This is a sketch of one of our current projects.

I want to create a sense of what it’s like to stand at one of the overlooks on Skyline Drive overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains. It’s a windy Fall evening, and the leaves are beginning to fall. A bright full moon fades the Fall colors of the leaves in front of it, while the rest are various shades of red and orange.

The trees express the harsh life of growing high on the mountain ridge. Their roots squeeze between boulders for nourishment and then cling to them during harsh storms. Their trunks twisted from enduring the harsh winds in every direction.

The next step is to gather similar information from several other projects and then visit
the Youghiogheny Opalescent Glass Co. in Connellsville, Penn. There, We’ll spend hours going through crates of glass to find the colors we’ll need.

After that, we will print out full-size patterns, adjust our design, and cut the pattern with pattern shears.

I often tell our patrons that we are more than halfway through a project before we cut the first piece of glass.

“We don’t make them; we create them.”