Providence Open Market

Have tent, will travel.

My first outdoor show of the season was Saturday  in Providence, RI.  They host it Saturday's until some time in the fall at Lippitt Memorial Park. 

I was eager to debut a new design for my jewelry; I have been saving any scrap from my glass rods, less than perfect pieces, and those sad broken casualties from my clumsy mishandling.  ( I once kicked an entire tray of Ladybug Sculptures and the carnage was unbelievable.... I almost cried.)  I spent some time assembling and melting this material, added some dichroic and presto!  Pendants!

I like the random element that is created by using bits of other pieces, no two will ever be alike and by being able to do this, I will no longer feel so heartbroken when I break something. It will gain new life in the jewelry department.  When I am working out a new design on my bench, there is always a period of creating some horribly wonky ones until I find the balance and line that works for that particular piece, now these too will be re-imagined as well.

(at this point I feel I should apologize for the shadow in this photo...I did a quick job of taking pictures at about 3:30 am as I was packing up.... don't ask....)

Now armed with the new display that I worked out going to SoWa Art Walk (was that really only two weeks ago?) and some new work to offer,

 I left at 6:30 am to make my 8:15 set up time.

I started on a good note by making my first sale as I was still setting up.  The foot traffic stayed steady the whole day!  Two of the highlights I want to share with this blog are here:

ZDiG blog friends, meet Max, Max, ZDiG blog friends.  Max sat 

like this as I did a transaction with his owner, and kept creeping 

forward on his belly like this, tail beating 

furiously back and forth

the entire time.  What a fun dog.

This is one pug ugly kid.  Wait... it is a pug.

The photo says more than I can say.  I did note that there was no child anywhere that I could see.  Too fun.

My neighbor at this show was another glass blower!  RI artist Neal Drobnis set up and had available some amazing pieces.

I wanted to get more details on how he created this piece (as we were both busy with customers it was hard to keep talking shop...), I do know that he used a sand-cast mold to blow into to create the main bowl shape, and it looks as if he assembled the rest of the elements together hot.  I can tell you this, the man clearly has wrists and forearms made of iron!  That is a LOT of glass to keep on the end of a punty.  You can check out more of Neal and his work at www.nealdrobins.com.

There was another glass artist set up just a few tents away.  Jennifer Goodale works primarily with borosilicate flameworking but has a range and experience in furnace work as well.  She is a part of a new studio in Acton, MA, and is a place I feel quite certain I will be visiting before long.  You can find information about it at www.newcreationglassworks.com.  I enjoyed speaking with her and enjoyed the work she had on offer.

So here it is Monday, June 1.  I'm already well into the needs for this week!  I am catching up on stock in general, working on an order that is going to Blue Cloud Gallery in Somerville (so happy to be showing my work there.... I need to send them some green frogs and flying pigs... I never seem to have enough of those.  Good problem to have), and am looking to setting up for June's Open Studio on Saturday.

Steady as she goes....