Santa Fe Glass

As Ken and I continue our vacation
here in Santa Fe, we find ourselves pulled back to the hot shop of friend Patrick Morrissey, Prairie Dog Glass. There we had the pleasure of meeting Ira Lujan (pictured to the right, his work to the left). His work stood out at the IAIA shop so it was great to meet him and see him in action in the hot shop one afternoon. As usual however the greatest fun was trying out the hot shop and making a little glass of our own. After bumping our heads on low hanging vents and offering up a couple of bubbles to the glass gods we got the hang of the new shop, had fun with the cool (hot) torches and even picked up some tips about how to spray titanium on the glass for a cool iridescent finish.

Linda Perrin and Patrick Morrissey

Vacation-Santa Fe

It's mud season in Maine, and the last little bit of winter we will have before we get super busy filling our 2010 wholesale orders to some great places including the Corning Museum of Glass and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. So we decided to skip out of town and chase a little sunshine. With out too much ado we picked Santa Fe, New Mexico.
remembered a couple of very talented glass artists ended up in Santa Fe after my grad-school days at Southern Illinois University. And as fate would have it this morning out of the blue I ran into one of them at a cute little breakfast joint called Counter Culture. Excuse me are is your name Lolly Goodwin, I asked the freckled familiar face. Wow. What a long time it has been! She explained that she has her own hot shop and Patrick Morrissey the other SIU alum had one as well--Prairie Dog Glass, right down the street at Jackalope. After coffee and spicy eggs (everything is spicy here) we cruised on over.
With true hot shop manners Patrick asked us if we wanted to make anything, but since I have been struggling with some altitude sickness I was unable, so lucky Ken took him up on it! It was so much fun to play and get a tour of the Hot Shop. Patrick has always been an equipment building savant, and sure enough all the kilns, and the continuous feed furnace were quite a marvel.

Philadelphia Buyers Market

We are at the Buyers Market of American craft, the show is going well for us. Orders from museum shops and great glass galleries including The Corning Museum of Glass. We are happy with the show so far.
On a side note about Snowmaggedon....I can't believe it is sunny and warm up in Maine this week end, while down here in "mild" Pennsylvania there are many inches of ice on the ground and snow piled up 3 to 4 feet!! Don't worry tho we haven't had any trouble getting around since we are taking public transportation. Two more days to go for the Market. So we'll be back at it tomorrow! Wish us luck.

Blowing Beer Bottles/Recycling!

This Sunday we filled the annealer with used bottles, beer, wine and the like. The theory is , if you heat some bottles up to 950 degrees or so and pick them up on the end of a blow pipe or punty rod you can alter it's shape to create a decorative or functional "new" piece of blown glass. Voila-recycling
! Ken Perrin pushing/ pulling the limits
Well as usual with theory and practice it is much harder than it seems. Harder being the operative word. See the bottle glass is formulated so it sets up instantly when blown (by a machine) into a metal mold. therefore the properties of the bottle glass are that it heats up quickly to a liquid state, and then hardens immediately when touched by the tools.
Alex Carpenter 2010 artist in residence.

Hmmmm who doesn't like a challenge?
Linda Grecco 2010 Intern from College of The Atlantic


I think this has been great fun but I don't think it will go into heavy production any time soon. Rest assured you may see a smattering off these pieces inthe gallery from time to time and we will ytry to have these for the commmon ground fair at harvest season, but--The glass we usually use is a lovely crystal, formulated to be soft and pliable to the hand work of a skilled artisan. When heated and brought to the glassblowers bench it can be worked with the tools for a lot longer than these brown bottles. SO although this has been fun, whats more, it has increased the appreciation for what we normally use every delicious molten day! Clear art glass crystal! mmmmm can't wait to get back to it...
! Linda Perrin

Apprenticeship in glass blowing

Great vibes this year! We finished last year on a real upswing largely due to the help and company of Emily Lyons (aka, big puff) a sculpture student doing an internship/apprenticeship with us for college credit from the University of Southern Maine, and Alex Carpenter a world traveler, COA student and all around earnest fellow who has begun a glass blowing residency/apprenticeship with us. Working in the hot shop in exchange for access to hot glass is a classic apprenticeship model. Since it was the holiday season we had a lot of work to do and they really helped increase the Christmas ornament production in this hot shop --all the way up to 100 ornaments in 1 day!! boy that felt good-when it was over :)

Emily has returned to Portland to finish up her art degree from U-Maine, and well, we miss her. Luckily she is an Ellsworth native and we have been assured she will be back!
Alex will continue his residency with us for a while longer, happily all the color techniques he has learned and his ability to plug into our glass blowing team will be put to good use as we prepare for the Buyers Market of American Crafts show.

