Sallye and Ted headed out Friday afternoon for the Eastern Shore of Virginia to attend a fundraising event for Shelter 2.0, who's goal is to "Shelter the 100 million homeless people in the world while creating education and economic opportunity to help those in need provide for themselves"

For this California Girl, it was great to see the sun set over water as we crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. 



















Saturday, we headed to the Chatham Vineyards  and had a chance to check out the shelters  (That's Sallye in the turquoise cowboy boots.) The structure is cut out on a ShopBot CNC machine, and the flat packs can be shipped to wherever housing is needed (like Haiti) in the box shown alongside  Bill Young, designer and mover and shaker, is on the left behind the box.  The food, steamed clams and oysters    and BBQ, was great.  The band, Jim Fabricatore and Friends, was fabulous.  Even better was sheltering from the wind inside the shelter.   Jon Santiago (on right, with Ted Hall from ShopBot Tools) took the bus down from NY, and others came up from Florida to support Robert Bridges (center)  in his efforts with Shelter 2.0.    

As wonderful as the event was, it was also great to return to the Charlotte Hotel in Onancock and get warm.

Snow fell on Saturday, which may have dampened the attendance at the Art For Ellerbe Creek show held at the King's Daughter's Home B&B in downtown Durham. But it was beautiful.  And, it was fun to talk with friends, old and new, who did stop by the show.  

The snow in the trees made dawn breaking over the studio on Sunday morning an amazing sight. Even better, the electricity was back on, though an evening of forced relaxation by the fire, eating steamed oysters (thank you, Susie) and reading novels by LED headlamp was not a bad thing. A walk around the Lockridge Community Sunday morning was breathtakingly (choose one) a:beautiful b:cold c:both of the above

Monday, snow or snow, I headed out to the unheated barn to rev up the ShopBot to complete a project for Liberty Arts  At least the below-freezing temperatures meant that I didn't have to blow cold air on the bit to keep it from overheating while cutting out the aluminum plaques for NCCU's Centennial Celebration.  Ice formed on the plaques as soon as the water to wash them stopped running...brrr.  They will be brush-finished and soldered to posts before being placed in location at the NCCU Centennial Garden on Fayetteville St.

As of Friday, there is still snow in places.  A friend told me that her grandmother used to say "It's layin' around, waiting for more."  Hmm.  'Glad the heat in the studio has been fixed. 

One type of glass which adds a sparkle to everything from jewelry to table ware is called dichroic glass.  It is expensive because of the materials used to produce the glass (often a metallic coating such as titanium) and the process in which it is created (fired in a reduction kiln).  But, it is worth the effort and cost.  It's called dichroic because it changes color, depending upon whether the light is transmitted through the glass, or reflected off of the glass. If you want to know more, there's always google or bing. 

Below are a few examples of recent work that has taken advantage of the beauty of dichroic glass.

One customer requested another set of 6 Diet Dessert Plates so that half of her Thanksgiving guests wouldn't have to use her "ugly plain plates." Notice the dragon fly in each plate made with dichroic glass on clear.
 
Tomorrow, Hannekah begins. In celebration, Suri made a wonderful Menorrah plate with candles made with dichroic glass on black. 

I want to say Thank You to a friend who traveled a long distance to purchase the dichroic glass and send it to the studio.  You have made a lot of people happy.