It's the Little Things

“To see the world in a grain of sand, and heaven in a wild flower,” said William Blake. Magnified 250 times common sand which is found found all over our Earth takes myriad forms and striking colors.

What is sand? Where does it come from?  Sand is tiny fragments of rock that have been worn away over thousands of years.

Contrary to popular belief, sand is made as rocks crash and break in rivers and streams on their way to the sea, rather than the ebb and flow of the tides.

Deposits left by breaking rocks in the sea turns to silt and is much lighter so is dispersed over a much wider area out to sea, rather than on the shore line.

Some of the rock is soluble, but other bits remain and as they are slowly rubbed down over time they get smaller and smaller until, Voila! C’est magnifique! 

So next time you are at the beach or a bit of bare ground shows itself to you as sand, take a moment to contemplate it's complex history.

Glass making sand at Nourot Studio comes in two forms. We get it in big bags, really big bags of 50Kg (110 lbs) each.  Times were when we would get a half rail car full. Hence the dilapidated fork lift in our yard. 

Did you know how important the source of the sand for making glass is? The grain size and shape effects the fining of the batch, so a certain color to be melted calls for a certain kind of sand. 

Scarlet Nova® glass by Nourot is made with a particular grain size.  The atmosphere above the melting glass is just as important, too. But let us leave that for another day.

Go see the beautiful images of sand grains at the link below.  Also read the Michael Weland book about the history of sand.  Truly it had an effect on where people settled, how they could develop products for market and even warfare. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2011471/Pictures-sand-Close-photographs-reveal-incredible-beauty.html
Picture: Scarlet Nova® and Red Satin Glass® in the Nourot Gallery, Benicia, California

A Lovely Something That Nobody Needs

Crafts in America, the frontier we choose to explore here at Benician Glass.  This time it brings us to comedy. "A lovely something that nobody needs" is what comedienne Amy Sedaris calls her creations.
Today we want you to know this news:  the cat is out of the bag:  Amy Sedaris is our new BFF. She's taken the craft DIY trend and done a terrifically comic send up in her new book: Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People. 

While in San Jose last month with Buyer's Market of American Crafts show promoter Wendy Rosen, we thought it'd be apt to have Ms Sedaris attend the winter Buyers Market and well, justify.  Or at the very least get us Fine Craft people to laugh at ourselves.

Now that wish has become a reality. Wendy Rosen pulled a few strings, apparently. Or Sedaris and her team think that we crafters will find her jokey, hokey book on crafting at home with basically found objects hilarious.
It is campy, sure, but really funny and smart; just like her. If you doubt her smarts, just watch her with Martha Stewart on Youtube, it's hilarious.

Also appearing at the winter Buyer's Market is nationally recognized public relations entrepreneur and consultant Peter Shankman.   His expertise is more in the information gathering arena. His "Help a Reporter Out" project is actually a media "matchmaking" service.  Journalists seeking an expert to quote post their "needs", and businesses reply. Let's hope these facts are not too open sourced!  He has also written books on innovative ways to get promotion.

The Buyers Market of American Crafts is in Philadelphia February Feb. 18-21, 2011.  There will be a special Jewelry Preview February 17, 2011.  Other daily seminars on retailing are scheduled at the Buyers Market, including a presentation on visual merchandising by Patricia Norins, publisher of Gift Shop magazine and Green Retailer.