Lights, Camera, Action-

This past weekend a group of friends and I went to a nice beach resort for an end of summer get together. Of course it had the delicious food, beautiful beach and the other qualities that resorts normally require.

But as usual, I tend to look for the details of a place. What is interesting to me? What might relate into the glass world? Lighting often does. And I was busy snapping photos of their lovely ceiling lights that were metal over glass.

The top photo is of one that I spied in their spa building. The combination of geometric with swirls intrigued me.

The center section reminds
me of blossoms with leaves in a very graphic design way. It fit its surrounding.

I found the second fixture in a more social setting. It too was in a hallway, but near their upscale restaurant. The leafy pattern swagging the side along with the swirly design that has a hint of floral again caught my attention. How would one interpret this pattern? It's much more intricate and less easy to replicate. (not that I'd want the exact one anyhow).

So next time you go out, don't forget to look up.
You might be surprised at what you see. It could be the inspiration for your next bead design.

See you tomorrow for my next blog post on http://www.StudioMarcy.blogspot.com. I have some glass comments that I think you'll enjoy.

Fire Up

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever."

........... Mary Poppins

Okay, so perhaps you don't find this little gorilla beautiful, but there is something that gives me joy every time I hold him. You see, he's one of the members of my lighter collection and fire shoots from his mouth when I push the button.

Pretty cool, huh?

And I have a pig that grunts and has flames come out of his snout...and a firebreathing frog that croaks...and those are just a few of my small collection of kitsch lighters.

I know, glass artists technically are supposed to use strikers. And I generally don't use these lighters for my torch. But there are some days, when I just need a good laugh. I found this cow lighter online which might be suitably amusing to add to the collection too.

Some of my favorites came from an Ace Hardware store. If you don't have them where you live, they are kind of an old school general store that has a little bit of a lot of things. That's where I get my copper wire and tiny corks for vessels too.

So if you see a funny lighter, please post or send me a note so I can see it too. Maybe it will get added to the fledgling collection.

Do you collect something related to your business? I'd love to hear about it. Post links too, if you'd like.

And now that I've talked about my lighters, I guess I'd better go find some fuel so they will work again.

Catch you tomorrow and I promise to talk about glass art. I've got some comments about a product I recently used.