One Shining Moment in Time...

While visiting the House of Hell last week, I did manage to get away from the maddening crowd long enough to visit the Simon Pearce glass blowing/craft shop in the Brandywine River Valley - PA. Very, very cool! We were able to sit in an area near the furnaces and watch a glass blower and his assistant make glass goblets. NOT a simple process. Because the design they were working on was new and they hadn't ever worked together before, there were several mistakes made. When an error is made, the glass piece is chucked into the recycle bin. It was painful to watch the painstaking work being pitched into a big bin and listen to the shatter. I've always wanted to try to learn how to blow glass; now I can see how much trouble goes into high-quality items. No wonder they cost so much. Browse their online catalog and see for yourself!

Besides lovely glass pieces, there were also hand-made wooden pieces and some metal work. The coolest metal work was a large square (12" x 12") of hand-woven chain-mail (for lack of better word) suspended in a hammock-like fashion. It was for keeping/displaying/ripening fruit. SO BEAUTIFUL...SO EXPENSIVE. I think it was over $300. Yes, I did manage to wangle myself an item. A way-cool cutting board. It is made of American maple and has an underneath cut-out where a matching wooden bowl can be inserted so that it hangs out half-way from under the board. That way, you can cut on the board, wipe the food into the bowl, then use the bowl to serve or to just keep the food until you want to use it. I'm really in love with it!