normal school) we are doing two colors together in a piece. Oh, this is a random picture of the sun setting over the factory on one random day when we actually had sun!

But, here is Marianne telling Kreste and Martin how to do the color technique... which diagrams on the floor.

I have struggled all week with this... I can do the color part (I tried it last year) but I want to make a plate with a folded in lip around the edge so you can see both colors at once. This is the closest I have come all week... a shard of a broken one.

Ok, that is a lie, it went better today... but still not going well. It is so hard to fold in the lip on such a big piece... it is amazingly hot and I feel like I am folding the plate nearly in half! But I am looking forward to seeing what I made today.

This week I also dyed my hair! I decided to go a little blonder... when in Rome... I mean Sweden... might as well be blond! haha and my roots were really starting to show a lot:

So, now I am much blonder! I really like it. It worked well with the high lights from before it didn't get too one color. There are some different shades of blond in there and it feels super nice and soft.

Today was my first day at school with it and NO ONE SAID ANYTHING! Sure, it was in a pony tail but still! But at the dinner tonight Signe noticed that it was different but she thought it was shorter at first. Oh well... I guess then at least I know it doesn't look so bad that people notice... OR maybe it looks so bad that people don't want to say anything because it would be awkward! eep!

Ok, I have to go to bed... early day of school tomorrow! Hopefully I won't slip into a deadly turkey coma... I might die with bad hair... well... it is official.... I am going to have night mares of being at my own funeral... where they say I died of a turkey over dose... and people were like "she would have been so pretty if not for her weird hair.... bless her heart!"

"You can't have a light without a dark to stick it in." ~Arlo Guthrie

2011-11-23T22:20:00.000+01:00

So, this past weekend I went to Kosta to help sell glass at the Julmarknad (Christmas Market) for the Venice trip. The whole place was super decorated for Christmas... which you might expect since it is a Christmas Market... It is a bit weird to be in a country that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving first... There is nothing getting in the way of Christmas starting as early as you want it to. I keep forgetting that Thanksgiving is, well, tomorrow... I just keep thinking that soon December is going to start!

AND! I will be flying home December 20th to North Carolina for Christmas with my family and Sam!!!

So, the Kosta Boda Art Hotel was decorated in the lobby area where we picked up our keys to our little hut.

A really nicely decorated table in the midst of some trees with ornaments...

And one of the coolest wreaths ever! Those are schnapps glasses with Christmas-y decorations painted on them hanging from the wreath!

There were maybe 15 huts outside the big glass shop selling all sorts of things. Anything from Christmas decorations, candy, sausages, mustard... glass... all sorts of holiday thing.s

This was our little hut. We where we froze for about 10 hours on Saturday... Luckily I brought Toe Warmers for me, Natalie and Erika!

There were some little kids singing Christmas songs... and being adorable!

The lights in all the trees were so pretty! There were lights in nearly all the trees, on all the buildings and just EVERYWHERE! We got to enjoy them for a long time because it gets completely dark here around 3:30 now... which is a bit sad.

Erika got some candied almonds which I had never had and they are REALLY GOOD! We got them warm and the red ones are flavored with extra cinnamon or something Christmas-y they said.

And they had the spiral candy! I remember this candy from when I was kid! We used to go watch them make it in big places not far from the glass factories.

This week everyone is back from their praktik studies and school is back to normal. We are doing this technique with two colors, one on the inside and one on the outside of the vessel. I have done it some before but hopefully will be able to get better at it. Also, I have dyed my hair!

"Time for the weather report. It's cold out folks. Bonecrushing cold. The kind of cold which will wrench the spirit out of a young man, or forge it into steel." ~ Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider

2011-11-20T12:23:00.000+01:00

Alright, I promised to do better BUT, but... I ran out of storage on google and had to pay for more... a whooping 5$ but still, I procrastinated and took forever to pay the five dollars... BUT now I have!

Taaaa-daaa!

So, this week I made my first official sale! I made, and sent two of each of these glasses to my very good friend in New York City! My stuff is so cool its even seen in the best cities! haha ;)

I packed them with the complete care and as much foam as I could find. I have high expectations of this package. I believe it can make the trans-atlantic journey and will arrive without a hint of harm!

She should probably wash them before she uses them because thinking now, I have no idea what that foam was used for originally! haha! But yay first sale!! :-D I am the real deal now... making money at my art!

This week I also made some graal blanks to decorate and blow up later! I made two with red on the outside

two with blue on the outside and one with light blue inside and pink outside. I have plans for them all, but it might take a little while to get them there... engraving is such slow work :P

I also made some funny flowers... I like them, but the started as an accident...

They have this kind of bulb/stem thingy where I put some orange glass so look like the pollen pieces in the flower.

And I also made some kind of ugly ones with colored centers and clear petals...

On Wednesday I jumped little Sheridan...

He was rocking this kind of Elvis hair-do... And I was really stuck like that, I had to brush and brush to get it down haha!

I know the picture is a bit blurred but I was trying to show how small he is. This is me on him with my stirrups up shorter then I would normally ride with... my legs still go past his big, fat belly!

But, he jumps like a little pro! We galloped up to the jumps and he pulled his knees tight up against his chest and flew over the jump with his crazy long mane flying every direction! I braided his fore-lock so he could see the jumps at least... I don't think he enjoyed the braid though.

I have had a good weekend, riding and movie Friday, selling glass at the Kosta Christmas Market all day Saturday and a relaxing Sunday... I will show you the pictures later :)

"No man needs a vacation so much as the person who has just had one." ~Elbert Hubbard

2011-11-15T21:24:00.000+01:00

Sorry about the delay with Papa's pictures from our last few days... I did, literally, need a few days to recover! I was so tired I slept TONS and did very little else except go to another Halloween party (which is weird since they don't really celebrate that here).

