Welcome to the Nest!

Hello and welcome!  

For my first-ever blog post I wanted to share a little look into the process I used to create a recent commission (because after months of sweating over "how do I start this blog?" I decided that sometimes it's just easier to jump in feet first, then worry about form later so here we go).

Many of my commissions start with a question, "have you ever...?", and while often times the initial answer is "no", it is always followed by "but let me noodle on this a bit because I'm sure I can figure it out."  In this case, the question was about peacocks so, being a fan of all things peacock blue, I was excited to start playing with designs.

In the fall, our nights grow longer, days cooler, and sunsets come long before bedtime - which means I get to see them!

​I should mention that, as it's also nearly winter here in Southeast Alaska's temperate rainforest, I'm looking for every excuse to break out the torch (any reader who is a serious flameworker, or my insurance agent, should just skip past the next few pictures).

The basic setup with a collection of 'feather barbs' in the cobalt blue plates.

Each of the feather barbs is individually pulled from the molten end of a glass rod and held in shape while the glass cools.

Here a number of projects are in various stages of completion - waiting for their flame worked elements to be 'glued' on prior to the next trip through the kiln.

A layer of glass powder will add depth and richness to the feather, as does the bronze glass enamel and another layer of flamewoked barbs.

Hand-marbled paper, collected on a trip to Venice, Italy, is the perfect foil for the finished artwork. I really enjoy colors and textures so it's a thrill to be able to dip into other collections around the house - fabric, beads, paper, etc.. - and incorporate those into my glass art (which also means that adding to those collections can be considered a business expense, right?).

The first one was so much fun that I turned around started on another...and as soon as my order of frames arrives I'll be able to finish it!

If you'd like to see a couple of professional flameworkers in action, this video from the Corning Museum of Glass captures Eric Goldschmidt, Properties of Glass Supervisor at the museum and artist Wesley Fleming who are exploring the lampworking techniques of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka.  A functional, traditional Bohemian lampworking bench of the type used by Rudolf Blaschka is featured at about 6:10 in the video (and I thought MY setup was low-tech).

Thank you for joining me on this new blogging adventure!  I hope to share not only the artwork coming out of Magpie & Squid's studio, but some of the sources of inspiration (cake anyone?) behind our glass art and the eccentricities of living, playing and working in Alaska's temperate rainforest.  If you'd like to be included when we post updates and new blog entries, please send us your email (I promise we won't share it!) and/or like us on Facebook (someday I might even figure out how to share things on Instagram - stay tuned).

In the meantime, what's the 'coolest' thing you've ever seen made out of glass?