Apr 22, 2010

Oh Maude


This is Maude.  I wouldn't say she's a studio mascot, she's more like a visiting dignitary.

We've figured out that if she's walked to the studio -- her behaviour once she's here is WAAYYY better.
Without the exercise, she's a bit of a goof.  Trevor says it's like trying to pet a squirrel.

Maude has always had a need to have a blanket/towel with her at all times -- kind of like the Peanuts character Linus.  She drags this thing all over the studio, then almost always settles herself directly behind and under Amy's torch chair.  To Amy's credit, she works around the obstacle -- not so easy when you're trying to get a finished piece into the kiln!

The down side about her is that she's just plain sneaky -- not always in a good way.  When anyone puts their hand down to show any kind of affection to her, she does a couple of licks and then every once in a while she'll follow up with an unsuspecting nip.  We're really working on this, cause well it's pretty bad behaviour, no if's and's or buts about it.  A friend of ours recently pointed out that whenever any one approaches the dog, I frantically blurt out "kisses only Maude, kisses only!!"  Wow, how embarrassing.

The up side is, she is so happy to see Amy and Cynthia when we get to the studio.  She's just so thrilled to see them, each and every time.  Quite often, she'll make this crying squeaky noise, reserved for only those that she sees as her family.


Apr 20, 2010

Dream Jeanie...

Jill and I went out for dinner with Jean (of Nortel fame, mover and shaker in the glass community) to Queen Margherita Pizza, a new place in my hood (Queen St East & Greenwood).  The food was great and it was fun to go out and talk about all things glass... you know because it can get tiring for the boyfriends sometimes!
There are a few projects we've been wanting to help facilitate with Nortel and now we have a plan to help fuel the Bullseye Glass buzz...  we just love it so much and think it's a fantastic glass to work with that we want to share the love with everyone - hopefully our students too!
I you're a flameworker and you've never tried working with Bullseye Glass, we think it's a premium product and we highly recommend working with it.
The Bullseye team has improved their line of flameworking rods significantly since I remember first trying them out when I was at Sheridan, almost 12 years ago but really I was drawn over to the dark side (hah) when I was invited to participate in a group  show Currency at the Bullseye Gallery in 2004.  Ever since then I've been hooked!

Get your greetings here folks... TANK is carrying cards!

It's a perfect fit for Jill and I as we both have a slight obsession for pretty paper products.  It's a fact that the first thing we use to do upon our arrival to Milwaukee, WI (for the annual Bead and Button Show) was go to Broadway Paper, a fantastic paper, cards, sketchbooks and all things colourful and sentimental type shop!  Jill and I have always talked about how we'd love to carry cards, so we thought.. why not?  We had some cards made by our friend Emily Filler (who is also in our building) for an event a while back and they were a big hit... so we're expanding our selection!


We have spent some time going through our card drawers picking over some of our favs and looking online at our most drool worthy letterpress card designers to bring them to you.

So next time are in the need... please come down to the Distillery and paruse our cards, and if you need a little somethin' somethin' to go with that card - we've got you covered for jewelry too!





It's time to get outside...

I'm sitting outside on our back deck and over head is pure blue sky for the second day in a row!  How wonderful.   Yesterday I even had a cat nap in the afternoon sun for a couple hours after enjoying a fresh Mohito with Cynthia.  We spent the morning at Cherry beach with her dog Olive and met loads of other cute, furry (and wet) friends... came back with just a little sand in the bottom of my rolled up jeans!    Above is a bulldog we met who was just hanging out in the water by himself... cooling down and taking it all in.