I hope all of you out in blogland are having a great holiday season. My own family has enjoyed having the additional time to connect with folks we don’t see often enough. Today is the last day of the year. With no pressing commitments scheduled for today, I thought I would squeeze in one final post before the ball drops later tonight. You may be wondering what an image of a hand holding river polished and frosted bottle glass has to do with anything? Well, that’s the subject of this craftier than usual post. Every year I enjoy sending out original holiday cards and other “stuff” I make and gift from river junk. This year in addition to the cards (which featured the Christmas Bird of previous post fame), I created more of my “Ice Blossom Ornaments”. Friends who were the recipients of these “river treasures” assured me they were blog worthy. We shall see about that.
To make an “Ice Blossom Ornament” you need a bit more than broken glass found at the river or beach…you also need a body or form to attach the shards to. In this case, I like using the Styrofoam fishing floats I find and ironically polystyrene balls that are the remains of former Christmas tree ornaments that have washed into the park. I have seen a few of these original ornaments in various states of decomposition and they are usually covered with a shiny fabric that is glued to the ball. I prefer the balls that have lost their covering. When placement of the glass pieces has been decided, you cut into the ball form using a sharp Exacto knife. The hole I create is traced around the glass shape that I will embed into the ball A drop of glue holds the glass in place. I love using this river-collected glass because all the sharp edges have been worn away and I like the “frosted” surface created from abrasion with the sand and water. The same natural processes that tumble the Styrofoam and coal I use, also works its magic on glass. Even with something as trifling as these ornaments, I like that nature had a “collaborative role” in their making. The ornaments are finished off with the addition of found wire or waste fishing line and the occasional found piece of hardware. Here are some finished examples.
The next two pieces are a little larger and utilize bigger glass fragments. Some of these larger ornaments reference seed pods and marine forms like urchins.
This year I added polished coal to the list of materials used. Coal is after all, stored energy from the sun and suits the “star” image. Also, at the heart of every living star is a potential black hole and this ornament has that going for it as well.
The original ideas behind the “Ice Blossoms” comes from the 2009/10 holiday season. It was an important element in a story I wrote about the very rare migration of the Arctic Hummingbird (Styrotrochildae polystyrenus). When the conditions are just right, the very unusual Arctic Hummingbird times its appearance with the emergence of the Ice Blossom flower. The hummers seek out the concentrated energy found in the Ice Blossom’s nectar. I just happened to be lucky enough to be at the Falls of the Ohio when the Ice Blossoms were in bloom. Here’s an image I captured showing the relationship between the bird and flower.
Later I created another series of ornaments that I used to decorate the trees and vines at the Falls of the Ohio State Park. Some of these images were later incorporated into my Christmas cards.
I liked the idea of ornaments in nature and still feel some of the trees in the park are just as worthy of decoration as the trees we set up for the holidays. Regardless, the next time you find yourself around beach glass and Styrofoam…here’s an idea you can try to reuse both materials. Happy New Year everybody…see you in 2015.
Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog 