Glass

One of the factors that initially attracted me to working with glass is the delicate beauty that can be created in glass. I have a strong memory from my childhood of seeing for the first time some of my mother's treasured wedding gifts that she kept in a high cabinet, away from curious kid fingers. Some of the precious items we were never allowed to touch was a set of Venetian wine glasses, each one tinted a different pale color, each one possessing a tenderly twisted glass stem. They made me sigh with pleasure the first time I laid eyes on them. My mom, to this day, still keeps those wine glasses in a high cabinet, never using them. I still sigh when I see them, but mostly out of frustration that they are kept hidden away instead of in view, if not in use. I have a small collection of colored glass objects myself. I place them in such a way that light filters through them, enhancing their jewel-like colors. Some of my favorite pieces in my collection are glass objects made in Murano, Italy. They are exquisitely detailed, oh-so-delicate, bursting with color and movement. The photo accompanying this post is a shot I took of a few of my little Venetian glass perfume bottles. I wish I could add a Venetian glass chandelier to my decorating scheme. They are the stuff of fantasy! Someday I would love to travel to Murano and observe for myself the work of the glass artists there. So much history and beauty. Until that day, I will content myself with my tiny assemblage of prettiness and keep making my glass beads. And I will try not to think about my mom's wine glasses.

"Things are pretty, graceful, rich, elegant, handsome, but until they speak to the imagination, not yet beautiful."- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"I have found that all ugly things are made by those who strive to make something beautiful, and that all beautiful things are made by those who strive to make something useful."- Oscar Wilde