Fireseed and The Blue Sky Caravan: First Get-Together of Ottawa Group!

Last Saturday was the first get-together of our Ottawa group of lampworkers! It was great to finally get to meet people and see what we are all up to.

Jen Muise very kindly invited us all over to her house for the evening. Ontario winter weather being what it is, the snow started coming down about half an hour before I was due to leave home, making me a little nervous about the whole thing as Jen is almost two hours from me. Thanks to Grace Edwards, I had only to go as far as Barrhaven (about half way), Grace has recently moved to the area, so I drove to her house and we went together in her car from there.

Here we all are -

From left to right -
Grace, myself, Jen, Lee-Anne, Paul, Lou and Valentina!

Lee-Anne and Paul I had met last fall at the Carp Farmer's Market, so it was a nice surprise to see them again, and to have more time to admire their beads, and their bead collection. It was wonderful to finally get to meet Valentina who I met 'virtually' on the Canadian Lampwork Forum, she came with Lou, who I know is a poet and suspect he does some other interesting things as well. Valentina brought some of her amazing Chain Maille, Oh my goodness!! It is sooo beautiful, I've no idea how she has the patience to put all those rings together. You can see Valentina's creations here .

Grace is the Lauscha Lady, she sells Lauscha Glass here in Canada, and has just started carrying Double Helix Glass as well, which is pretty exciting because that glass can do some amazing things. Grace's speciality are her wonderful floral beads , click the link to check them out. Jen began lampworking ten years ago, and it's hard to imagine what it must have been like back then, she said she started out on a plumber's torch! -- You've come a long way Jen!

I have the feeling this could be the start of something really good, just being able to get together with someone else who's as consumed about melting glass as I am is exciting! Hopefully next time our member's who weren't able to make this meeting will be able to come out to play too.

Jen gave us her Studio tour and kindly did a demo on making murrini - here are a few pictures of her making the number 5.