So, on Tuesday and Wednesday we did some hot glass sculpting. I wanted Papa to see how different it is. The glass is super hot, stone hard, slippery and heavy... I know that sounds like normal but it is a very different feel. I made some more horses and Papa made some heads.

This guy had some crooked ears and I think we put a sort of Rambo head band on him.

Then I tried to do a horse laying down... which was harder then I imagined because it looked a lot like a turkey during the process.

After school on Wednesday we went back to Boda, The Glass Factory to see their museum since it was closed on Monday.

And walked around their exhibition.

I love these glasses!

And saw some really interesting pieces. This piece is different sort of chambers somehow put together to make a vase. I have no idea how!

Thursday we spent in the cold shop working on our sculptures and finishing up pieces for Papa to take back to the states with him.

His two faces:

A cow skull which he engraved a snake crawling around on.

This may have been the reason why one Danish girl asked me "Theresa, is your father a cowwwwboy?!" Then I heard Papa giggling in the corner and when I asked if he heard that he sings out "I wanna be a cowboy baby!" and I just looked at the poor Danish girl and she goes "well, he looks like a cowwwboy!"

The laying down pony!

Two standing ponies.

I finally finished this facet bowl. I made one similar last year but this one has even more facets (sides cut into it) I think...

70 beautiful, shiny blue facets :) They aren't perfect but I like it all the same... I will never be a perfectionist.

And for Papa's last Swedish dinner we went to Ikea for meatballs and potatoes. We decided he needed some Swedish food while here besides chocolate, pastries, beer, liverpastje and pickled herring (because we ate those nearly every day).

Papa left on Friday morning and I assume he made it home OK because I haven't heard otherwise. I figure I would have found out at least through Facebook if he didn't make it home on time! I had a great time with him and I think he had fun too. I know he wants to come back, so maybe one day he and Mama can come! All my teachers enjoyed getting to know him and thought he was really nice. One Norwegian girl told me should could really tell he he was enjoying himself here just from watching us work. My apartment was super quite without him, and I am going through bread much more slowly.

Well, I will show you some pictures of what I have been up to in the past couple of days tomorrow! I imagine you have enough pictures for one day :) Hopefully I will get back to regular updates again!

"The average tourist wants to go to places where there are no tourists." ~ Sam Ewing

2011-11-07T22:18:00.000+01:00

Papa and I have been super busy the last several days seeing lots of things and visiting lots of places!

On Thursday we got an extensive tour of the Orrefors factory! It was great we went EVERYWHERE imaginable with Micke. Here is one of the many mold rooms:

There were just MILLIONS of old molds laying around! Then we went into the prototype room where they have examples of everything they have made or tried to make with drawings!

Then we went to where they make the pots that the glass is melted in inside the furnace.

They are made by hand still and then slowly dried in this room for a long time.

And then put in the warm attic for like 10 months before they can be used. Then they are brought up to heat over the course of 5 days in the factory before they are put in the furnace and filled with glass to melt.

Then we went to the packing and storage room which was INSANELY HUGE! Those are bins of glasses in all colors stacked super, super high.

We went to where the mold maker works and keeps records of everything ever made in Orrefors since the beginning. We also went into where the designers make little models or prototypes of products in clay or plastic. It was really interesting and a little depressing that it is all becoming so few workers and why aren't the files properly stored somewhere safe or in a museum?!

Then Micke helped me blow the ravenna plates that Papa and I cut the designs into earlier.

And Papa watched and took some pictures. I had to make a big clear bubble then stick it on the colored plate and here I am smoothing down the edges trying to not get bubbles.

And I made two plates! They are pretty cool. Micke made a bowl with the plate Papa decorated. I haven't taken any pictures of the final products but they are good and I will show you soon!

Friday I worked with Sigrid in the morning and the cold shop in the afternoon. Papa worked all day in the cold shop trying to fix up the pieces we did sand casting on Wednesday. Did I show you pictures of those?

Oh, well here they are!

We shouldn't have let the glass come out of the edges of the shape we made in the sand. Now we are spending forever trying to clean them up in the cold shop.

Thats my alien foot! Ok, its really my foot but it looks alien-like...

Then we went and had more pastries at the best pastry place in town I recently found out about. Well, first went to Pukeberg to see their museum and shop since it is just in Nybro.

Then the barn and home to rest. We were both tired after our long week!

Saturday we went to Kosta, which was all decorated for Christmas already, but I forgot my camera sadly. We walked around the shop, the factory, the outlet store (where I found lots of books!!) and the Art Hotel.

Sunday we went to Målerås which is really different from all the other glass places here I think. They had some new cool glasses:

Some pressed glass plates:

I really wish this peacock didn't have the weird boobs, or balls, or whatever they are at the bottom of the plate...

And some really nice graal pieces:

And some truly amazing engraving! I love this bowl, it has very detailed hand engraved details on both sides of the glass which gives it tons of dimension and sparkle.

Some cool combos if glass and iron. This guy was HUGE, probably 3-4 feet from top to bottom.

And a funny bottle for your schnapps!

This was in the design room which features glass from many different artists.

More iron and glass from Mats Jonasson... a fat owl or a turkey?

Today I thought we would more likely see people working in their respective factories and shop then over the weekend so we took off of school and drove all over the Glass Kingdom. Turns out I had exceptionally bad timing everywhere we went! We started at Kosta where they were just starting a 30 minute break... so I went and bought some socks then went back and saw a little bit of blowing but mostly they just stood around trying to fix something. Then we went to Transjöhytta but they were at lunch. We got to look around the gallery and talk to one of the assistants but that was all.

Then we went to Åfors where we got to see them making some sinks like in the hotel designed by Bertil Vallien.

They have four guys gathering glass in big spoons then pouring it into a mold.

Then to get the bubble out of the deep glass they keep the glass molten above the bubble with flames so the bubble can rise up. The one on the right is upside down and cooling just a little more before they put it in the anneahler and the one of the left is pretty freshly finished being poured so still SUPER hot!

