Decorating

Bowls, crystal or glass, are beautiful things to decorate with. I notice a lot of glass being used for decoration lately. It can be functional and beautiful. When the bowl or vase is empty it can still be stunning when the light catches the glass or even better when it has a design or some special meaning engraved on it. I do quite a few bowls for wedding and special anniversary gifts or just decorative pieces to dress up a room. A bowl can be a wonderful commemorative piece as well. These bowls shown, have a west coast flavor to them. They were both commissioned wedding gifts. They are intaglio engraved, which means they are quite deeply carved into the thick glass and have a very 3 dimensional look to them. They become functional art pieces.

Signs of Spring!

The snowdrops are a first sign of spring in my gardens, I love them and they are very pretty engraved as well. This is a little candle holder available in my studio should anyone need a spring gift or just something sweet on your table. I have several projects on the go at the same time with different deadlines. I look forward to sharing them with everyone. As spring comes on and the weather gets nice the energy picks up and more people venture out and about. Most of my work so far has come from word of mouth advertising and I`ve been pretty low key so far, however I will be venturing out quite a lot from now on. This year I have started a custom engraving business and have yellow page advertising coming out soon. My job is to educate people about hand engraved glass. All the engraving in my area is machine engraving and I`m always very excited to show people what I do. I love belonging to the guild of glass engravers and am very proud to be an elected craft member. My advertising mentions the guild and I like to share it with people and get people in my neck of the woods interested in hand engraved glass. I have several precious patrons who frequent my studio for their gift needs and are always tooting my horn out there to others. The 2010 Olympics are in our area this year, very crazy in Vancouver now. The weather is not co-operating unfortunately too wet and mild. We are located about a 5- 6 hour drive away. There is quite a buzz in the air!

Cherubs for Valentine`s day

This little cherub paperweight is heart shaped and multifaceted to shoot rainbows as it catches the light. This one is currently available in my studio should someone wonder in for a gift for their sweetheart. I always engrave as much as I can in between commissions, for people who would like to stop in and buy a gift or pick it on line and I can send it. I will post these items periodically on this site for spontaneous buyers. Everything that is left at the end of the year will be available at the Naramata Christmas craft fair held every year at our beautiful Heritage Hotel on the Lake. This paperweight could have a name added to it as well. Of course cherubs are very popular for Valentine`s day gifts, also botanical vases, a perfume bottle engraved with the name of your sweetheart would be fabulous as well. I also like using recycled pieces of thick glass for paperweights and recycled eye glass lenses to make pendants. I have quite a lot of glass that are scrap pieces that I love to reuse and make them beautiful. Happy Valentine`s Day to everyone and don`t forget a little special something for the one you love.

The Rose and the Robin`s Nest

This is a decanter, custom engraved with a combination of stone and diamond burrs. It has a very special personal meaning to the client. She designed it and I brought it to life. With a marker she loosely gave it shape and placement on the decanter, which then made it very easy for me to jump in and engrave it. I love working with my clients this way, it gives me a clear idea and a jumping off point with confidence that you know its pretty much exactly what they vision. Bringing it to life is the fun part for me. Then my excitement for them to see it and love it is very rewarding to me and the reason I love the custom work. I added the ladybug on the stem because there is always lady bugs appearing in her house. Her house is surrounded by gardens in a rural community, so the ladybugs are dear and welcome little creatures who get free rides out to the garden on the roses where they belong.

Meconopsis benecifolia

This is a small vase with a lightly engraved Himalayan blue poppy. When you peek through the top it looks like its just about to unfold. The lettering is very simple and plain around the top of the vase. This was a sweet little thing to engrave, my client spotted the vase and visioned this flower on it. Quite often the glass will tell you what to put on it, because of its shape and essence.

Where the magic happens

My little working studio sits on the creek, its very tiny and not much of a show room, however it exudes ambiance and magic in its beautiful setting. How can I not be creative there! The internet is more of a showroom for me on my website www.marlenemoloneyglass.com or the guild site www.gge.org.uk or my blog. Its nice to have this blog for updates as someone else controls my website so I don`t have immediate access. My dear spouse Tom, my best friend, biggest fan and promoter made this space for me to work in. He also built a little area beside the studio we call the zen zone. A very private place to sit very close to the creek and enjoy nature. Perfect for uninterrupted meditation. Tom walks 10 km everyday on Naramata road for exercise and his meditation. He just made the 25,000 km mark walking that road! I try to do a regular yoga practice, however not nearly as dedicated as he. He also manages to give out my business cards at the same time! Our community of Naramata is quite small, a very magical place where many artists and craftspeople live. However, we have been discovered and now many new, very large and amazing homes are being built in our community. I`m very forturnate to be one of the local artists who are being sought out to create special features for these homes. I have a commission for two glass wine cellar doors as an up and coming project and Very pleased about it.

The Guild of Glass engravers just pointed out in our members forum that an engraved goblet by Laurence Whistler, the first president of the guild, has just been sold at auction for lb 6,600 , which is about $12,000.00. Awesome!! To view go to www.bonhams.com, go to sales results, go to past sales, put in 16 December 2009, go to 16901 New Bond Street go to lot 131, show details.

My last two completed pieces are heading to Vancouver as I`m writing this and once the owner receives them, I will post them. Right now a pet memorial is in progress.

My Studio