Yesterday was a rejuvenating day for both of us. We had a chance to be inspired and celebrate. First we started with the Richmond Folk
Festival. We ended up only having an
hour, but it was wonderful to sit and listen to swing music for that bit of
time. Next year we hope to see more!
Views of the River from Brown’s Island:
On the way home, we noticed that there were tents set up
outside the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
After relaxing for a few minutes, we decided to walk down and see what
was going on. We happened to walk up
right as glass artist Ryan Gothrup was beginning a
demonstration. He was making a glass
turtle.
He started off with a ball (not sure about the correct terms
here…) of glass, which he then proceeded to texture with a mold and blow into a
ball.
Then he split the ball open to form the top of the shell:
He then proceeded to attach the four claws, the head, and
the tail to the underside of the shell.
You can see him working on the head here. The glass was a different color in the head
because it was hotter at that point.
The last thing he did was make a flat piece for the stomach
of the turtle:
To attach it to the turtle, he just kind of set the turtle
down on top and smooshed.
Here’s the finished turtle!
Here’s a similar turtle that was already finished. The one he was working on had to cool slowly
in a special box so that it wouldn’t crack.
I believe Ryan said that the main furnace was around 2100 degrees - glass
has to cool down from 900 degrees (the approximate temperature after the piece
is done) to room temperature over 8 or 9 hours.
Some other glass pieces:
Ryan was there because there is an exhibition opening next
week from glass artist Chihuly. He
already installed a few pieces, including the glass sculpture in the pool
outside:
One of his more classic glass chandeliers:
After all this, we had a date – dinner and ice cream. Some of our views along the way:
The foliage is beautiful this year! I’m thinking maybe a quilt soon in these
colors…
That glass art is amazing!
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