Eprhraim Co-op

Well, I haven't posted in a while.  It is not because I haven't been doing glass or gardening, but it is because We Moved!  That's right, we have left our beautiful garden in the city to move to lovely little Ephraim, Utah.  My wife and I met at Snow College and ever since we graduated and left, we have wanted to go back.  I transferred to the University of Utah and earned a Masters Degree in Parks, Recreation and Tourism and have been running swimming pools and recreational programs for Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation  for the last 8 years.  But, this spring a position opened up here at Snow running the swimming pool and teaching the aquatic classes.  So, we moved.  We are excited to be here and love it all so far.

  I have always wanted to build a straw bale home, and this move will allow me to finally build one.  We need to sell our home in Salt Lake before we can, but we are gearing up for it now.  I have been sharpening up my knowledge of building practices especially those surrounding straw bales and am getting pretty stoked up about it all.  In the mean time I have still been doing some glass work, but not so much gardening as we are just renting for now.  As things progress, I will be posting as much as possible to keep everyone up to date.

In the mean time, here are a few pictures of some stained glass that can be found at the Ephraim Co-op.  This is a location that allows crafters from around the area to sell their wares to the community.  Besides the stained glass I have also placed there some bottle vases, earrings, and necklaces.

Recycle, Reuse, Reclaim, Salvage, Upcycle: Words to Live By

Because I am pretty new to selling glass art, I have been checking out other people’s stuff online to see what they are making and how much they are selling it for. I have seen a lot of cool stuff out there, but I have come to the conclusion that people need to use a dictionary when they are describing their glass art. So in this blog entry I will attempt to define several “green” terms that are commonly misused or misunderstood. Whenever you see my description of my glass products, you will know that I follow closely the following definitions:

Recycle – Recycling is the process of reclaiming materials from used products or materials from their manufacturing and using them in the manufacturing of new products. -sustainabilitydictionary.com



"Bones"- left over edges from flattened light sconces

 When a plastic bag is recycled into a new plastic bag, it is melted down and reprocessed into a new bag.  It may not be the same color, size or other similar characteristics to the original bag. It may have even been changed into something completely different than a bag like plastic car paneling, or polar fleece. When I recycle glass it means that I take old used glass and change it into a new object. When I make stained glass out of bottles, I first cut the bottles, then fire them in my kiln, then cut them to shape and assemble them into the stained glass piece. When I make tiles, I crush the bottles into powder and then fire them into molds in the kiln. Some of my recycled glass jewelry is made by simply cutting out patterns from bottles or vases and using just that bottle or pattern in the jewelry.

Reuse – noun 2. the act or process of using again. - Dictionary.com

“Often, the most sustainable option is to reuse materials and objects already manufactured, either for their original or new purposes, rather than recycle them into other products. This decreases further energy and materials use in recreating them into a new form.“ -stainabilitydictionary.com

People will often reuse bottles or vases by gluing, cementing, or painting objects onto them. The glass objects retain their original form, but are just decorated. The bottle does not undergo any major changes or processing.



The temple was made from recycled light sconces, but the
 sky was made of salvaged glass a lady was getting rid of.

Reclaimed – verb 2. to recover (substances) in a pure or usable form from refuse, discarded articles, etc. -Dictionary.com

Reclaimed means it has already been thrown away. Objects may be reclaimed to either be recycled or reused.

Salvage - noun 2. the act of saving any goods or property in danger of damage or destruction -Dictionary.com

Salvage may or may not have been thrown away, but without intervention would otherwise be destroyed.



Bottle bottom boxes are upcycled because the new
product is deffinitly worth more than hte original bottles
they are made out of.

  Upcycle - The process of converting an industrial nutrient (material) into something of similar or greater value, in its second life. sustainabilitydictionary.com

Upcycle is a new phrase that I have seen used for items that are both recycled and reused. I believe that to be upcycled the object should be worth more after the alterations have been made.

The is the maiden voyage of the All of Green Glass blog, a blog set up to feature my recycled glass products as well as the journey both the glass and myself go through to create recycled glass art.

How I got started.
I have always been eco conscious and I love making things with my hands. I have always had a childhood fascination with glass blowing tucked in the back of my mind. When my frugal wife stated that she was interested in making her own jewelry, I decided to get her all the things she needed to get into the hobby for Christmas. Knowing very well that without the correct equipment and materials the hobby would be a waste, I started looking online at the myriad or beading supplies offered. This is when I came across Lamp Worked Beads. After several YouTube videos, I learned of the process of making Lamp Worked Beads. Colored rods of glass are heated by a torch and wrapped around a metal rod to form beads. Different colors can be used and there are a slew of techniques available to make a variety of unique designs and an unlimited number of one-of-a-kind beads. I was immediately hooked. My first attempt of making glass beads was by using broken glass bottles and using Grandpa’s acetylene torch. Needless to say it wasn’t that easy and the outcome was less than desirable. However, amazingly, I did make some passable glass beads. After watching several more videos online along with hours of online reading, I learned how real glass artists do it. So, along with buying several hundred dollars of beading supplies for my wife I bought myself bona fide lamp working supplies. Although I worked with “real” store bought glass for several years with much enjoyment, it was less than coincidence that those first beads were made of recycled glass. While most glass artists shun the use of “incompatible” glass I have since found several techniques that I can employ to make good use of recycled glass. I hope you take the time to check out my other posts where I discuss some of these techniques as well as the art created by using them.