Museum of Glass on CNN

Check out the Museum of Glass video featured on CNN

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2009/07/24/wg.tacoma.museums.cnn

KPMR Univision

It's turning out to be a television day...

This afternoon, I have a meeting with the General Manager of KPMR, the Univision station on the Central Coast. Univision has graciously donated a generous amount of air-time to promote the Hands on Health Symposium in October. Since I am the ambassador (fancy word for go-between), it's an important meeting to get to know Gab and see just what they have in mind.

Univision Communications Inc. is the premier Spanish-language media company in the United States with a powerhouse portfolio of media assets that not only inform and entertain Hispanics, but provide a vital link to their community. The integrated media company includes: the Univision Network, one of the top five broadcast networks in America regardless of language and the No. 1 Spanish-language broadcast television network.

AND, when I got back from exercise class today, I had a message from some friends who have been on my mind. They owned a huge production company and now jet-set across the world doing a little television production and a whole lot of livin' life to the fullest! Can't wait to call them tonight and catch-up since I haven't seen them in months.

I'm off...

How to Make Bread Dough

Bread Dough Marbles

My nephews, Justin and Brandon, had a great time this weekend making marbles. It's super easy - all you need is bread (or cornstarch), glue, acrylic paint and zip top bags.

Bread Dough Recipe

What It Takes

1 slice of white bread

1 Tablespoon Aleene's Tacky Glue

2 zip-top plastic bags

How to Make It!

Remove crust from bread and discard.

Tear bread into small piece and place in plastic bag.

Add 1 tablespoon Aleene’s Tacky Glue.

Smoosh bag to mix bread and glue until smooth.

Cornstarch Dough

What It Takes

Cornstarch

Aleene's Tacky Glue

2 zip top plastic bags

How to Make It!

Measure and pour 2 parts cornstarch to 1 part Aleene's Tacky Glue into plastic bag.

Smoosh bag to mix cornstarch and glue. Add more cornstarch if the mixture is too sticky or add more glue if the mixture is too stiff.
Smoosh dough until smooth.

To Color Bread or Cornstarch Dough

Separate dough into several balls and place in clean plastic bag.

Remove one ball at a time, resealing bag to keep remaining dough moist.

Add one drop of acrylic paint at a time and knead color into dough.

Continue to add color one drop at a time until desired color is achieved.

Return dough to plastic bag.

Repeat to color remaining dough.

Making Marbles

Roll a ball of dough to desired size.

Add tiny bits of colored dough on ball. Twist to mix or leave dotted. Roll to form ball.

Drying time will depend on thickness and weather. Place in a dry place. Let set a few days until firm when pressed with finger. Tip: Set by your computer fan for quicker drying.

Fiskars Scissors

Fiskars is Celebrating Their 360th Anniversary!!!

You probably have a pair of Fiskars scissors in your drawer...you can't miss them - they're a VERY distinctive bright orange...here's the history of how that color came to be...

Fiskars is one of the oldest companies in the world. It began as an ironworks in the small village of Fiskars, Finland in 1649. Over the centuries Fiskars manufactured a wide variety of consumer and industrial products including steam engines, plows and cutlery.

By 1992, all factory production had ceased and this beautiful and historic place was dying. That’s when something special happened.

Fiskars sought out artisans, designers and artists and invited them to live and work in the village. They brought a new vitality and transformed it into a much acclaimed center for Finnish art and design. The village is now a popular tourist destination offering visitors many things to see and do throughout the year. Meet the artisans of the Fiskars Village and find out why they are driven to express themselves through their art. Go to http://www.fiskarscinemaseries.com/ to learn more.

Today, Fiskars is best known for its consumer products, such as scissors, knives and garden tools. These products are organized in four divisions: Craft, Garden, Housewares and Outdoor Recreation. Fiskars employs over 4,300 people around the world.

ORIGINS OF ORANGE - Fiskars Orange® is an important part of their identity. The orange color came about partly by chance when the iconic scissors were designed in 1967. The prototype handle was created using orange resin left over in a molding machine used to produce an orange juicer. The final decision on color was decided by a vote. Orange defeated black by nine votes to seven. At the beginning of 2006, the number of orange-handle scissors sold surpassed 870 million!

I have used Fiskars products for years, even did demonstrations at their booths at trade shows and I even have several Fiskars garden products. Congratulations Fiskars and here's to 360 more years of great products!!!

Washington, Oregon & California

Can you see what the focus of this picture is? Odd place for it, isn't it?


I toured this air museum back when I was a kid - I remember it being huge inside (and outside) - it was a blimp hanger during the war.