After that we went to Micke Johansson's place and HOORAY he was actually working! We watched him make one vase then it was time for his coffee break, of course! Worst timing... OK, he could have not been there but still!

Then we went to Boda where they have this awesome museum and some cool stuff. It is going to be closed on Mondays in November... I got a magazine about it and we might try to go back one day after school to see the museum before Papa goes home. But sheesh! Closed on Mondays?!?!

Oh well, back to school like normal tomorrow. We are going to try some sculpture making which should be fun and hopefully successful! I have to remember to bring my gloves... I should go write a note.

"Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days." ~ Benjamin Franklin

2011-11-02T23:24:00.000+01:00

No, Papa doesn't smell, but he has been at school now for three whole days!

Here is a recap...

MONDAY:

Free blowing in the morning... trying to get Papa's fingers to remember how to do all this stuff.

He made two small bowls which he thought were very ugly. We also played with some optic molds and I took him around the factory showing him things.

In the afternoon we went to the cold show where we engraved on some plates I am going to blow using the Ravenna technique. It is a small plate with color, you engrave/sandblast a design into, reheat it and then blow it into a bigger plate. I will explain more later.

It took forever because the sand blaster was broken :(

Monday was also Halloween! There was a party at the student house and I went as Black Swan!

Papa did my make up for me then went to bed.

Here is Freda the zombie (she was the only person to recognize my character!) looking very dead.

Super scary Erika as a vampire and Bjorn as a dead solider.

And the classic ghost in a sheet... she was just missing Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin!

And Phillip was Jesus with the dead solder...

TUESDAY!

We blew in molds in the morning and Papa learned to marver like a Swede... counter clockwise and etc.

And blew some cups and some triangle dishes.

He got two in the anneahler but neither of them are keepable I think because they are so thin. I said he could have some of mine to engrave and cut on in the cold shop if he wants.

He got really good though, he got to the point where he could do all the steps without using the glory hole or anything. He asked how long the students here spend on this and I said forever but, we don't get to use such big pipes like I gave him and we aren't allowed a glory hole to cheat and reheat things... we just have to start over and over again!

I think he was pleased I gave him some easier tricks to help speed up the learning process!

We finished engraving our Ravenna plates... I did one with a dandelion on it,

And this one which turned out a bit weird....

I didn't get the color very even...it is SUPER thick in the middle... so we will see how it turns out in the end.

I didn't get a picture of it but Papa did one with orange poppies on top of a blue background.

That evening we sifted sand to do some sand casting. We got this giant bag full of holes with some sand in it from school and had so sift out all the lumps.

It only took about 30 minutes and we were done!

WEDNESDAY!

We did sand casting all day at school. We brought the sand (which is mixed some with some clay very fine) and mixed it with some water and dumped it in this big metal container. Then we mashed stuff into it to make a shape to pour the glass into and sprayed it with graphite spray so the glass doesn't stick too much to the sand. Here is my face (literally mashed my face into the sand while everyone around me laughed hysterically) and Papa formed a face with his hands (so boring).

And here is us doing another set, I made a little man with colors and Papa did a woman's torso in green.

I gather glass with a giant scoop and bring it over....

And pour and pour and finally Papa cuts the string off and I go and get more.

Here is the second scoop for his torso.

And the scoop is SUPER heavy!

And then they sit and smoke a bunch and we wait for them to cool enough to hold their shape when we pop them out of the sand!

Then we tired some with chunks of color in them instead of powder.

Papa did a self portrait.

This one bubbled some due to the steam in the sand.

Then I did my foot in the sand... which was nice and slightly warm by then :)

And Papa did a glass of beer in powder color and some baking soda to give it actual bubbles in the glass.

We did casting all day! I even had to use the HUGE scoop a few times to bring over enough glass! Åke said that Bertil Vallien is going to be doing some of his big sand casting things at Åfors before Christmas so hopefully I will be able to see how it is really done soon :) I was exhausted and ready to go home at the end of the day! We have big plans for tomorrow though!

After school I had a riding lesson and Papa said he would come and watch me jump. I got to ride Poseidon who was his charming self and seemed to like Papa.

My teacher said we are going to practice on balance today and we should go over some poles on the ground without stirrups and then jump after that. But we only had to jump without stirrups if we wanted to, she said she didn't want to kill the older ladies. I figured I would see how it goes, Poseidon tends to exaggerate jumping and that might be hard to stay on without stirrups... So I go and jump a tiny cross rail and it went well so Pia put the jump up and Poseidon jumped it like a deer. I looked down while going over the jump to find something to grab onto and saw about a foot of space between my ass and the saddle... my knees were over the top of the saddle! So, Pia goes "do it again but this time with your stirrups please!" haha! I was the only one willing to try with out stirrups and then she makes me take them back anyway!

Tomorrow we will do blowing almost all day I think. Micke is going to help me do the Ravenna plates which should be a lot of fun!

"No, Watson, this was not done by accident, but by design." ~ Sherlock Holmes

2011-10-30T22:43:00.000+01:00

The last few days have been the days of the designers... They are EVERYWHERE!

Almost all of the designers for Kosta Boda/Orrefors came to the factory on Thursday for a sort of workshop to see what could be made in Orrefors. What the machines do, how the factory is set up and etc. The cool thing was that all of the designers (many of which are trained glass blowers) were wandering around the factory along with Team 12 (the group of blowers from Kosta who work on the art glass stuff) and the Orrefors masters! Lots of people and lots of activity :)

Designers talking to the Orrefors masters:

Kosta masters and Goran Warff:

Designers looking at the centrifuged glass.

and a big ole mix of Orrefors and Kosta!

This is Göran Wärff who is one of my designer favorites.

And my other favorite is Ingegerd Råmen... and she signed MY BOOK!!!

Vegard and I talked to her for a minute and said how much we like her work and she seemed genuinely pleased to hear it. She liked that her work could be enjoyed across the generations, which is what is so nice about her sort of timeless pieces!

