Here at "Oh, the places we go", we love checking out local small businesses, especially when it involves following a passion, being creative, and to top it off...make a living at it! Having a love for creativity and art ourselves, we really enjoy seeing the creative process in progress. So, when driving home one evening we saw a sign here in our little town of Ramona announcing a Free Glass Blowing Demonstration this Saturday I knew it was something we couldn't miss. The girls were both interested in going and we fortunately had a really beautiful, clear blue skies kind of day on the day of. It's a scenic drive off the beaten path, over by beautiful Dos Picos County Park. A small, windy road lined with oak trees, pepper trees, and boulders and an occasional home, lead us through the hillsides in what we thought would never come to an end. Then, low & behold at the end of the road was a lovely grassy knoll surrounded by huge, inviting boulders and patches of pink wildflowers, yes, wildflowers in December! Tucked away in this beautiful scenery was a large, open air studio. What a wondrous, inspiring place to create and make one's living. We went in the studio where they had many of their glass art pieces; vases, glasses, bowls, and art objects. So much swirling, vibrant colors! It was a very interesting studio. One of those places where you just keep turning your head and see interesting surprises everywhere you look....posters of Max Headroom, Mad Max, buddhas, & Stop signs. I love these kind of places, really makes you wonder about the person that collected them and felt the need to display them. I do, anyway.... We had a few minutes before the next demo, so the girls and I enjoyed some of the tasty treats they offered and went exploring outside for a bit. There were the remains of a stone wall, the iron posts of a picnic table and mounds of rock and cacti to explore. It appeared the fires of recent pasts had touched this part of our town. But fortunately, regrowth was blooming and once again, the beauty of the area came back to life. Both girls found big "walking" sticks and climbed, and ran and enjoyed being outdoors on such a lovely day. Livie dubbed one massive rock "the giant mushroom rock". I love that girls imagination!
It was about time for the demo so we headed back to the studio and grabbed some seats. Even though the demo area was roped off you could feel the heat from the 2000 degree ovens to be used for melting the glass to the consistency of honey. A young man, a student from Palomar college came up and proceeded to go through the process of creating the glass pieces. Both the girls and myself were mesmerized by the heat, and the light of the fire and the silky appearance of the glass being heated, then rolled, then blown into, to create a magnificent piece of glass art. The ending result was a fish complete with fins and lips. The demonstration was fun and it was very interesting to learn about the process.
I spoke with one of the owners, Greg Hosterman for a little bit and was told he has the open houses about every 6 months. I'll be sure to post the next one that comes up. In the meantime, if you're looking for a unique holiday gift or just something beautiful and special for yourself or a love one, Liquid Glass Co. has many art glass pieces you might like. There website can be found here, Liquid Glass Co.
If you have an interesting place of business or art studio in the S. Cal or San Diego area which you'd love to have us tour or offers Open Houses and would like to have it showcased here at "Oh the places we go", please contact me in the comments section.
More photos from the day can be found here.
Thanks for reading, and have a great week!
Mandy
