Cross-Pollination II

The second shop that we visited on our trip to Lincoln City was Mossy Creek Pottery.  It is just down the road from Alder House, and is actually closer to the highway.

This is a gallery with quite a variety of pottery and fused glass items.  There are both functional and purely decorative items here.  I love the "tiled" texture in these lovely vases:

And the vivid blue in this soup tureen took my breath away (wouldn't that beautiful gradation make a great knitted or woven scarf??).

Here are some beautiful but functional blues:

My husband liked this wall pocket, tucked away in the little corridor between two of the rooms:

I liked it, but was more drawn to this one:

In the next room, we found this shimmering platter:

And also these scenic plates, mounted on the wall:

I have always liked the contrast of matte and shiny, earthy and colorful in this line of products:

And I found this little cabbage-y tea set to be enchanting:

There was a whole shelf of shimmery urns:

Here's a closeup of my favorite one:

Check out the texture on the teacups and the cannister:

Even the bottom of the teacup has texture!!  I love it!  If I remember right, these teacups were more the size of a soup bowl.

 And last but not least, here are some bowls with great texture.  The center one reminds me of a crocheted basket.

There is much more in the shop--these are just some of my favorite pieces.  I think I need to go find some yarn--my mind is brimming with possibilities!  I hope the tour has inspired you, as well.  Go forth and create!



Cross-Pollination

Inspiration from Other Art Forms

Sometimes, I find inspiration in things that have been created by others, often in totally different media.  My husband and I recently made a badly-needed day trip to the Oregon Coast, and visited a couple of our favorite shops there.  We have been fans of these shops for over 30 years now, and always enjoy browsing the beautifully crafted products they contain.  Today's post is about the first of these shops.

Alder House is the studio of Buzz and Anne Williams.  They, along with a few other artists, create gorgeous hand-blown glass objects in their studio just south of Lincoln City.  The studio has windows at eye level, with wide sills for display of the glass, so that the light shines through it and makes it glow.

Seeing the brightly colored shiny glass glowing in the sunlight always inspires me.  I want to create this kind of glowing color in my textile projects!



Alder House is more than just a gallery of objets d'art, though.  It is a working studio, in which the artisans create the objects that will be sold there.  The artist demonstrates his craft in front of the visitors, explaining what he is doing and why.  As much as I enjoy drooling over the gorgeous glass display, I cannot resist watching the artist at work, even though I have watched this process many times over the years.  It is somewhat mesmerizing to watch the twirling glass at the end of the blower's rod take shape, almost always in a rather surprising way.

This time, we got to watch glassblower Treasure Collupy create a glass starfish.  Here he is heating the starfish towards the end of the process:

Here's another shot of the starfish.  In this one, I believe he's smoothing the points at the end of the starfish's legs.

Of course, the color of the starfish will be very different when it has cooled.  I believe this one will be green and blue!

And now, for a sampling of the vibrant colors and graceful shapes of Alder House glasswork:

I hope you have enjoyed the tour as much as I did.  The question now, is, how will this affect my creations in fiber and yarn?  How will it affect yours??