I am super excited about this brand new product available right now in the shop. 

The punt is that indentation in the bottom of a wine bottle.  Why is it there?  Well, no one can really say, but with the attached magnet it makes a fabulous pin catcher (or needle catcher, or paper clip catcher).

What is on Sale?

Christmas Ornaments

And Everything Else

Use the coupon code CIJ2011 at checkout to get 24% off everything in the Intentional Glass Etsy shop until July 24, 2011

Found materials are so much fun to find and use. They might be something literally picked up off the street, or found in a thrift store, garage sale, flea market or even in the attic or junk drawer. I love playing with discarded bottles, drinking glasses, window panes, even landscaping glass.

Here are five reasons to use found materials:

1. Cost – by their very definition found materials are free, or nearly so .
2. Eco-Friendly – no additional impact to the environment.
3. Element of adventure – what will you find?  where will you find it?  how will you incorporate it into your art/craft?
4. Outside your box – found materials have a special way of stretching, they introduce a different, possibly new ways of thinking of a piece.
5. Adding to a history – my favorite thing about found materials is that they had a life before they came into my hands.  When I use a found bottle, I think about the process to fill that bottle, about the person who drank the bottle, who discarded the bottle.

I love this quote.  It reminds me that each setback is just a learning experience.

I’ve had a couple of setbacks and that has thrown me for a bit of a loop.

1. No car, no babysitter, no shows.  Ok, I know this looks like three, but really it all comes out of the same place.  Our family has one vehicle.  The last show I did my husband ended up working.  I ended up doing the show, but it was a bad, bad day.  The upshot of this is I am doing very few shows (like one, maybe two a year) and focusing my time and energy to selling online.

2. Photography.  I can, and have, taken a good picture or two, but lately my pictures, especially my pictures of glass, suck.  I am not a photographer, but I need to become one, even if just on a very amateur way, especially if the vast majority of my business will be online.

So, I am continuing in a forward motion.  I am working.  I am blogging.  I am getting better.

What are you doing to make forward motion today?

This new collection of one of kind pieces are inspired by little pieces.  Mosaics and patchwork  use little pieces of discarded material, and the same is true for my candle holders.  I keep every odd piece from every project that I do, then I fit them together in a kind of puzzle, matching up color and shape.

Pieced together ready for the kiln

Find the whole collection in the Intentional Glass Etsy Shop

Glass is such a great medium.  It can look very industrial, with sharp corners and exact lines, or it can look organic, like this little votive holder.

Which do you prefer exact lines or flowing organic shapes?  Leave a comment, let me know

Find this lovely votive holder at the Intentional Glass Etsy shop.

I just love this color of glass.  It is so much fun to work with.  A striking color, it turns from a yellow color into this vibrant, saturated tangerine orange with the heat of the kiln.

I think this would look fabulous in an outdoor space with a nice citronella candle burning in it.

Where do you like to use candles?

Brand New Item:  Slumped Glass Candle Holder

I made the candle holder very plain because I wanted to play with the molds.  What do you like to decorate with, plain or ornate?  Leave a comment, let me know.

Check it out in the Intentional Glass Etsy Shop

The first step of any bottle project is the removal of the label.  Here is the way that I do it.  Now, I throw away the labels so an intact label is not my objective, a clean bottle is.

1. Fill a sink or bucket with water as hot as it can get out of the tap.
2. Fill the bottle with the same temperature of water.  This puts the heat on the inside and outside of the bottle.  The heat is what undoes the glue.
3. Let it soak for about 10 minutes.  Attending to the label before the water gets cold is key.
4. Sometimes the label will just float off with the water, but sometimes it takes a little more elbow grease.  The hot water softens most glues, so it just takes a little scraping to get the label off.  I like to use the Pampered Chef nylon pan scraper but a razor blade will work just as well.
5. If there is any residue left on the bottle – some glues are more gluey than others – use an adhesive remover like Goo – Gone or vegetable oil to remove it.

It is Fat Tuesday.  The last day to party before the penance of Lent that starts on Ash Wednesday.   Nobody does a party like New Orleans.  With all of this frivolity and fun, I am feeling oh, so inspired.

The colors

Handspun Yarn by kittygrrlz

The masqarade

Bourbon Street Babe glass mosaic by Red Canyon Glass

The beads, oh the beads

Glass Mardi Gras earrings by Bunique Beads

Find all these great inspirations on Etsy

RedCanyonGlass

KittyGrrlz

BuniqueBeads

-Holly