Sunday, March 01, 2009

Theme Day: Glass


Photo & Text Copyright 2009 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.

Glass is the City Daily Photo Bloggers' choice for March's theme day. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants around the globe. The Pacific Northwest is known for its excellent glass artistry, but I thought of a humble but popular little product that is widely adored in these parts. Seattle's own "glassybaby" studio in the Madrona neighborhood produces these useful, strong and beautiful creations with a purpose: to "lift bad moods and loneliness. . .a metaphor to symbolize hope. . ." Their designer, Lee Rhodes, is a three time cancer survivor and donates 10% of specific colors' sales through her goodwill program to benefit local and national organizations contributing to cancer patient care and cancer research. People use glassybabies for drinking glasses and vases, but my favorite use is as a small tea light votive. When several are lit in a grouping, it is very peaceful and lovely. I dedicate this post to Jim and fam in Chico with love and candles dancing brightly with prayers for healing and restored full health.

32 comments:

Shell Sherree said...

If I ever travel there, those glassbabies will be on my list of things worth the angst of bringing back in carry on luggage. The colours are gorgeous and such a touching story behind them. Your montage also took me back to my trip to Murano in Venice many moons ago. Thanks, Kim.

~tanty~ said...

Wow, so details!
Wonderful photo for the theme.

Carraol said...

Beautiful collage of these colorful glass works!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful Kim! Just perfect for this theme day. Cheers!

Stefan Jansson said...

Nice glass collage Kim.

Jilly said...

You never do less than astound me, Kim. Such gorgeous photography, and so much to see in this collage - how the glass is made, those wondrous colours. Perfect. A super post for today. Love the name of the place too.

Anonymous said...

This is the beginning process and well done post. I like the whole idea of taking sand and making it into beautiful glass. Very nice post, Kim. Glassbaby.com is a neat place too.

Ben Nakagawa said...

I could have one of those. Very nice.

Zannnie said...

Beautifully written post, Kim!
And thanks for popping by and sending your kind regards as I found them on www.singaporedailyphoto.com, I've replied to your comment there too;)

I'm now living in Budapest and Neo has been my co-author in Singapore for a couple of months by now...

Happy Theme day and wish you and your friend good health too! Nice glass shots!

cieldequimper said...

Wonderful choice and great collage. Thanks!

brattcat said...

thank you, kim, for a great post. allow me to extend wishes for full health to the entire cdpb community and their loved ones.

Anonymous said...

Seattle has such fabulous art glass! Our glass photo today also features art glass.

Shantaram said...

Beautiful!

Marie-Noyale said...

You did it again,
an interesting and colorful choice for the Theme day.
I went to see their site ,it's so beautiful,and for a fan of color like me,it's a pleasure to look at. I would love to use them as everyday tumblers but it's a little expensive...
one or two votives is better.
I really liked your choice.

Denton said...

Hi Kim, your collage is great ... it is colorful and very interesting as well as sharing detail about Seattle and the Pacific Northwest.

PS: I have enjoyed many of your photos lately and just not found the time to comment. I especially enjoyed your February 23rd photo.

Saretta said...

Such pretty colors for drinking glasses...and a lovely concept behind them! Thanks for sharing the process too.

Clueless in Boston said...

Yours will probably be the only one showing the manufacture of glass. Wish I had thought to dig out one of my photos of glass blowing. Great choice for theme day!

Virginia said...

Well you just blew us our of the water on this one KIm.
I want a glassybaby in EVERY color please. GORGEOUS!!!
V

Laurie Allee said...

Gorgeous!

Julie ScottsdaleDailyPhoto.com said...

truly excellent photo for theme day. great capture of how glass is made. well done

PJ said...

Gosh, Kim. couldn't you take at least one bad shot every now and then?
Jeff Bazos was on Charlie Rose the other night and he seems like a pretty humble guy. Interesting to see the contrasting image of Amazon headquarters - then again, I didn't say he was simple.
glassbaby sounds like a wonderful enterprise. Don't you just love it when a business gives back to the community? Great Theme Day posing.

Kate said...

It's a great choice because of the story behind it. You could have chosen Chihuly who is so widely known, but this small enterprise pleases me ever so much more because of the history and sentiment involved.

Jane Hards Photography said...

This is a wonderful idea for the theme and the concept behind the Glassbaby link. Excellent way to highlight the cause on theme day. Well done on both counts.

Kim said...

Thanks for stopping by for theme day everyone. I just got royally bummed when I visited Wayne's Vancouver, BC Daily Photo and learned he's throwing in the towel on daily posting! Drat! It takes so much time to keep up a daily photoblog, and an even bigger commitment to visit the fellow bloggers whose work you love. I care about so many of you in this community and although I just can't make the time to visit around as much as I'd like or as much as my thoughts are with you and the work you are posting. I have a demanding life, and you all do, too. This connection through blogging is a strong factor and wonderful things are happening because of it all the time. Just want you all to know how much I appreciate the community you all build and being part of it with you. Your inspirations, humor, cleverness, art, information, thoughtful posts, and just plain fun and friendliness are very special. I just wish I were about 20 people so I could visit with you all very frequently.
-Kim

Bob Crowe said...

Hi, Kim. You are telling a rather involved story here, from a lump of material to finished art glass. This sequence is very effective. Lots of good color and shape.

Thank you for your comment today. I've been a big fan of Philip Glass for 30 or 35 years. One of my strongest memories is attending production of his first opera (well, sort of an opera), Einstein On The Beach, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It blew me away and also taught me a lot. Yes, I own Glass Box. It's a 10 CD survey of his career. I shot the picture with a Lensbaby to blur out the edges, using a couple of pieces of whiteboard for background and two flashes on stands, one at tabletop height just to the left with a mini softbox attachment and the other above and to the right, pointing down at the top of the box, with an opaque white plastic diffuser over the strobe.

I'm attending an Arthritis Foundation meeting in Washington (the other one) this week and Janet of D.C. Confidential was going to pick me up at the airport Monday afternoon for some shooting. The weather sounds pretty bad there tonight and tomorrow morning. If it comes off, look for results on our blogs and a couple of days.

Dottie Jo said...

Nice work here - great collage, and I love these little glasses! I have family in the Seattle area, so maybe I'll make it out there one day - you have wonderful photo ops!

Hilda said...

This is such a beautiful and inspiring post for theme day, Kim! These glassbabies are lovely and I'd probably use them for tea lights too. Lee Rhodes is a very strong and generous person — bless her.

marley said...

Fantastic theme day post - the origin of glass! All the different photos are perfect. Nice job :)

Petrea Burchard said...

What a fantastic theme day post, Kim! This one is really, really special and your effort pays off.

Kim, you are a bright spot in the CDP blogosphere. It's impossible for me to get around as much as I'd like to. I don't know how to do it. I've tried making lists, schedules, etc. I've spent little time on Wayne's blog - not because I don't like it (I do!), but because I've had to limit myself. There are something like 900 blogs in the CDP family now, right? Impossible to keep up with them all.

It's hard to keep a daily blog going, and one has to find motivation in many places.

USelaine said...

You always bring such beauty and meaning to your posts, Kim. These are all lovely, and I especially love that clear green one in the lower right.

Copenhagen said...

I blew my own glass once in Denmark and it was such an exciting activity! This glass studio looks amazing! I love all these different colours.

raf said...

What a great post for theme day! Didn't know about these glassbabies. They are, like your image, bright, colorful, warm and inviting. Very informative, Kim. Thank you!