This is a strange time. There are days when I love not having to go anywhere. Days when I feel blessed to have a studio to hide in and paint. Extra days I have to catch up on projects. Days just to be lazy. Yet there are days when I feel the heaviness of this pandemic. Days when I don't understand why my breathing is different. Days when I just feel down. Can this be me? I don't worry, I don't stress, I have it easy compared to many. Deep down it still affects all of us. I try to keep my home life as normal as possible. I get up early, put on some makeup, and always earrings. My table is always set pretty, and cooking has become very creative. There are fresh-baked loaves of bread, homemade pizza, cookies, soups, and sauces. I always love to cook, but more time has given me the freedom to explore. This is good, right? Yet, something is still missing. Family, friends, neighbors, cocktail hour, grandchildren, dinner out, all that keeps us sane. I have decided not to waste this precious gift of time, so when we are all back to normal, I can spend every minute with family and friends.
My project this past weekend: Years back while attending the High Point Furniture Market in NC, I spotted a chandelier in the Lee Industries showroom. Never have I been this intrigued with a lighting fixture. This was creativity at its highest level. It was big and covered with small antique bottles. While I could not have this one, my mind started planning how I could get the look on my twig chandelier at home.
The twig chandelier was purchased for a Designer Showhouse we did in 2001. When the showhouse was over I bought it home and installed in our foyer. Although it was love, at first sight, I had already given it a makeover with a box of yard sale crystals.
Returning home from Highpoint I immediately started hunting down old glass bottles, purchased a spool of brass wire, and then put everything away. My Interior Design business was crazy and finding time for projects was not happening. This project was shelved for many years.
I have always collected colored bottles. I enjoy seeing the sunshine through the glass when in a window.
Many of these bottles were unearthed in the waterways around Somers Point by my son. The Bay was once a dump for the locals.
These bottles are from Clevenger Glass, which was started in a backyard by two brothers in Clayton, NJ, during the Great Depression. My mother and sister would visit the shop in the late '50s. They were the last of the old-time glassblowers of South Jersey.
Wheaton Glass was also a local business. The miniature bottles I keep are from them. Piling up in glass vases is my way of displaying them.
Some of my windows hold ceramic. I think its the color that attracts me. These are Vermont pottery syrup bottles.
This is the finished project…
I plan on adding a few more bottles, but for now, it is done and giving me a little pleasure every time I pass by. Just what I needed.
Now deciding what I can get into this week. Stay safe!