Papa arrived on Friday!!! Very exciting! We walked around, ate pastries... and he went to bed early. Saturday we wandered around Orrefors, looked at the factory, the town, the hotel and finally went to the Krystall Shop! While there they had crystal on sale for 50 (yes, FIFTY) percent off!!! So, I got this huge vase and had it shipped to America... I also got some books! One on Orrefors, even in English, because I need more books...

On Sunday we went to Kalmar to visit the castle and see the city. The last of the leaves are changing here and dropping fast in golden piles all over the place... so pretty and surreal.

It was the first time I have actually been INSIDE the castle! There was some beautiful paintings and really amazing wood inlay:

How could they do this in 1500-something?

Every wooden surface in some of the rooms were covered in inlay... so amazing!

And here is the table all set for dinner.

Papa goes "do you think if I sit in that chair and you take a picture we will get in trouble?" where the place setting clearly says King somebody or other. Haha.

More inlay, weird relief paintings and the King's hidden, personal toilet were in this room.

The chapel with a painted ceiling.

With some very fancy chandeliers:

Also, funnily enough, the mistress's chamber was a tiny, hidden room just off the main reception area for the king... such a cliche and funny at the same time!

It was a nice day to be inside the castle... it was so foggy you can't even see Kalmar behind the castle!

Here is looking across the moat back at the graveyard and the street.

In the graveyard the leaves hadn't been disturbed and it looked really amazing.

Then we went to Öland to the VIDA museum.

It has works from Ulrica Hydman Vallien who does everything from fabric to ceramics to glass design.

And some super modern paintings, I don't know who they are by but they are huge! That is Papa standing in the background.

I have mixed feelings on the super modern paintings... they are just blocks of colors and dots or lines, but they are also kind of cool... but I am not going to have one in my house...

And the most exciting of it all was the Bertil Vallien exhibit!

He is famous for doing sand casting with glass which inspired us to try it this week too!

Really amazing things and a cool display of his full range of stuff from beginning glass design to the current things he is doing like the boats or these faces.

So, in general the past few days are full of being surrounded by designers, looking at their stuff and reading tons of books and talking glass with Papa none stop! I have full plans to completely overload him with glass and by the time he goes home he is ready for a relief from all the glass! I think it will take some work...

Tomorrow is our first day of school! Wish us luck :)

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana." - Groucho Marx

2011-10-28T00:38:00.000+02:00

So, my life has been dominated mainly by wineglasses... sadly not enough of them are full of wine haha. We have been making them for two weeks now! They are getting better, but our expectations are getting higher which is not helping the amount being produced.

I have no idea what day these are from but here are some glasses from the end of last week I think:

I never seem to make two the same size!

And, they are all differently shaped... Vegard's are all almost the same! I don't know how he does it but I am jealous because his don't look like this!

Here is a close up of my first goblet! It stands... and is HUGE! I make a fist around the stem part! It is a free blown glass, avolio, blown stem, avolio and then a blown stem.

This is Ake's... MUCH better!

Saturday I ended up going to the glass museum in Växjö. There we met Astrid Gate (Simon Gate's, the inventor of graal, great great grandaughter) and saw some of here cool graals.

It is three layers of graal, worked over and over again finally blown up by Micke Johansson. She also did the engraving on this guy:

Also, there was this station where you made a sculpture from pieces of old glass...

And then this lovely woman told a story inspired by the sculpture! She was a professional story teller and told the sweetest, funniest stories ever!

This is Mad's called The Power of Woman

This is Björn's called Indiska (Indian) Beach Burden.

And mine called Stratosphere... there is goat and a gold fish on it at the bottom. I will take more pictures when we get them back from the museum. They are going to keep them for a while on display.

There was also an exhibition of Functional Glass on display. It was really neat (I got a book about it) and I remember some of the pieces from seeing my Grandmother here in Sweden having them.

Also, and what we thought would be the most exciting was the talk to be made by Ludvig Löfgren who makes all the skulls and crazy stuff like that at Kosta.

He gave a talk, which I couldn't understand at all (but was apparently pretty boring) about what inspires him and some of his works.

Then he showed a ton of pictures of making this car! It is a custom built car with a bunch of glass in it. Pretty cool, but tiny I think. There is glass in the grill, steering wheel, gas petal, gear shift, gas tank and part of the engine! Pretty cool, I want to see the car in real life! Anyway, the video is not boring so you should watch it!

Then this week at school has been more wine glasses!

And another really bad goblet, but I am getting better at remembering all the steps and messing up less of them each time... so that is progress, sort of.

It has been a rough week, the strain of a long distance relationship has been felt by both Sam and I. Don't worry, we are OK and going strong still, just a bump along the way. It is typical that we should struggle when the end of the long distance is so near! But, the theory that blowing glass sucks when your love life sucks held true this week. But, today, Thursday all is well again and glass went great!

But, I made these on Monday with Vegard. I am making him make flowers! Mwhahaha... he hates things like glass flowers, or fruit or pointless things. So, now he has to make flowers for my wine glasses! Maybe I will make some that have an apple as the stem next! hahahaha.

They are not great, but they are flowers, so I think they have some potential.

I think I could do some different spin offs with green stems like stalks and leaves... we will see!

And here are some wineglasses on parade! I had to clean out the trolleys that bring the glass down from the factory to the school of the things I want to keep... so here is a small pile of glasses.

Also, a random bit of information... In the house I live in you can rent a room for the night or weekend. This weekend the house was rented by tons of people with dogs. I assumed they were sheep herding dogs, there is a competition here sometimes, but NO! They were sled pulling dogs! The Swedish Championship was being held somewhere near by! And my neighbors were the 3rd fastest dogs in ALL of Sweden! They were adorable "polar dogs" who normally race in the snow... also known as Siberian Huskies (but these were smaller then the ones I am used to). AND, yes AND... One of them was related to the famous Balto! Kind of cool!

