Glass Fusion: Studio 8 Bermuda

While on vacation in Bermuda I learned something new. I learned to fuse glass. In the dockyard mall there is a shop named Studio 8 Glass. This shop offers a glass fusing class, it was a lot of fun.  I love making jewelry and I loved blowing glass, so this experience actually "fused" those two together in a way I did not expect.

My teacher was a woman named Heidi. She was extremely helpful and allowed the class to look at the pieces already made for inspiration in making our own pieces. (proving she is also a good manager because it inspired me to buy something!) She showed us how glass looks when you stack it and put it in the kiln. The kiln is ultra hot and it melts the glass so it is all together.

When the class started we all had spots on a large table with tubs of pieces of glass. The glass was beautiful. Our spots were set out with various tools to cut the glass, break the glass into shapes, and help design the pieces. As I looked around the shop I saw many pieces that gave me some idea of what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted something colorful and bright. I made four pieces. One for my mother, because mother's day was approaching, one for my mother-in-law, one for a friend of mine, and one for myself. It was honestly easier to make the pieces for other people because I know what they wanted, what colors they like, pink, green, orange, and myself I had a difficult time with, but because the first piece of glass for practice was purple, I went with that color.


Digging through the various pieces of glass was fun. The colors were so vibrant and the choices were so exciting it was hard to choose. Honestly, I could have sat there all day and designed pendants, earrings, and sun catchers. The interactions with the other people were pleasant too because we were all learning together.



After finally making my designs and stacking the glass Heidi told us about how the glass fuses together in the Kiln. We set out glass atop a brick and the brick goes into the kiln. The kiln heats to 1200-1500 (F) degrees. After the glass is fused it cools for a day and the studio places a bale on it so it can hang from a necklace. You don't have to make a necklace, some people made earrings or suncatchers.

When the piece is finished fusing it was not exactly how I imagined it. You have to remember any edges are softened by the heat and the glass, so any of the triangles I tried to make got a little rounded. They still ended up beautiful and I still got amazing results from the colors. It's exciting to have something you have made yourself.

The class was $120 and it was worth every single penny. It was a fun social opportunity and a great learning experience. If you are ever in Bermuda- via cruise ship or resort- this is a place to check out. You can usually book it as an excursion on the ship or come in the store directly. It does take a day for the glass to cool, so make sure you are staying more than one day!








This was where we went:
Studio 8 Glass- Facebook page

Driving on the left side of the road......

Now that the dust has settled and my credit card bills have all come in (BTW, I should've saved more money for this trip) I would like share with you the experience of renting a car in Ireland. First of all, they do not accept any kind of American insurance. You have to buy your own insurance, or as in my case, I put down a deposit. It was a $3,000 deposit. This was to protect me against any damage. When I got the car I didn't inspect it like I should have, that was my fault. You should always inspect your vehicle. And take pictures. Lots and lots of pictures.

Anyway, the car rental was 447.00 plus the $3,000 deposit for possible damage. I also did not read through the agreement thoroughly. Also, my fault.

When we arrived in the airport it was 6am and dark. I had slept on the plane, but I work 3rd shift, so my body was completely and totally wrecked. Luckily, my friend Sherry is very calm and helpful. We checked the car out, with this fantastic Irish Hertz rental person, who gave us a "Free" upgrade, (more on this later, you can see the picture of the receipt). We walked down through the airport to get the car on level 0- it was a tan BMW. We loaded up the bags and prepared to drive to our hotel. We didn't even leave the parking structure without getting lost. The navigation system was confusing. So, we had to stop and check in with another, fantastic Hertz employee (who, like the first one, flirted with me and seemed overly helpful).


Me, being American, I am used to driving on the right side of the road. I am also not used to a steering wheel on the right side of the car. Once we got on the road it was a little bit easier. We had to take the highway to get into Dublin. We went though tolls, which was awkward because I'm not used to being on that side of the car, or having to pay the toll on that side either. When we reached the first one we realized we hadn't gotten any Euros so we had no way to pay the toll. This seemed like a total disaster. The toll booth operator, an older, very friendly man, like our first two encounters, flirted with me and was overly friendly, made a bunch of jokes and then took my credit card as payment. It seemed the Irish are just really, really friendly.

We drove around Dublin for close to an hour looking for our hotel. The navigation system kept taking us around the block of our hotel and we could not find it. Going up and down one way streets was terrifying. Especially in the dark and with no traffic to follow. It was good practice.

We finally called the hotel and they had us back up the one way street and told us to go into a parking garage. We did and we parked, with great difficulty. (Probably because I was so tired.) 

