Gifts

Black and Red tray, about twelve inches long

Green “leaf” plate about eighteen inches long

Cobalt blue and irred glass bowl about 14 inches

Spring green and irred bowl about 14 inches

Hummingbirds

Crane disc to hang in window, amber glass

You don’t get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree. The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives. It’s who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds. Luke 6:43-45 (The Message)

Hard to believe, but It’s been twenty three days since I returned from a wonderful week felting and fusing in North Carolina. I still get to talk about the week a lot to people I meet because daily I carry my pretty felted bag that I made at Vicki’s and people are always commenting on it. I’ve also been using the techniques that I learned from John making some really pretty bowls in what I have tongue in cheek named, my “bird series.” Using patterns copied from an appliqué book John bought at a thrift store, I have been layering clear iridescent glass and colored translucent glass to make a circular base. That gets taken to a full fuse to make a nice solid piece of iridescent colored glass. Then, I cut a bird out of clear glass using my saw and tack fuse it to the base in a second firing. Finally, a third firing slumps the glass into a bowl or I can leave it flat and turn it into a window ornament. The clear glass leaves a shadow of the image that is unique. It has been a lot of fun to try something new. It helps that John also taught me a quick technique for cutting smooth circles so that task is much more appealing now than before. But, during all of the new work I have been doing, in the back of my mind was the question about whether the four pieces I left behind to be fused turned out well. They were large pieces that would never fit in my kiln and required John’s “Goliath” kiln to complete so while I winged my way back home to a full in box and overflowing desk, they remained behind. I wondered if I would have to remind John to finish and send them, but lo and behold, three weeks after my return, they showed up in my post office box. I had to wait until today to get them because our post office delivers mail but not packages on Saturday. As soon as I could today, I went there to claim them. Our agreeable postmaster even helped me open the packages right there in the post office and we were both awestruck by the beauty inside. I am more than thrilled with the way that they turned out. It will be tempting to keep them and not give them away as Christmas gifts as planned. But, I will because I can’t wait to see the expressions on the faces of my family members when they see them and hope that they will be pleased. Just like people are coming to know my artistic work by my bags and bowls, the Bible says that we are known by the fruit we produce. We can either bring hope or harm, courage or chaos by how we chose to use our time, talents and tongue. How about you? What gifts are you spreading among those in your life?