Julie Wong - BLOG -

the rapture

 
detail of "Vitreous Floater", Stephen Paul Day
(sulphide encased in glass)

"Keep your eyes open

because if you close them you won't find the rapture...

and it is in the rapture that you find yourself."

-STEPHEN PAUL DAY,

heard during a lecture at the GAAC Canadian Glass Conference in Red Deer, Alberta

walka walka walka

flowers in buckets, west hillhurst

Things have been crazily busy lately - putting in a few 14-15 hour days at school (deadline coming up)... sneaking in a few hours at the studio whenever I can (which is more than you might think!)... and collapsing into bed every night ex-haus-ted but happy....

To tell you the truth, I can't remember the last time in my life that I was working so hard and feeling so happy.  Every day is a good day, in one way or another.  I don't know if I've ever felt so peaceful and productive, and balanced.

The other night when I got off the bus, the man walking in front of me did a little jump, and his arm shot up to touch a gnarled branch hanging low over the sidewalk.  This small act of joy was so simple, but so contagious.  It reminded me of something I don't think about often enough - we all have the power to inspire happiness in others.

I've been walking a lot, trying to keep my body healthy, after days spent sitting hunched over a microscope (dissecting things), or over a flame (making things).  No matter what has happened during the day, walking lets my mind wander, and reminds me to take time to breathe, to let my spirit wring itself out so that I can absorb what I see as I move along.  Things underfoot.  Things in the sky.  Things across the street.  Things in cars as they zoom past.

I notice the smallest details... tiny exuberances and gestures of daily life... and they make me smile.  A little girl's bouncy curls.  The crunch of gravel under my shoes as I trek across a playground - between the swing set and a metal frog on a giant spring.  The red glow of a heater in the bus shelter on a cool evening - the kind where you pull your sweater a little tighter around you.

Looking up, I see a pink, purple, grey sky, and the moon glows white on blue.  I think it's going to rain.

GLASS BITES

I'm about to show the bloody side of adventures in glass beadmaking, so if you're squeamish, maybe skip this one.

My evening field trip to the ER right before Christmas...

In my studio, frantically trying to make beads before I left for the holiday, a bit frazzled, I reached down to put something in the trash, and met with a rod of glass

{sporting a very sharp end}

casually standing up in a storage bin.

Not much blood, and oddly, no pain.

Eventually I broke through the shock long enough to call my sister to
rescue me.  Thankfully, she answered right away.

As I waited I had time to inspect the wound... a huge, crooked slash,
cutting through skin, fat, and juuuuust missing the tendons below.

hours waiting in emergency for someone to sew me up
and 6 stitches later... good as new.

well, almost.

beware, glass bites.

please be careful in your studios.