When we got into the hotel they checked us in early (super nice people at the Spencer, the man at the desk didn't flirt at all, he was just really, really great).  Then we also got to have breakfast because we were starving from the plane ride, the hotel people were just the kindest people I've ever met. I set up my phone to take a time lapse of the sunrise, it was just coming up, and then we took a nap before setting off the explore Dublin.

The next day we drove the car to Schull, Ireland to look for Sherry's dead relatives, which was neat. We found a Stonehenge thing, which was super cool, but the country roads are super narrow and only one car can get through, which is a bit scary. We drove through Cork, Waterford, and we stopped at a gas station and talked to the most charming gas station attendant. She was adorable, she said she's lived there since she "was a little baby". This was when I decided that Irish people are the friendliest, nicest people on earth.

Anyway, back to the car. We drove all over Ireland, then parked the car in a parking garage at our hotel for two days. We went on a tour of Northern Ireland (by bus) and did some other stuff. When it came time to take the car back to the airport and leave we found out we had been parked in fire lane in the parking garage (I've never heard of such a thing and I feel like it was not very well labeled, but then again I'm American and our warnings on things are very loud and well marked to prevent lawsuits). We did not get any tickets, or a boot, but we did have a bunch of stickers on the car and the windshield, they were difficult to peel off, but I think that's the point of them.

When we returned the car we had a very different experience from picking the car up. The woman who took it back saw scratches on the passenger side, which according the photos I was sent, looked like they were already there and there was a spot on the front of the car with blue paint, that I did not recognize at all. She said it wasn't in the pictures, but they didn't even have their own pictures, just the ones from my email that I showed her. So we filled out a paper and she said I may get part of my deposit back or I might not. It ended up charging my card $2,402.10 in damages. The car had some scratches on it before I got it and lets be honest, they don't always fix those things anyway, they keep the money. I have the email pictures of the scratches, but I may have added to them, I really don't know, but in any case it was a very expensive lesson and in my opinion, totally worth it.

So, my advice to you, if you are renting a car in Ireland:
1) Take lots of pictures of the vehicle before you drive it.
2) Don't let flirty cute Irish people trick you into "Free" upgrades and if they do offer it, look at the bill before signing.
3) Know the exchange rates, because if they charge you in Euros you may not have a fee on it. I was charged in US dollars, which they then had to convert into Euros. It was not very well explained by the handsome Hertz rental employee who in the end, lets be honest, kinda ripped me off, but hey, that's his job and I should have been paying closer attention.

In conclusion, it's all very expensive, even if you return the car in pristine condition your credit card will have that huge charge on it for at least ten days until they take it off, but it's really worth it. I thought it was a fun and interesting experience driving on that side of the road and it was neat to explore the countryside which I would not have seen on a bus tour. However my wallet says, "Hertz, Don't it?".

Trinity college and the Book of Kells

In Dublin, Ireland there is this book, it is housed in one of the oldest universities in the world, "The Book Of Kells".  It was written a long time ago, maybe 800 AD, before printing press, by monks. These monks spent hours writing down the Bible in Latin and creating illustrations to go with them.

The Book of Kells contains the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Basically, its a really old book written in Latin about parts of the Bible. Boring. Right? Not so much. The artwork in the book is very, very intricate. The detail in the pictures and the amazing colors are enough to mesmerize even the least studious person. The pictures are illuminated with a variety of colors and some are made from various toxic substances, which made the creation of this book very dangerous.

The paper the book is written on is called Velum, and it is made of calf skin. This is what books were made of before paper. When writing on it they had to push in really hard to get the dye into it, similar to a tattoo artist. As stated they also used many toxic substances, like lead, to get the colors to stay in the book. This book was almost burned so many times, during the middle ages. The beautiful artwork of the pages was considered to be of the devils' work and also it was stolen during a Viking raid where the original jeweled cover was ripped off.

Each decorated word is different, which suggests several different people worked on the text. Many scholars believed it was just four scribes (one for each gospel) and it took a year to 18 months to complete. My tour guide gave us the suggestion that maybe it was four teams of people. Each team worked a particular way, after all the toxic substances they were using some people may not have lived to see the completion of the book.

The artistry is amazing and it really is a work of art. You can see in the text where mistakes were scratched out and painted over. These could be possible misspellings or places where the ink was blotched.

When we entered we could take pictures in the museum,  but in the room with the book, you can not. This is to preserve this very delicate text. There is a place on the web at Trinity College where you can view all it's pages online, the link is attached at the bottom. It was beautiful to look at and when I saw it the book was opened to a very ornate page. The book is always open to two pages, one of illustration and one of the Latin text.

