The Journey

My Glass Beginning

This Won't Take Long ~ lol

 

I've read a lot of artists bio's and statements and there are some wonderfully told journey's out there... mine is pretty simple.  As a child my entertainment ~besides tv~ were things creative.  I was no artistic prodigy but I played with a lot of mediums; crochet, needle point, painting (I mention humbly) but when I started living in the adult world and had to work there was rarely money for craft supplies.  Sometimes I'd get a very strong urge to create so I'd pull out some old pastels I had and I'd doodle but that was about it.

 

Fast-Forward a whole bunch of years later... I buy my first home and after a few years I begin building a fence to enclose my considerable back yard area for privacy and so my kitties could have a safe haven (I live next to a park and there are often dogs playing there who are very happy to find kitty chasing entertainment close by).  I find the fence building extremely satisfying and though I've been on an internal journey to find a new way to make a living that I can be passionate about I have no idea what that could be.  But my attention has been drawn to how much I've enjoyed building my fence ~ there is a creative awakening happening inside me ~ and there's this wind chime on my back door that my dear friend Beth gave me and it chimes each time I go in and out of my house to work on my fence.

 

 

Then one day I started thinking about how easy it would be to make that wind chime myself... and to condense an approximate two year journey from thinking I could make wind chimes and stained glass items to sell in our very strong Alaskan tourist market to discovering glass fusing and finally glass bead making here I am...   

Glass Firenze opened its doors on June 8th 2007 and as of this writing I have been open one year and what a year it has been!  I'd never known such fulfillment through my work and I encourage anyone who is reading this wondering if they can make their dreams happen to believe in theirself and their dreams will come true. 

 

In this past year, and I know in the years to come, I have met some wonderful Alaskan Lampwork artists and a lot of Alaskan's who were curious about glass bead making and had a chance to try it out.  I've met artists whose work I've admired since first discovering "hot glass" and I LOVE the sense of community and creativity my little studio inspires.

This Journey has just begun and I can not recall a time in my life so full of joy and promise!

 

As a side note:  People ask about the name of my studio...  Well, I'm more than a bit in love with Italy and beyond being a play on words as Firenze sounds like Frenzy which Glass sends us all into...

 "Firenze" is the Italian word for "Florence" and "Florence" means.....

 

"to flower in the sense of a blossom or prosperous, flourishing"

~ And most certainly I feel I have blossomed ~

 

I hope to see you here sometime soon to join in the fun!!

With Love,

Deborah xoxo :-)