Buyers Market of American Craft

Come see us! SOON
February 12-15, 2010
Jewelry Preview: February 11, 2010
Pennsylvania Convention Center
Philadelphia, PA
A wholesale show featuring the work of the finest national artisans selling to shops and galleries with artistic and cultural integrity.
We'll be there!

Glass Blowing Classes winter 2010

The 2010 winter glass blowing classes will begin January 16th!
Classes for beginners and advanced students.
Enrollment is limited so sign up now before we fill up!

Beginning Glass Blowing
This course is designed for beginners. Emphasis is placed on learning the basic skills necessary to complete simple blown vessels. Class time is divided between demonstrations and supervised work time, with individual attention for each student. No glass working experience is required. Tuition: $375.00
This is a five-week course meeting once each week for four hours. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis, as class sizes are limited. Full payment must be made by first class


Continued Glass Blowing
This class will build upon the skills acquired in previous glass blowing classes. It is also a prerequisite to studio rental. The class will explore the use of color and bit applications. The course structure will include demonstrations to suit the individual interests of participants. Schedule is determined by the instructor and the students. Class size is limited to four students. Tuition: $375.00 Dates: Send us an email for current dates -16 hour course. Registration is first- come, first-served, as class sizes are limited. Full payment must be made by first class.

Year End Highlights

Working TOGETHER!!!

Inspiring the NEXT Generation!

Teaching at College of the Atlantic.

Sharing with family...
Our Aunt!

Our NEICE!!!

Remembering what is really important.

Discovering Quebec!



Bringing it to our community!

Ken's dad Steve Perrin receives high honors.

steve perrin daughter inlaw linda and son ken maine
Well hasn't it been special?

The 3rd Ward

Woo hoo, we are showing our handmade blown glass at the 3rd Ward in Brooklyn this week-end. We will have lots of pretty ornaments, our unique wearable blown glass jewelry, and other great gift items. So remember "Buy Handblown" this Holiday season.

Make an event out of holiday shopping this year at

The Handmade Holiday Craft Fair
Where giving really is better than receiving
195 Morgan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY

Big Double Show week-end

Island Arts Association-Bar Harbor

Friday, Dec. 4, , 9am – 5pm Saturday Dec 5, 9am-3pm

Atlantic Oceanside Hotel, 119 eden St, Bar Harbor, ME 04609

The Island Arts Association sponsor this intimate showing of great affordable work by innovative local artisans and donate a portion of proceeds to a local charity. Great show-great group, lotsa fun& feels good! Linda and Ken will feature blown glass Christmas ornaments in myriad colors, as well as their latest one of a kind creations of vases, bowls, and paperweights and last but not least the ever popular VERY UNIQUE blown glass bead jewelry.

The Harvard Square Holiday Crafts Fair is one of the most popular fairs in Boston.
Held at the First Parish Unitarian Church, at the corner of Mass. Ave and Church Street.
December 5th and 6th
Saturday 10-7 and Sunday 12--6
Ken and Linda will be showing and selling their work this Saturday and Sunday. And will feature blown glass Christmas ornaments in myriad colors, lot's of holiday gift items such as oil lamps and fun drinking glasses, as well as their latest one of a kind creations ie: vases, bowls, and paperweights. Not to be missed the VERY UNIQUE, very popular, blown glass bead jewelry. Come see us in the big city, we will be happy to see a friendly face!

Courage

Tidepool

Lively necklace of blown glass
online shop

Hoping to blow glass!