Also, this nice article was recently in the Washington Times with some really nice photos of The Glass Kingdom and a nice article about how spectacular it is here in general... you should check it out!

“A meal without wine is like a day without sunshine, except that on a day without sunshine you can still get drunk.” ~ Lee Entrekin quotes

2011-10-21T00:25:00.000+02:00

Wine glasses.... are a girl's best friend... oh wait, I think that is daimonds...

I believe they may be equally as hard to create... sure, one takes millions of years, tons of pressure and heat and the other takes your whole life, lost of pressure on yourself and honestly a lot of heat... Pretty similar I would say!

Here are my glasses from Monday:

And Tuesday:

Yes, both days I only managed to make two that are worth while... I SAID THEY WERE DIFFICULT!

Here is me making some today... Thank Vegard for the photos... I think he was bored.

First you blow the bubble as above.

Then cut in a neck (which will later be the top of the cup).

Then your assistant gives you a stem bit and you pull it into the fancy shape you want... here it is straight, which may seem simple but it is tricky... "very ticksy my precious" haha!

Then you put on a foot, punty it and open up the other end!

This is one I nearly finished but dropped on the ground instead. It was standing on it's foot but that exploded and it stayed standing! Like magic!! I was very upset when Vegard accidentally knocked it over later and he told me that maybe it isn't very healthy to be upset about breaking an already broken glass... but it was standing by MAGIC!!!

After lunch I tried to make these gems! That is a cup (blown Italian style which I am not going to explain), a knob, a blown stem (hollow), another knob, then a blown stem! Easy-peasy!

Here is the teacher applying the blown stem... nice and straight!

And here he is opening the glass up in the final steps!

Here is my first attempt! Looks pretty good huh!? That is because it is moving and you can't see how crooked it is! But, BUT!!! I made one on my first try!!!

And here is attempt number two... I have blown the cup, put on the stem and am shaping the foot...

Looks good so far right?

Then it cracked! Oh well, such is life... But it was a ton of fun to do something different and hard but still a wineglass! I think Vegard and I were both refreshed by a new challenge and new techniques to get thin and nice glasses. I look forward to seeing our glasses tomorrow and blowing some more!

"I shall not die of a cold. I shall die of having lived." ~ Willa Cather

2011-10-19T16:42:00.000+02:00

"Helllloooooo everyboooody!" said in that weird Doctor's voice on The Simpsons.

I have been watching a lot of tv recently, what can I say? Anyway, sorry for the delay, but I have honestly been sick for over a week now. You haven't missed much, I have been sleeping a lot, going to school a little and have lost my voice somewhere in between. Turns out I have a virus, I went to the Dr. yesterday because I wasn't getting any better and am tired of being sick. I have an effing virus and will be stuck with it for another week. ANOTHER WEEK! This is horrible! But, I got some cough medicine so now I can sleep without waking up every hour to cough uncontrollably. The Dr also suggested drinking whiskey... so did Stig-Allan... Maybe I will try that this weekend.

So, last week I did make it to the cold shop for a while and did some flower cutting!

I did a series of wind blown trees:

With their leaves fluttering around the vase!

And a fall fox! (animals are really hard!)

I experimented with different textures and ways of cutting the tree.

I think I like this one the best... but I am not sure.

And it has a cute umbrella being blown away!

I think I might make one more, mostly like the one on the far right... not sure though.

I also talked to Tove about making a 4 Seasons series with a winter, spring, summer and fall tree. I might do it if I have time but I am not sure... we will see.

Friday evening Rosanne came into to town!!! She spent the weekend with me and we had a blast! Friday night Bosse and Heidy came over and we all went to a Super Hero Party! I pained Bosse's eyes like this:

And we girls were really cute! Heidy is Super Ham (her last name is the brand of ham here), Rosanne is The Devil in Disguise and I am Miss Mystery. It was really fun to get ready with girls and have a girly night, plus Bosse, but I gave him a good glass book I had he was entertained while we did make up and etc.

Saturday we went to Malin's with Bjorn and Martin to go to a concert near her house. This is her ADORABLE house!

She made us a big meal with potatoes cooked in cream and cheese....

(this is the table obviously)

And tasty beer!

and MOOSE MEAT!!!!

and "CROWN DEER" which I am not entirely sure what that is in English, it translates to Red Deer whatever that is... we decided maybe it was like elk, not as big as a reindeer or as small as a normal deer... I don't know but it was SUPER GOOD!!!

And we had a blast!!!

We went and saw Björn Rosenström at this concert hall in the woods. He is really famous in Sweden and sings songs with really hilarious lyrics. I could understand some of them and my friends translated some of them for me too! We danced and danced and drank and then got to meet him!!

Sorry the photos is sideways but that is his signature. It says "to Simon" and his name and Rosanne was a very happy girl! (Simon is her boyfriend in Oslo) Apparently Björn Rosenström used to be a lawyer or went to law school in Göteborg and now travels around singing and being in general pretty awesome.

Sadly the by the end of the weekend I was speaking in a whisper and pretty hungover. Go figure.

This week we are doing wine glasses at school and I have been struggling with feet! I think you have plenty of pictures so I will save the ones from this week for tomorrow. Now I am going to go drink some more cough medicine which is flavored like salty licorice... only in Sweden!

"Whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to go shopping." ~ Bo Derek

2011-10-11T22:19:00.000+02:00

So, here is the plate that I had some pictures of me making on Friday! I am pleased with it, and I really like the colors!

I will grind away the tiny foot at the bottom, it is left over from the punty. It is a little heavy but it is big so I guess that is OK in the long run.

Monday I worked with Martin doing more encalmo. He has a memory problem so we kept having to write the steps on the floor. Needless to say the floor was covered in English, Danish and weird scribbled drawings. But, I thought this was actually a good and descriptive drawing of what we are doing when we assemble more then two colors!