Love that Tillamook Cheese (and ice cream!)

Oregon Coast!!! Stunning!!!

Ahhhh, the smell of wood...

This picture was composed of stamped fish.

Aunt Molly

We visited my sister-in-law's (Nicki) aunt in Tumwater, Washington. What a gracious hostess!!! I had the 'basement' of her 108 year old home, but this basement had almost floor to ceiling windows for a beautiful view of tall, tall, trees - it felt like I was in a tree house.

You couldn't see it from the house, but down the hill from Molly's home was the Olympia Brewing Company - a VERY old brick building.

Aunt Molly had this cute rock studded wishing well in 'my' room.

Molly took us to the hydro-plane boat races. The participants ranged in age from 9 to ???

Sensational Seattle

We stayed four nights in the Olympia / Tumwater area and took a ferry from Bremerton to Seattle - very cloudy, windy and wet, but very beautiful!

After arriving, we headed to the Underground Tour of Seattle at Pioneer Square

Nicki had her eye on the red and black dress for her upcoming class reunion.

Next door was a kilt shop - yes, kilts!!! How about a kilt, Nicki???

Underground we go!!! Here's an OLD grate on the street where the glass has turned purple.

Here's from underground, complete with ferns.

Why there's a Seattle Underground...and yes, it's related to crafting - it involves GLUE!!!

On the afternoon of June 6, 1889, John E. Back , a worker in Victor Clairmont's cabinet-making shop near Front Street and Madison Avenue, was heating glue over a gasoline fire. Sometime around 2:30 pm, the glue boiled over and caught fire. The fire soon spread to the wood chips and turpentine covering the floor. Back attempted to douse the fire with water which only served to spread the fire further.

By the morning of June 7, the fire had burned the majority of 25 city blocks, including the entire business district, four of the city’s wharves and its railroad terminals. The fire would be called the most destructive fire in the history of Seattle.

Here's a beautiful metal structure in Pioneer Square - it was built at the time of the Yukon Gold Rush.

Wallpaper in an underground building.

Beautiful flowers and architecture - two of my favorite things!

Pike's Place Market - reminded me of London!

This is the famous fish throwing place - can you say 'slippery when wet?'

Nice way to display favors as a centerpiece - little boxes of chocolate where adorned with ribbon and placed on a cake plate.

Museum of Glass - Tacoma Washington

Museum of Glass - Tacoma, Washington

We met up with Shirley Wilkinson, my good friend Scott's mom, who was The Volunteer of the Year last year at the Museum of Glass!!! She gave us a tour and pointed out the 'must see' things. Thanks, Shirley, for giving us a fabulous tour!!! It's nice to finally meet Shirley after knowing Scott for many, many years. That's Shirley in the blue blouse.





Dale Chihuly's Bridge of Glass






Water Forest by Howard Ben Tres


More of Chihuly's work in a nearby building.

Museum of Glass - The Hot Shop

Stephen Day (upper corner) was the featured artist in The Hot Shop - the drawing on the floor was of the project they were working on. They're standing on a chalk picture of Sponge Bob Square Pants. Stephen occasionally added to the drawing as the Hot Shop Crew worked on the glass pieces.

Hot Shop from the Ground Up
The Hot Shop Amphitheater, housed in an imposing 90-foot-tall stainless steel cone, includes a hot glass studio, cold glass studio and accommodates over 200 visitors. The cone itself is 100 feet in diameter at its base. It narrows to a 15-foot opening.

Furnaces
Molten glass is kept in 2 large furnaces which run 24 hours a day. Each furnace holds approximately 1,000-pounds of glass and reach temperatures up to 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Glory Holes
As artists blow and shape hot glass objects, they must continually reheat them in one of four glory holes where temperatures range from 2,100-2,300 degrees Fahrenheit. The reheating process keeps the glass malleable.

Annealers
A total of five annealers, which are insulated boxes similar to electric kilns, are designed to cool glass slowly at a specified rate. Glass will crack and shatter if left to cool on its own at room temperature, so annealing ovens are very important pieces of equipment.

Cold Shop
The Cold Shop is adjacent to the Hot Shop. There, as part of the finishing process, cooled artwork is ground, polished and/or cut to add surface details and remove imperfections.

Here are my bro and nephew sitting above watching what goes on down below while the screen shows the up close and personal view of what's happening. Watch it live at:

http://www.museumofglass.org/live-glassmaking/watch-the-hot-shop-live/

The featured glass artist in the museum was Preston Singletary and his Echoes, Fire, and Shadows exhibit was very inspiring.

Shirley recommended The Harmon Brewery for lunch - the food and atmosphere were fantastic!!!