Glass Blowing studio visit in Rotorua

My photography friend Sharon Love and I  went for a  short photo shoot on Friday morning to the de Flute Glass Studio and Gallery  in Fairy Springs Road, ( Opposite Skyline Skyrides),   Rotorua.

We were aiming  to get some award winning shots  for the next  Rotorua Camera Club competition on glass.

It was great to go to another artists studio to see Ron  Van der Vlugt doing his demonstration.
It was really theatrical and full of drama.
The studio is lovely and  warm  in winter.

              View into the interior of a large blue bowl.

                                         Ron doing his glass blowing demonstrations.
                                                  Very friendly and very informative

Lovely Christmas balls that would be great gifts for any occasion. 

                                                          A vase looking like

                                                                     a beautuiful

                                                                    Lava Flow

                         Bowl looking like a lake and volcanic eruption

                                                                        Glass balls 1

                                            Glass balls 2

                                                 Edge of a plate ( segment) amazing translucence.

                                                            Interior of a glass ball

                                                                    Romantic Glass hearts

                                                                 View of  Gallery shop 1

                                 View of Gallery  shop 2
I could almost have stayed a whole day,  but I had to get back as  to my studio I am doing a mosaic making demonstration for  television on Monday and I needed to do a big Spring  clean.

I often run mosaic making demonstrations for garden Circle members and clubs from all over New Zealand . I charge  an entry fee and have group concessions. 

Visitors  from out of town and all over the word usually ask me where else they can visit art wise and I  recommend that go to  Ron's studio as well, since it's not too far away and it relates to the sort of work I do with glass mosaics.
                                     
So if you are visiting Rotorua and you want to see a classy, glass artist in action visit de Flute Glass and buy a special piece of one off,  hand made glass that is unique to Rotorua.
Here are his details. 

	ron@defluteglass.co.nz
Address		153 Fairy Springs Road Rotorua New Zealand View Map
Phone/fax		0064 7 349 0096
Hours		9.30am - 5pm de Flute Glass is open to the public Wednesday - Sunday. Watch molten glass being transformed into glass art.

You can see his website on   www.defluteglass.co.nz/rotorua.html


Creativity Quote of the day
Each of us is carving a stone, erecting a column, or cutting a piece of stained glass in the construction of something much bigger than ourselves.
Adrienne Clarkson

Being careful about what you write, you never get a second chance to represent yourself as a saint.

A teacher I greatly respected wrote this poem in my friendship book when I was eight. 
Her name was Miss Sayer and she was beautiful, like an angel with dark curly hair and kind green eyes.
I have never forgotten her words.

You tell on yourself by the way you walk
By the things on which you delight to talk
By the manner in which you bear defeat
By so simple a thing as how you eat.

 
A family who eats together, stays together... can't see any elbows on tables here, just great, perfectly mannered dinner companions.

 Twenty rules that I grew up with during meal times.


1. Always say grace before eating.
2. No elbows on the table.
3. No chewing  with your mouth open. 
4. No putting your fingers on the blade
5. No bolting down food.
6. No reaching across the table.
7. Keep your elbows tucked in when eating
8. No scraping knives on the plates.
9. No turning over your fork to pick up peas.
10. Finish all of your vegetables before dessert. 
11. No calling dessert pudding.
12. Always ask for things to be passed and always say please and thank you.
13. Always show appreciation to your mother  for cooking a lovely meal. 
14. No leaving the table until asking permission, using the words, please may I be excused.
15. Always do the dishes, never leave any in the sink
16. Always eat dinner at the table except on fathers Rotary night when fish and chips on your knees infront of the television is ok
17. Don't slip pieces of meat to your cat who is sitting beside you under the table.
18. Don't talk with your mouth full
19.Don't slurp soup
20. Speak when spoken to and don't interrupt adults conversations.


      Honesty seeds

To my mind the things upon which you delight to talk (and by inference write) are way more important than having perfect table manners, although I  suppose they are important if you are at a formal function.

 I do appreciate people however who have well behaved and polite children, they are so much easier to teach.

 You never know who will be reading your posts...cyber space is just one huge field of possibility...so be careful what you write.

