The Daily Post weekly photo challenge: Waiting
CB&W photo challenge: Shadows
Waiting for the Shadow
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Category Archives: weekly photo challenge
Rush Hour Photo Opp
Stained Glass Production: at the Corner of Art and Environment
Interior corner at the Uroboros Glass studio in Portland, OR.
The art glass industry is facing many changes lately, and it’s hard for me to get on board with the direction things seem to be going, even though I feel like I “should” think it’s all for the better. Even though it IS for the better. Likely.
In the Pacific Northwest where I live, two of the three nearest art glass manufacturers have essentially gone out of business recently, in large part due to newly imposed environmental regulations. Growing concern about poisonous contamination from glass factory operations have led to tighter – and very costly – restrictions on manufacturers, and the expense of implementing the revised safeguards has been crippling to the industry.
Glass bins were nearly empty at the Uroboros Glass factory as of mid-July, 2017
One could question the impetus for such strict mandates: How viable were the environmental studies, and did they provide an accurate depiction of environmental impacts? Was there consideration and investigation of other potential sources of contamination in the tested areas? Are the specific restrictions and requirements that have been imposed actually effective and/or what is needed to improve safe factory operation?
Maybe it simply boils down to “better safe than sorry.” Environmental, ecological and human preservation and safety are paramount, and if the art glass industry has to sacrifice certain hues of glass to contain unhealthy contaminants, then so be it.
A no-brainer, I suppose. But still…
Entry to Uroboros Glass Studio in Portland, OR.
Production of art glass previously produced by the two closed factories, Uroboros Glass and Spectrum Glass, has been taken over by another glass manufacturer, Oceanside Glasstile, and moved to a different, less restrictive location. But that doesn’t really resolve the issues.
There are still myriad choices in color, texture, opacity and other facets of art glass, certainly enough to feed my artistic soul for a long time to come. Perhaps I need to be open to “turning the corner,” and seeing what new “avenues” appear, so to speak; non-toxic avenues that will help sustain ALL of us for a long time to come.
The Daily Post weekly photo challenge: Corner
earth ~ water ~ air ~ fire
earth
volcano erupts
molten rock lunges skyward
gravity defied
water
water unresolved
hovers between sea and sky
foggy dilemma
air
swirled by fickle winds
tinged by sun’s pastel palette
confections aloft
fire
forests breathing fire
evening sky set ablaze as
sun and smoke conspire
The Daily Post weekly photo challenge: Elemental
grinding out an obit
millstone laid to rest
industry ground to a halt
please do not send flours
The Daily Post weekly photo challenge: Textures
What Money Can Buy
I was talking with my eldest daughter the other day (okay, maybe it was more like complaining) about how much I’ve been spending on all my DIY home improvement projects; projects which include reviving the hardwood floors that I discovered under my grungy living room carpet, ripping up the ugly linoleum from my bathroom floor and laying down vinyl tile, making a bathroom sink back splash out of art glass squares, constructing a stained glass privacy panel for the bathroom window, remodeling the kitchen (still in progress), and redoing my dining room to… well, to make it look like a dining room and not a staging area for all my other projects.
dining room
And those are just the indoor projects.
My daughter asked me if spending all that money brings me happiness. ‘Cuz, you know – that whole thing about how money can’t buy you happiness. I didn’t have to ponder that question long at all before giving a resounding “Yes!”
I never had much occasion to practice any handyperson skills up until the past couple of years, so every home improvement project I take on involves a learning process of new skills and knowledge about the workings of “this old house.” (Does that phrase sound familiar? I could probably start my own DIY TV program).
living room floor
The projects have varying levels of success. Some turn out well, some have to be completely redone. Some results are “interesting” and “unique” to say the least, so I just pass those off to my eclectic artistic license and try to imply that that’s where I meant to go with the project – I just didn’t know it until I got there.
Regardless of how I rate the outcomes, I can honestly say the process itself is almost entirely fun and satisfying. I love the challenge, the chance to research and learn new things, the hands-on real world application of what I learn, and the gratification of a daily tangible result.
kitchen
So despite my complaints about the cost of my myriad DIY projects, it is indeed money well spent. It buys a more comfortable, appealing home atmosphere. It buys an “experience” in addition to paying for material goods. And – you might well say – it buys me happiness.
bathroom sink glass back splash
The Daily Post weekly photo challenge: Satisfaction
glass palette
base metals to glass
transmuted in fiery maw
alchemist’s magic
The Daily Post weekly photo challenge: Collage
just the four of us
early morning walk
shadowed by fleeting shadows
come noon they’ll be gone
The Daily Post weekly photo challenge: Transient
Staying Focused
It’s challenging when you have a one-track mind trying to switch between several trains of thought whilst going full steam. (Yes, I railroaded that sentence to be engineered for maximum punnage.)
With the improved weather, I’ve begun working on some landscaping projects in my back yard. I go outside and putter around during the cool mornings. Then when it gets too warm for yard work, I come indoors and putter around with my DIY home impairment projects.
In the back of my mind, though, perched between “do the dishes” and “give the pets their monthly flea prevention treatments,” is the niggling thought that I should write a post for this blog.
Should. Want to. Wish I could. Would if only… Will once I get the dishes done and the pets treated. Definitely will when I can stop and focus.
Ay, therein lies the rub (as Hamlet is misquoted to have said): focus.
Speaking of which (Hamlet being the “which” in this instance), it’s past my bedtime and so I must go “[t]o sleep perchance to dream.” Maybe I will be better able to focus in the morning and then I can finish this post about —
um… what was I writing about? Trains? Putters? Shakespeare?
Oh, well. It’ll come to me. Right now I think I’d better conduct my caboose off to bed.
The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: Focus
Order to Go
It’s not an order, necessarily,
nor a mere suggestion.
It’s something in between.
Maybe an insistent affirmation that
you can do this, so…
do it!
So when the coach gives the order to go,
I go, knowing that yes, I can do this,
and knowing that – in short order –
I’ll be able to do even more.
That’s just the order of things in life.
The Daily Post weekly photo challenge: Order
What Rhymes with Stanza? 