Bill ~ In his natural habitat ~ playing with fire

Lady Rainforest

Emerald Forest

New lampwork jewelry designs in our store

We upgraded our "Wine ~O" accessories section at our store and have new wine bottle stoppers

I have updated my web site to ad a “peek inside our store” page

http://www.sonshyne.com/Store/AHG.htm

My plan is to update it as things change and I also hope to keep better updates on this blog.

New to our store ~ I just finished a necklace design and call it Rainforest peace ~ I love the little flat gem stones they have colors of the earth. Ok ~ yup getting into my inner hippy here and I am not afraid to say it ~ Peace baby :-)

We have a new sign ~ Thank you Jackie :-)

This was a wonderful collaboration of efforts. I created the graphics. My sister-in-law, Jackie Lease printed the graphics and Bill made the sign frame.

Thank you Jackie for such a beautiful printing job :-).

Jackie’s company is “Signs Here, in Bozeman, Montana.

Fish stories

A customer came in the shop asking for Bill. I told him Bill was in back cleaning fish. Then I had to add ~ we are no Pikes Market of the Bitterroot ~ he is cleaning bead release out of the fish he just pulled from the kiln.

Wine~O accessories

I have expanded our Wine~O accessories section at the store to include gift sets. I hope to make several of these to sell at our Saturday market.

Sea Turtles ~ not just for Jack Sparrow to ride on

I have been making different little glass animals for our store, my favorite creations are sea turtles. I was very sad when I discover a small crack on one of my little sea turtles. Usually cracked glass goes out into the garden. I couldn’t bear to part with this cute little guy so I glued him on one of our stone displays. This gave me the idea of making sea turtles on stones bases.

Mini version of our outdoor market

Now that the weather is getting nicer we have decided to set up a little display table outside of our store. This can be seen from the road. The outside display table is also a throwback from the Saturday Market we have done in Missoula. We love the outdoor event and the way our glass looks outside in the sun.

Bill has installed a small torch set up in our store and gives torch demos on Saturdays.

We have a steaming video showing how a marble is made ~ but people wanted to see the real flames. Now they can.

New items added to our “Wino Accessories” This is a “Fish Bottle Bling” it is a cork for wine and champagne bottles that need to go into the refrigerator and long term storage.

We have added Birdhouses to our little box store. My dad (Richard Lease) makes these and he calls them “Forever Bird Houses”. They are designed and built to last forever.

Deck the halls with Dragons and Trolls

After I used one of my sons old Christmas stockings to help display our welcome sign ~ I stood back and realized we have decorated our shop with Dragons and Trolls :-)

Aspen Hot Glass ~ Christmas Cards

When I was first studying art in Seattle I wanted to design for Greeting card companies. Now some 10+ years later I design cards for our glass company and give a free card with every gift. This has been a blast for me and I feel I can scratch off a line on my bucket list :-).

This year I created 3 new Christmas cards and hope to continue the trend with new designs every year.

Aspen Hot Glass ~ Santa’s Subcontractors

Christmas is upon us and Bill and I feel like we are subcontractors for Santa Claus. Our store has been like our “beach cabin” get away that allows us to dream big and in the process we have been developing new products. Bill has been getting back into making glass icicles and I have been making cork top bottle stoppers for long-term storage of wine and champagne that easy go into he refrigerator.

These are called “Wine Bottle Bling”

I also have expanded my wine accessories sections and added a “Wine Box Bling” for my friends that drink boxed wine. Bill has set up a small torch station at the store and has been doing torch demos on Saturdays. Last Saturday he made several of his little fish. As I was turning his fish into pendants I put one on top of one of my wine corks and now we have “Fish Bottle Bling” for wine bottles too. What does it mean when all things I do right now go into wine accessories?

New Pictures of our store “Aspen Hot Glass ~ Made in Montana ~ Gift and Gallery”

Images from our new store ~ Aspen Hot Glass ~ Gift and Gallery

Open sign with our dragon Harmony

The office

This is our Geek sign ~ in is a short story of Bill and Rae's live ~ before and after life as glass artists.

So far we only have our glass in the shop. After our Saturday market ends in October we hope to have Fire Creek's Glass, a guy who makes guitars out of cigar boxes and a metal working artist. All hand made in Montana art. I will post more pictures as we update our shop.

Aspen Hot Glass ~ Made in Montana Gifts and Gallery

This is the new home of

Aspen Hot Glass ~ Made in Montana Gifts and Gallery.

I feel like we have given birth to a new baby store :-).

This is our neighbor and landlord ~ “The Brooks”

We are located at 1072 Eastside Highway, Corvallis, Montana

Stay tuned of updates on the progress of this evolution :-).

The doors officially open on August 17.

Aspen Hot Glass T-shirts are here :-)

My nephew Colter Lease has a new company named HipJaw ~ he does custom apparel printing. I gave him a digital image of the dragon logo I designed for Aspen Hot Glass and he silk-screened t-shirts for us. I love how he was able to capture the depth of colors and textures in the silk screening process. This is not your grandpas silk screening process with squeegees, frames and pin alignment systems. This is a whole new gig. Our Aspen Hot Glass dragon shirts sell for $18.00 + shipping and can be purchased by e-mailing me at rae@aspenhotglass.com or soon Colter will have a web site with an order page. He will have this shirt and so much more to choose from.

Compassion For Enduring Carrots

This weekend I painted carrots and greens on our bunny hutch with 2 carrots in a loving embrace. Last year I pulled carrots out of the ground that were intertwined as if they were holding on to each other in a tender hug. When I find carrots like this I don’t put them in my basket with the other carrots that will eventually be eaten. I put carrots that are in an enduring embrace into the compost bin allowing them to grow old together.