I am not really going to try to explain it to you, sorry, but it would take a long time. So, with Martin I made this bowl.. which is magically made with the SAME color of blue! Damn it!

I tried to make another one, and I think Martin did too but it was too hard with the lack of memory and having new partners.

This one, the only one of the day, was dropped on the floor, re-puntied, cut crooked twice, and then at the last minute had a clear layer added to it... but, it did end up a bowl... more or less.

The other attempts didn't even make it to annealer... they went straight to the trash!

Today, Tuesday we went to Essemce (pronounced S-M-Z) the glass supply store!

In a cute little building with a storage building next to it.

They had everything! Here are just a few examples of their cutting edge tools!

OK, this was just sitting in a corner but it is an old engraving tool Vegard says... I don't know how it works but who doesn't love old tools?

These are some in another corner. The two on either end are used to hold a cup from the inside after it has been opened. The one, second from the right, is for making bottle necks, and the others are shears.

And here are the fancy, new ones! These are all Carla Donna tools from Italy... shiny and nice.

These are some random jacks that look like they were made for Darth Vader... black and inspired by his helmet I think.

These are the super new ones, they didn't even have them in the store and they are super expensive, but super pretty!

They also had loads of colors!

All labeled and organized... so pretty. I had expected more but still pretty fun!

They come in bars of solid color like above or powder color like below!

They also had all sorts of things you could need... like gathering balls in tiny...

AND HUGE!

Pipes in all sizes... tiny and HUGE again!

They had foot tools, protection sleeves and gloves, engraving tools, cutting wheels, pipe turners, grinding papers and more that I can't even think of! It was amazing and a bit intimidating haha.

Afterwards I worked some with Sigrid blowing in some molds. Then went to evening class where I think I am giving up on the bamboo plate, I am not sure, I will have to look at it again tomorrow. Then a super hard spin class! And finally home, sweet home.

ANDDDDDDDD!

AND!!!!!

Most exciting news of the day.... My Dad is coming to visit me in about two weeks!!!! I can't wait to show him everything here!!!! Also, Rosanne is coming this weekend! I love visitors!!! :-D

"What did one bowling pin say to another? Hey, you're a knock out!"

2011-10-10T23:46:00.000+02:00

So, my weekend was good! It started with a jumping lesson at the barn with Poseidon. I tried to take a picture of us together because my hair was really cooperating for once but my hands smelled like apples and he wouldn't stop trying to eat them... but its pretty cute anyway:

His head is about the same length as my upper body!

The lesson didn't go so well, I had a depth perception problem all day. Now, I know this is a common minor problem for me on a regular basis but Friday was really bad, I was bumping into everything. And, it turns out when you are jumping you should be able to tell how far away from a jump you are while galloping up to it. If you can't grasp how much ground your horse is covering, or how quickly they are approaching the jump chaos might ensue. Or at least loud cursing as you keep missing the distance to the jump over and over again. Luckily, Poseidon was good, jumped from each bad distance I got him to because for some reason I had him on an over 12' stride length. Good idea? NO! What was wrong with me?! Finally, at the end I got it fixed and we jumped around well and understood each other better... thank goodness it didn't end how it started!

Afterwards I went bowling with Bjorn, his dad and Martin at the bowling alley in Nybro. Here they often have bowling allies under swimming pools... which seems weird until you remember they are actually shaped very similarly and I think they might have this set up at the Biltmore Estate... maybe? Still odd seeming to me.

Anyway, when we got there it had just started "Disco Bowling" with black lights, disco balls and club music. Not what we were expecting. Also, unexpectedly to me, there was no alcohol... which is pretty crucial to good bowling I feel. We all had different approaches to our throw/roll/toss whatever. Bjorn literally held the ball with the back of his hand facing the pins, threw the ball and then ended up in some sort of weird squat at the end of the lane... I should have taken a video I have never seen anything more absurd! It was hilarious!

Martin had a very graceful proper roll. He did a few practice swings (what do you call it?!) and then walked up in long steps, swung the ball and even had the little foot twist to the side thing that you see in movies! He was the best one of us... really good. His scores were nearly twice mine!

Afterwards we watched some soccer (Denmark vs Cypress) and then partied some with some of the older students who oddly live in the student house. It was nice to hangout with different people, and even Sigrid and Vegard got to come out for a while!

Saturday I took it easy, cleaned, gymed and made an amazing dinner!

Smoked salmon, oven roasted potatoes with thyme and green beans!! Very tasty :)

Sunday morning I got up early for a "Blueberry Jumping" day at the barn. It is an internal competition at the barn, against only people who ride there. I was a bit nervous because I hadn't ridden Poseidon in this kind of event before, he likes to stop at jumps and I didn't think Pia was going to be there. I had gone to sleep thinking "horse in front of your leg, sit straight over the jump, short canter, hold his mouth, use your whole leg, and don't stop" over and over and over again... it was a lot to think of. But he was such a cutie when I saw him the morning I decided it was OK to have to think all that to get to hangout with him.

Everyone helps set up the course in the big indoor ring. This is it set around 30 cm for the small ponies.

Here is the course broken down... thank goodness the jumps are numbered when you ride or I would have forgotten I think! Lots of short turns, bending lines and changing directions.

It turned out that Pia was there to help before we went in the ring to compete. Of course Poseidon stopped at each of the warm-up jumps. Nothing like making me feel confident! Then Pia said something along the lines of "you are a good rider, just ride, don't think, you don't need to" and it all worked out! I went in the ring, jumped each jump from the perfect distance, never touched a rail and calmly but quickly took care of business! I was so proud of myself and Poseidon!

We did 70cm and 80cm (around 2'9") and did very well in both!

I got a random stranger to take a picture of us... not, the best pose but still it is better then the first picture.

Isn't he adorable?!

I usually call my Mom after a horse show to tell her how it went, I still need to, time keeps escaping me!

