|
I pay attention to detail and quality of craftsmanship.
I am also committed to recycling, and will incorporate scrap stained glass, bottle bottoms and handles, broken or intact antique
light fixtures and fused or pressed glass into my designs. On a whim, I may add texture with horseshoe nails,
marbles, bevels, scrap metal, beads or ballchain. In my studio I have a 6-inch kiln where I am experimenting with making my
own glass focal pieces.
The Lure of Beach Glass. Discarded glass often finds its way to the ocean. Tossed
by the surf, and polished by nature to be discovered by beachcombers. These glass treasures can be
hundreds of years old, or newly formed fragments. They could be sections of sea washed bottles, vases, glasses or even
bottle stoppers that create these gems of natural art.
The sea glass
I use is harvested directly from beaches, each fragment a jewel from the tides where rock and sand do the washing and tumbling,
not machines. Machine tumbled glass tends to be uniform, and lacks the texture and unique history of genuine sea-washed fragments.
It is the irregularities of this raw material that allow me to produce art that has an organic feel. Once fabricated, my original
clouds can never be repeated, as no two pieces of beach glass or found treasure are ever the same.
Some of the glass nuggets I use have a twisted, melted, or sandy appearance. Perhaps a
fisherman while telling tall tales of his big catch, tossed his glass into a beach bonfire.
The roaring heat of a fire can melt the glass and fuse it with stones and sand creating unique beachglass.
Treasures.
My personal sea glass collection
for the most part, has been gathered from my 21 years in Southeast Alaska. I began collecting in 1980. Some of my special
finds are shards from the running lights of a WWII Minesweeper, an opium bottle from the site of an historic whaling station,
(Now the site of a salmon hatchery), an antique first aid bottle stopper, several Russian trade beads and unusual pressed
glass pieces.
I have found fragments of mason jars, crockery, crystal,
and pottery from cruise ships, ferries and fishing vessels, as well as those items left behind or discarded from adventurers
and scoundrels; pioneers and Native Alaskans.
In my collection of treasures, I have
several blown glass balls used as floats by the Asian fishing fleet to hold up their nets. The sea story goes like this...
they are hand blown from coke bottles on board and some are stamped on the bottom with the artist/fisherman's insignia.
They are lost, and drift into the islands of Southeast Alaska on the Japanese current, bobbing in the ocean, just waiting
to be scooped up by a lucky fisherman, or, they may land on the beaches to be broken and tossed in the waves.
These broken
glass balls add striking texture and frosty color to my beach clouds.
Laura gathering at "the point." Alaska circa 1998
I am enamored of glass and have gathered bits and pieces from Alaska, Vermont, Arizona,
and Washington.
I have even persuaded my parents into helping me dig into old burn piles from abandoned mining or dumping sites in Colorado. A cobalt blue glass Noxzema bottle and amber chlorox
bottoms were several of our exquisite finds.
this is Alpine cloud. c. 2005 this
formation has been sold but I have several others available in my studio and always a work in progress. please
see my photo pages for works available. enjoy.
|