 My mission statement is to keep it positive, keep it simple, keep it uplifting,  keep it free from cynicism and keep it creative.
And don't nag about things that don't matter like how many peas are piled up on your fork.

"Happy wife, happy life" is another saying I stumbled across the other day and  I believe it to be the truth in our house. 

 My husband has certainly found it to be so.


Holidays are sacrosanct, leaving  Rotorua to have  fun times and smell the roses instead of the sulphur helps with creativity.


 Holidays are great for combatting stress.

 

 Who has time to be stressed  when you can breathe in fresh salty air?
Ohiwa  Harbour Holiday; I recommend the camping ground.
So much fun and it's so quiet in the off season and it's reasonably priced.


Creativity Quote of the Day
Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.
Mother Teresa


As long as you as an individual... can convince yourself that in order to move forward as best you can you have to be optimistic, you can be described as 'one of the faithful,' one of those people who can say, 'Well, look, something's going to happen! Let's just keep trying. Let's not give up.
Tom Hanks

Photographic sequences, take out your camera and stalk a friend

Background
My husband Graham and I sometimes go  down to Kuirau Park market about 9am on a Saturday.
We  buy some samosas at the Indain stand closest to the foot baths, (me vegetarian, him meat) and sit down with our feet in  the  thermal water, while munching.

 The story
I took Wieland (photographer) to Kuirau Park market one Autumn morning for a photoshoot for a video I  was envisaging creating.
  He didn't want to try the samosas so I  sat with mine beside the footbaths.

                           It  was a perfect day,  a perfect time for  "people shooting"

                  The birds were singing, the sun was out,  the steam was billowing
              
                   But then suddedly someone else unexpectedly popped into the picture. 
               
                      

                  You were too busy capturing the way the light was dancing on steam

                                 to notice the stalker

                              Until it was too late and she had  rubbed her tail against your leg.
                               

 It's important to have good interpersonal skills when you are the Kuirau park tabby

                             because you are never quite sure whether your next meal or scratch

               is coming or going.

The world is full of friends you haven't met yet.

"Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend."Albert Camus

Surely someone around here has something for a kitty for breakfast, they should carry pieces of smoked fish  around in their pockets instead of smart phones .

   Smart phones  kill conversation with people who are present and they don't smell anywhere near as nice as smoked fish.

           Alone time is just as important as together time

    But not for long

     Maybe if I pose well enough

                           a picture of me will be

    make it onto the front cover of a

 Friskeys Cat Biscuit box.





What's happening as a consequence of me trolling through my photo archives and embellishing  this story? 

I'm going back there this Saturday, with my husband at 9am if he isn't working; because  I have made myself very hungry writing this post.
Maybe I can get a good sequence with him doing something exciting like devouring six meaty samosas.

 Well yes folks  we did go to Kuirau Park market yesterday for a  Samosa eating adventure.

 I know you've all been sitting on the edge of your computer seats waiting for it.

                          Of course it's an indulgence you probably wouldn't  have every day or you'd be as             big   as                        a  giant samosa.

                            But once in a while it's lovely. The warmth of the water on your feet

                                  the warmth of the samosa in your tummy

                            The aromatic smell of samosas mixed

                          with sulpherous steam from the bubbling  thermal waters.

                             It's heaven;  there's no doubt about it.

Family Outing.
Going to the Kuirau Park market is a fantastic idea for a family outing, or a date with your significant other or someone you would like to be significant with.
It's inexpensive and  it's a great melting pot of  food and people.
You can try all sorts of  other morsels at reasonable prices, (it doesn't have to be about samosas and if you are a health  nut there are tons of veges to choose from that are super big, super well priced and super fresh).
It's run by Rotary North Club so the profits go back to the community.


There are creative gems in your own back yard; you just need to get out a metaphorical spade and dig them up.


Creative Cat Quotes of the day 
Don't think that I'm silly for liking it, I just happen to like the simple little things, and I love cats! - Michelle Gardner

 Cats do not have to be shown how to have a good time, for they are unfailing ingenious in that respect. - James Mason

God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style, He just goes on trying other things. - Pablo Picasso