I also had a melon mystery this weekend. I bought this melon, I had no idea what it was... It was mixed in with all the other melons and I decided to go for it...

It is kind of exciting to cut something open and have NO IDEA what it is going to look like! I have never seen a melon with seeds like this... Why are they in that weird shape?

It tastes kind of like honey dew and cantaloupe together, I mean honestly do melons really ever taste that different? But I have cut it all up and am enjoying snacks of melon and brie from time to time! Does anyone know what it is? If it something super common I will be disappointed haha.

All in all a pretty good weekend. Nice weather, good friends, sweet horses and tasty melons... that actually sounds a bit weird out loud...

Also, I seem to have miscalculated the 7,000 views... I don't know how I managed to convince myself that was the case... But, thanks for the views anyway!!!

"Its friday, friday, friday, something something friday..." ~ lame song stuck in my head most of friday... super lame song.

2011-10-09T21:54:00.000+02:00

OK, the internet and I currently fighting. It is winning. I have tried SEVERAL times to post this blog, everything keeps getting deleted except for the pictures. You are going to just get pictures and very short descriptions... which is probably better then my wordy, long winded explanations anyway...

Here is the encalmo plate from hell on Thursday:

almost everything possible that could go wrong with this plate did...

and now it is a piece of art I suppose... or a weapon I am going to throw at the internet...

I am trying not to think about that it is supposed to be round, even, smooth and in general a PLATE...

Here is another plate from Thursday... bad picture but funny reflection of my windblown hair/horns.

Courtesy of Sigrid and Vegard here are some pics of me making another encalmo plate on Friday:

^ The pieces are together and now time to gather some clear on it.

essentially you just get it really hot and then spin it really fast... and if you have a handy assistant they can spin it while you shape it.

This one turned out really well I think!

Worked on bamboo plate by engraving... hopefully I didn't mess it up... but am not sure.

And WONDERFUL Friday surprise I got flowers!

From the best boyfriend in the world, Sam! The address on the card literally just said "Orrefors, Glass Factory" and my name. But they made it to me and I am super happy!

I think they are beautiful, nice and fall-esque and they smell good!

I am super happy to have him in my life :)

My weekend was good, and I will fill you in on it later, I want to post this before something happens to it again!

ps: Thanks for reading the blog, it now has over 7,000 views! More then I ever imagined!

Love you guys,

"A good puzzle, it's a fair thing. Nobody is lying. It's very clear, and the problem depends just on you." ~ Erno Rubik

2011-10-06T23:13:00.000+02:00

Incalmo = this week's puzzle.

This technique is very cool because it allows you to make horizontal stripes of color in glass. Maybe you just has two colors, or tons... but the steps are the same. Here are our instructions:

The top part is the pipe with a cup shaped piece on it. But, there is a hole leading to the pipe... so it wouldn't hold any water if you were to take it off. The bottom is a real cup shaped piece, you fit them together (perfectly) and voila! you have a bubble with two colors! Then you marver it and smooth the seam and blow it into whatever shape you want! Easy-peasy!

On a different note, Monday was another beautiful day! Fall is in the air!!!

I made this on Monday, it is a bowl but I forgot to take a picture from the side so you could see the shape. But the top layer is clear with a nice blue bottom. Not too bad for one of the first attempts...

This was the second attempt. It was supposed to be a plate... I won't tell you what Vegard said it looked like from the top. It wasn't pretty.

Tuesday I managed to make these two fairly horrible plates:

Purple with dots and stripes in the color and I got the foot a little off center (it was really hot!). But a plate all the same I suppose.

Then I made this big ass plate! I gathered an extra time over the encalmo and ended up with a cake that barely fit the glory hole!

In fact it was so big that I did bump the glory hole once :( But it was fun and nice for a different sort of challenge. The incalmo is so incredibly frustrating!

Wednesday was all day in the cold shop. Back to normal around here!

I finally finished this deep cut crystal bowl which I quit like.

I also worked on this big plate. I had originally thought I would hand engrave the bamboo trees but it turns out this week is for sand blasting so I did that instead!

This is the front. The arrows were for the tree that was supposed to be the most deep... I don't know if I managed to make it look deeper or not but here is what it looks like minus tape:

And here is the back all taped up.

I blasted the back in an attempt to give it more depth and play off the green.

I think it looks kind of cool.

I will engrave on it some for some finishing touches but I like it so far.

Also, exciting news! Some of my crystal came back from the acid bath all shiny and pretty!!!!

Look at it sparkle!

And gleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam!

Today, Thursday, was more incalmo. In the afternoon after Marianne (the teacher) went away for the day Vegard and I played some. We tried doing three layers of colors instead of just two and also using different techniques on opening the top/pipe bubble. The morning had been a bit rough for us. I think when you see the things we made you will understand the struggle.

Wednesday evening I had a jumping lesson on Posiedon who was really good! A little bit excited but that is better then stopping at the jumps! I also get to ride him in the blueberry jumping on Sunday doing 80cm (2'8" sort of). I will also have a lesson tomorrow afternoon :) Hopefully I won't be sore from going to the gym today... I tried bench presses again... I did pretty well but it felt a bit funny, maybe not so natural haha!

"For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together. For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad." ~Edwin Way Teale

2011-10-05T23:36:00.000+02:00

My weekend included this:

Where we sold glass in this little barn to raise money for the trip to Venice!

This was Friday night when I was there till 1 in the morning! People were shopping all night! Erica, Natalie and I were a little cracked out by the end of the night... meaning things that aren't normally funny were HILARIOUS due to sleep deprivation and people overload!

We had lots of pumpkins for the harvest fest but they didn't really sell... also had some eggplants, apples, pears and mushrooms. Oh, and strawberries!

Also various other glass stuff, from bottles to plates to jugs to wineglasses to bowls!

Saturday I went again with Erica and Natalie (two girls from the high school level classes) and we had great weather! We put some glass pumpkins on the old time-y tractor out front.

