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Lampworked Glass Beads |
Glassy Eyed Sue's
Welcome to Glassy-Eyed Sue's Studio Page!
Welcome to my mountain hideaway/studio.... The majority of glass rod is manufactured by Moretti in Italy with the remainder made up of Bullseye Glass made in Portland, Oregon. The window looks out toward the creek featured on the home page and is frequently looked in upon by Rocky Mountain Elk, Black-tailed Deer, Rufus Hummingbirds, Goldfinch, Grosbeaks and Lazuli Buntings, a gorgeous but shy bright blue songbird we've only seen here.
The Nortel Minor burner torch on the left is the workhorse of the outfit fed by propane and oxygen tanks. The small, thin stringers toward the back are pulled from the stock glass rods for use in design work. The mandrels in the back on the right are coated with bead release and cured for later use. The 2 small tins in the center contain "frit" or finely ground up glass for adding color. A coffee grinder (shown on right) works wonders for grinding up glass rods into that are too short to use safely into frit. Please note my "lamp" on the window sill....
The KILN!!! This is where the glass beads are annealed at extremely high temperatures for extended periods of time for added strength and durability. This is a very important process that must not be hurried or overlooked. Even after the annealing process, glass is STILL glass and breakage can and will occur under extreme impact. BEWARE!!! My rock rabbit with HUGE teeth will bite the hand off anyone that touches my high temperature safety gloves! You have been warned!!!
Glassy Eyed Sue's Studio is located deep in the heart of the Pacific Northwest forest near the base of Mt. St. Helens. Her inspiration is drawn from the raw beauty and peaceful tranquility that inhabits this high alpine paradise.
The herd of elk above basically let me live here.... This photo was taken about 500 feet from my driveway. In the summer they actually rub up against the outside of my house at night as they graze on clover and grass and whatever else they find!
This is Mount St Helens having a temper tantrum a couple of October's ago. She has since gone to sleep although there is still lava flowing into the dome.
The creek below flows through the middle of the property and has two pools. The upper pool (shown on the left) is about 7 feet deep and is perfect on a hot August afternoon! The creek then cascades down into the lower pool (shown on the right) which is about 5 feet deep. Ahhhh.....
One of the regular visitors to the area is this magnificent raptor. He wasn't bothered by our presence in the least. The chickens however, are not thrilled by his visits...
This little falcon (Kestrel) isn't quite as intimidating or angry-looking as his larger cousin above ... unless of course you are a mouse or a grasshopper!!
This adventurous fella got caught with his "pants" down, so to speak. Once he got up there, there was no where else to go once the camera crew showed up! He had to wait until we left before he could get home to Mama...
This was taken about 10 feet from our front door one misty, autumn morning. The perfect picture of majesty....
This beautiful snowy owl appears to be in need of a Garmin GPS! Native to the Alaskan and Canadian tundra, a small group of 6 or 7 wander south into Washington every October or so... He also was not in the least intimidated by our cameras. In fact, he flew into the tree above our heads to get a closer look at us as well!
There really is no more beautiful place to live, work and play than the Pacific Northwest. It's hard not to be inspired by the beauty of God's handiwork that surrounds us.
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