Sunday, June 3, 2012

Mind has been BLOWN


So for the past 2 weeks I have been sluggin it out at Pilchuck. Pilchuck is a glass school in Seattle and it has literally blown my mind. It totally exceeded any expectations I had and blew them out of the water. I took a hot sculpting class with Karen Willenbrink Johnsen and Jasen Johnsen and it was totally off the hook! Those two are super talented and some of the most generous people I have ever met. Generous in their time, their approach to teaching, just everything. I guess before I got to Pilchuck I felt a little meh about glass and my work and wasn't sure which direction I was heading, blah, blah, blah and now I am like WOW, GLASS BLOWING IS AMAZING AND I WANNA TAKE ON THE WORLD!


First off, it's set on this amazing property full of forests with massive pine trees and beautiful maples, then add into the mix a whole bunch of crazy glass obsessed individuals and you got yourself a party. They work you like a dog, we had 5am starts (thats on the floor blowing at 5 so up in the 4am bracket..) and then there are demos in the arvo and usually some sort of parties in the evening. So kind of like being an associate....on steroids...
In the beginning it was pretty intimidating, at least for me, you got all these u.s. kids who have been coming there for summers on end and they all have their buddies and they are pretty skilled up, few clicks going on and what not. I had just rocked in from Japan and it took me awhile to adjust. I had come from this totally different country where everyone is super quiet and polite, it had just been pretty much me and my sister for 3 and a half weeks then BAM, chuck me into a big group of big ole loud mouths and see what happens. It was tougher than I expected. But I got there in the end, I found my own loud mouth voice and I remembered that I did know abit about the hot stuff and that everyone else was there to make stuff too. It also helped that just by luck 2 of my lovely friends happened to be there too! It was amazing to have them there and I had such a good time with them.
This is me blowing glass with a chicken leg as my only tool. There was a game one night called "magic cup", everyone finds a tool, you throw it down then write your name on a list and someone else chooses your tool and thats all you can use to make the cup! Lemme tell you this, a chicken leg really smokes it up like a bitch and there is oil and grease everywhere (does make a good block though...)

Anyways, I gots to run, more later, I gots me a date with my man and a bar!!!






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