For the last month the furnace has been off but soon we will return to hot glass stories and adventures but in the mean time this was a delightful little adventure.

Recently I drove down to Rockland to meet with Frances, the buyer of fine Maine made products for the Farnsworth Museum shop. Happy discovery was that the Robert Indiana show dates have been extended. Instead of ending on October 25 it will continue through the better part of the winter. Now all the busy Mainers who haven't had the chance to see things during the summer season will be able to get their butts over there to see, Robert Indiana and the Star of Hope.
It's easy to combine business and pleasure, so after a lovely sunny meeting in the garden discussing an online museum shop and a project to create an exclusive design of blown glass jewelry for the Farnsworth ... (More about this later!)
We headed down to In Good Company a beautiful little bistro with great "nibbles" and refreshing wine choices. Nothing like a Portuguese white to accompany a late lunch. Frances gave me some new roasted kale recipes, and in true artsy form, she knew the inside scoop regarding the artist whose work hung on the walls..-Rockland has the amazing ability to make you feel like you are sitting in an old gas lit cafe in Paris at the turn of a century experiencing world class cultural phenomena through small town gossip. Really a great community, intimate and far reaching, unpretentious and hip. --All in all a fun productive Day!

Eepy Bird!!

Maine is so cool! I got to meet Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz of Eepy Bird two performers of Oddfellow Theater in Bucksfield Maine who became the Rock Stars of a viral video involving Mentos and Coke. This meeting took place at Haystack's Creating in Maine Symposium. the 24 hours were jam packed with some of the most amazing Mainers! Artists, entrepreneurs, and policy makers. A pretty yummy and encouraging mix of like minded and supportive people. Fritz and Stephen gave a presentation about their creative process. Just what happens between experiment #1 and the famous Experiment #137. The amount of time they spend with the (ordinary) object of their current musings, the notes they take and .... the laughs. They also spoke about the special quality of Maine and how they choose to live where they do because of their community. To this I can relate, the place and people here combine to make, pardon the expression, ...the way life should be... I hope to cultivate the relationships that were made at the Haystack session, to look further into the interesting information presented in bits and snippets during the petchakutcha or slide slam...but now, .... on to getting ready for Common Ground Fair ...yippee, more good times and good folks showing their truly good work. ...see you there!

Upcoming Shows

Maine Crafts Guild, Portland, Sept 19, 20
Common Ground Fair, Sept 25, 26, 27
Harbor Arts, Camden October 3, 4

Northeast Harbor, Invitational Crafts Show

Don't miss it this is one of the best showings of our work all year.

NorthEast Harbor, Neighborhood House Invitational Arts and Crafts Show

The third annual Neighborhood House Invitational Arts and Crafts Show will take place August 13, 2-7 PM; August 14, 10-7:00; and August 15, 10-5 PM

Go to www.nehnhi.blogspot.com for more info!!

Dancing with Fire

Guest post by Rachel Addie, niece of the Perrin's and summer visitor/sweat laborer...
As a Texan, born in the heart of Dallas (where the temperature varies between eternal damnation and sauna), I'm probably more comfortable in the face of fire than the average Mainer... or so I like to think. But I was still trembling as I was handed my first glob of glass on the end of the puntil. And I'll be completely honest - I screamed when I completed my first "paperweight." It's a dangerous dance with a blazing partner, and you don't have any time to stop and think - you just go. The glass is always cooling, always hardening, becoming less and less malleable. The entire process is like a free fall. You can't stop. Once you get going, you go until your glass item leaves that pipe. And dance really is a good word for it, because it's so similar to music. It's a fast-paced sort of thing, but it's a combination of songwriting and performing. You plan out your piece, and then you go. But when you pull out that piece and see it for the first time at room temperature, it's all worth it. It's a jewel, a transformation of all your discomfort and sweat.
A tangible representation of something I believe - suffering produces beauty, a gentle spirit. Well, the first attempt wasn't exactly beauty, but it was a cute little thing. It's the one on the left. I call it the "Crystal Turd".The one on the right is my second attempt, and I liked that one. :) So yeah, that's all for now. I faced the furnace today, a giant box of flaming death, and survived. I call that success.