Upstairs is home to some of the oldest books in the world. This is the Trinity College Library.  If it looks familiar,  it is the library from Harry Potter. At least parts of it are... the library has very important texts and there is even a part where scholars have to wear masks and gloves in a room with a constant vacuum going in order to keep the delicate books preserved.

The ladders up and down each of the sections of books were very narrow. I could not imagine climbing up and down one of those, nor would I want to. I'm not sure those ladders are still in use today. I would hope not, you would probably have to weigh less than 100 pounds to keep it from collapsing on you.

The tour continued on into the rest of the campus and it ended at the Dublin Castle.  We came upon a building on the campus which used to be used as an exam room for the students. The tour guide kind of lost it when he saw it was open. He said the building has only been opened about four times in the last five years he's been doing campus tours, so we took a detour. It was only open because of a used book sale. At that moment I knew I was right where God intended me to be and had no question of my purpose on Earth. When we finished the tour Sherry and I came directly back to campus and the book sale.

The tour was interesting because we not only went through the Book Of Kells, the Trinity College Library, a small campus tour, and Dublin Castle Gardens, the tour guide explained Bram Stoker's life and influences in writing Dracula, which I knew nothing about. Overall, it was an interesting tour.

Libraries have always been a place of safety and comfort for me, but they haven't always been like that in history. Whenever there has been an uprising or a change in authority, books are burned, texts destroyed, museums trashed, and history is erased. It makes me wonder about the future of the internet and the simple action of the delete button. What will generations in the future look at for our "Book of Kells'? Where will vast stores of knowledge be held and retained? Only time will tell.



Here is where we went:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College_Library

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Kells

https://www.tcd.ie/visitors/book-of-kells/

https://www.tcd.ie/library/manuscripts/book-of-kells.php

English Market: Cork, Ireland

In Cork, Ireland there is a little market worth looking into, English Market. This is a beautiful little place full of interesting foods, friendly merchants, and fresh meat. It is indoors, but it is open air. It feels like you are still outside. It was raining the day we visited, but that didn't seem to slow the traffic coming in and out.

It had many different smells all over, fish, coffee, lavender, and just about anything you could think of wanting. It was really lovely.

We stopped to get a coffee and some lemon meringue pie (and french style flan, how could I resist?) Then we went in search of exotic things we could legally bring home.

I settled on some chocolates with unusual flavors: one was black pepper and lime, then pistachio and rose, and also Irish Honey flavored.  We also bought some gooseberry jams and pure Irish Honey.

The produce shops were most intriguing because of the seasonal produce they had shipped in from other regions. There were items I didn't even know what they were. This was a great spot to come in from the rain and browse.

The fish smell was a bit overwhelming in parts, but it was all very fresh. The sea is so close and some of the catch was brought in that morning. The sales people and shop owners were very friendly and able to answer questions about their goods. 

It was worth checking out, even if it was for just one short afternoon. The parking is truly dreadful, but that happens, it's a busy city and there are a lot of cars. Also, I'm American so driving on the left is really confusing and awful, especially with all the one way streets. Luckily, I am a good driver and I pay attention. We managed the trip unscathed. I even parallel parked and I don't even do that here!

Other than English Market, Cork is full of lovely shops and it's a very lively downtown scene. We've already decided when we return to Ireland, (which we will because it's one of the greatest countries I've ever been in) Cork would be a great place to stay!

Dunluce Castle

In Northern Ireland there is a place called Dunluce Castle. It is the remains of a stone castle situated on a cliff. It's a lovely place. As we arrived the sun was setting and it made incredible views of the sea to the North or Northern Ireland.

The amazing thing about Northern Ireland was the beauty everywhere we went. The way the wind whipped up the long grasses made them look like waves.  The views from the cliff edges were unbeatable.

Dunluce Castle was first built by an Earl in the 13th century. The castle has passed through various hands, Irish and Scottish, and eventually was abandoned. The story behind the abandonment is that the kitchen fell into the sea and the mistress of the castle refused to live there. At the East side of the ruins there is still what appears to be a kitchen with two ovens, but a lot of scholars debate about this, ovens could be used for things other than kitchens, like blacksmith work, or glass making.

I'm not a historian, nor am I a professional archaeologist, but I did major in anthropology and that room looks like a kitchen to me. It even has a small room attached to the side of it which would be perfect for housing a chef or kitchen staff, even though it looks like a little jail cell. It's too far away from the stables for it to be useful as a blacksmith/farrier making horseshoes or Armour, because it would all have to be moved to the stables as storage, but I'm not an expert, so I'll leave that up to them.