Then Martin and Kresten showed up and they sat on the tractor waving at traffic with Nils trying to get people to come in. I am not sure it worked but they got lots of honks!

This is me... in case you didn't recognize me with a pumpkin on a rusty piece of farm equipment...

There were pumpkin ALL over the island and also some funny hay people!

On the way home Saturday around 7 we got stuck on the bridge back to the main land for over an hour! It was horrible! Erica took this picture, the bridge goes all the way to where there is a slight raised up place in the lights and then some! It took us FOREVER to get home!

But on the way home we stopped for some sushi to go! No sense in being in Kalmar without getting good food! I splurged and got the 16 piece dinner and got some seaweed salad thrown in for having to wait so long! It was SUPER good except the (I think it was) squid was too chewy :P

Sunday I took the day off from selling glass and went mushroom picking! The yellow traditional canterells are mostly gone now but their relative the black/brown canterells are out! I found out in wikipedia they are sometimes called the trumpet of death or black trumpet:

They are super hard to find because of their color but they are very tasty!

And the woods were truly beautiful on that day!

Fall is setting in and the birch trees are turning bright yellow against the evergreens!

I love moss covered forest floors! It is a scene from a movie... and elf should appear, or a viking!!

I took home a pretty good haul! I made a piece of toast with sauteed mushrooms in butter. I am going to go again I think, we have had some rain and sun now so I think it is better mushroom picking time. They were a little dry from the warm weekend we had!

Monday we drove back to Oland to pick up the glass and are planning to sell again at the castle in Kalmar, the open house at school and one weekend at the holiday festival/thing in Kosta! Hopefully we will raise enough money to be able to get to Venice!

Tomorrow you will get pictures of my week so far... encalmo from hell and some nice cold working!

"Man was made at the end of the week's work when God was tired." ~ Mark Twain

2011-10-03T22:08:00.000+02:00

I am not sure how I feel about the above quote, it is kind of weird. Maybe I don't get it but it kind of fit with the whole end of the week and being tired thing... So, I used it. It is hard to find a new quote all the time.

So, Friday was another day at Pukeberg!

Here is Micke on the left and Glenn on the right putting on an overlay bubble. This is super tricky but Micke did it a million times this week and every time it looked SO easy!

Here is Josefine protecting his wrist from the heat while he flips the overlay bubble inside out onto the main piece of glass.

See how easy it looks? At this point I am usually grunting and complaining to Vegard.

He heats it one more time then smooths it down all the way with no bubbles between or anything!

Here is a big graal he made for a lamp. It has nice clear circles at the bottom which is kind of hard to see for the sand but it is really nice.

And here is another graal with some extra pieces applied. It looked cool small but now when it is big is kind of lame.

This bowl was made and then added this leaf. The leaf was made in graal, and then cut out and the rest of the graal was wasted. That might be the MOST expensive leaf EVER! Ahhh, designers and their ideas...

So, then we went to a Thai Buffet as the end of the week treat. We then were completely stuffed and went back to work! It was super super hot in the shop which was a bit difficult to deal with on a full stomach!

The students gave us a little champagne and flowers for the students and wine for the masters. It was really sweet and nice. As we were finishing up and sweating our asses off the students were enjoying some ice cream... and making us really jealous.

I hurried off from the hot shop to the barn for a lesson. Another dressage lesson and who did I get but little Sheridan.... yes, Sheridan who lives in the pony barn and is about as wide as he is tall... and HAIRY!

But is he not ADORABLE?!?!

His head, forelock, stomach and feet are all huge!

The dressage saddle took up his whole side!

I didn't know what to do with all the hair so I tucked his forelock under the bridal and put his mane in a pony tail. When I walked into the arena my teacher was like "Wow! He looks niiiiice" clearly thinking I was insane.

I know this picture is blurry but look how small his is! My feet are past his stomach! But he was so good, a little special but very sweet and tried hard. He is a bit green (not so trained) and spacey but very limber. While the other horses glided around on their long legs we stamped around, knees high and mane flying! I enjoyed him and Pia said he even jumps pretty well. Maybe I will get to ride him again, he was fun and not too serious which is nice sometimes. I gave him lots of apples when I was done... I mean, could you resist this face?!

Then home for 2 hours for dinner and a shower. Oh! I forgot, I also got this mini-marver from Glenn. He makes them in his shop and all week I had watched the two of them use this tool for EVERYTHING and was thinking "I have to get one of those" and he gave the assistants one!

And I put my flowers in my fancy vase in the window to enjoy for several days!

Tomorrow I will post about the rest of the weekend. Which pretty much just involved going back and forth to Öland to sell glass. But the weather was great and it was a success all in all. Also, we are starting encalmo this week at school! Today was a bit rough but tomorrow should be grrrreat (said like Tony the Tiger) haha!

"Can you give me two hours? That's all I ask man, just two hours to sleep before tomorrow. I suspect it's going to be a very difficult day." ~ Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

2011-09-29T21:19:00.000+02:00

OK, I am going to get more then two hours but BOY OH BOY do I need some rest! I was so tired and busy today you only get two photos! I was walking a bit like an old man cowboy from my lesson yesterday!

There is not a whole lot to say... more of the same craziness. But here are two things they made yesterday:

Crazy sculpture that looks a bit like a sand castle to me... The colors turned out cool I think.

And this is a super thick bowl which they "smoked" to give it that grey effect. They made another one today that is not so big and thick and a little nicer I think.

The other pieces from yesterday were taken away almost immediately after they came out of the anneahler!

Today we worked and worked and still had to stay later. They did several large graals, one graal with an an encalmo top in a very tricky color, and in general some nice pieces.

The students have their exhibition of their works Saturday afternoon so it will be nice to see them all finished properly. I also look forward to the lamps having lights in them!

Now, I am off to bed tomorrow is Pukeberg (last day), riding lesson (dressage again uhg), and Orland to sell glass until 1AM! Its going to be long!