It was wonderful to walk around the grounds and picture a bustling little community around it. The views were amazing and it's proximity to the sea would have made it an excellent trading post with Scotland and Scandinavian countries. It would also be a useful outpost to warn the inland of incoming attacks from Viking raids.


Whatever it was used for and whoever lived there, it's beauty has not been abandoned by time and disuse. It's truly a magnificent place to visit.

Here's where we went and a lot more pictures:
https://discovernorthernireland.com/Dunluce-Castle-Medieval-Irish-Castle-on-the-Antrim-Coast-Bushmills-P2819/

Kantuck Folk Art Festival 2018, Tuscoolsa, Alabama

For 47 years, outside of Tuscaloosa, Alabama tucked into a wooded area, there has been a folk art festival. It is called the Kantuck Folk Art Festival and because of a great friend (and some new friends) I was able to attend last year. The place was amazing. It was loaded with artists from all over the country (and world)There was a very diverse selection of artwork, jewelry, cooking utensils, and anything handmade imaginable . (I bought several Christmas presents when I was there.) They had artists doing ceramics, painting, one guy made jewelry out of postage stamps and old picture slides (This one was my favorite). Several of the artists are actually in the Smithsonian for their visionary artwork.

Wandering around the festival was amazing, there were all sorts of activities for adults and kids. Interacting with the artists was wonderful, because it allowed me to hear their stories, the amazing things which inspired their artwork. Just as an example one woman made rubber stamps out of her children's shoes. She was an ArtPrize entry here in Grand Rapids, so I was obviously drawn to her and wanted to learn more. The rubber stamps were from her boys' shoes and they were all different colors. It looked like gum to me, but that was also a part of it, like gum on the bottom of your shoe and the memories of her kids being little. It was very touching.

My greatest regret is that I didn't take more pictures and I didn't write this blog sooner, my memories of the place are a little dim as I am writing this, but it was a lovely adventure. I got to help an artist with her booth, my new friend Jill. She makes beautiful pottery and teaches others her craft. Many of her pieces felt like they were inspired by European influences. 

The Artists are very friendly, for the most part, they love to talk about their work and their inspirations. I was able to meet a woman a named Mary Proctor. Some of her work is in the Smithsonian. I bought a piece of art from her and talked to her about it. She had some very interesting artwork and I really loved the picture I bought. I love sending mail and I think it's important to send out messages to people you love (and sometimes to people you don't) because communication is basically what shapes us as people. I think I went a little in depth there, but hey, she is a visionary artist (and a really friendly, pleasant human being).

When walking around the festival you can hear the sounds of different musicians playing on a stage, music is also an art form. They had the stage next to all the food booths, which featured a variety of foods (many of them Southern foods and many of them fried). I had a chicken basket and it was delicious.

It was a large place as well. The festival is divided up by letters so you can find the artists.  They don't seem to be dived up into any kind of category or genre, but it was a really big place so it is probably difficult to sort them.

If you are ever in Alabama in the fall, this is a festival worth checking out.

Here is the Link: https://www.kentuck.org/the-festival

Glass Making in Pontiac, Michigan

My husband does incredible things and more specifically he meets (and introduces me to) INCREDIBLE people.  He just finished a class and one of his classmates has an amazing career. She is an artist and she owns a studio to make art out of glass.  Her name is April Wagner. She is amazing. Tucked away in a corner of Pontiac, Michigan her workshop is like an art museum full of fragile little master pieces. Each creation is special and unique.  The colors are so intense in some and muted in others, all the glassware she makes has its own personality. Some are functional, like drinking glasses, bowls, vases; others are decorative and just beautiful.
Randy and I were privileged enough to get to make our own art. We got to make icicles.

The kiln (the small fire hole in which the glass melts) is about 2000 degrees. The melted glass is very hot and obviously can't be touched by human hands, so there are these very long metal sticks. (I probably should have spent some time learning the lingo, but I didn't so I will try and make it sound as simple as possible.)The glass is heated and we apply some color, it looks like sanding sugar and we take the melted glass and fuse this "sugar" into it. After that the glass goes back into the fire.  When the glass comes out of the fire it is very pliable, it can be easily bent and shaped. This is where tools like metal tongs and diamond cutters come into use. First we make indents into the glass, then reheat, then we pulled it out (like taffy) and twist it to give it the icicle shape.

Randy's, of course, came out perfect. The colors he picked were great. Mine was ok, but it's largely in part to the excellent professionals we had helping us. I don't think I'm going to be giving up my day job anytime soon, but this sure was fun! They have workshops four times a year, her website is attached for more information.

This is where we went:

 https://www.epiphanyglass.com/