If You Love Glass Art...

If lampwork beads make your heart go pitty pat...if you admire the way artisans can create galaxies of beauty from a simple rod of glass and a flame...if, like me, you're astonished that people can create things from glass without incinerating themselves and everything around them, then have I got a place to tell you about.

My family spent a couple of days in Chicago over the holidays, and I spent an afternoon at the Art Institute.  Heaven.  I could have spent a week.

But time was limited, so I had to choose carefully what to see.  After spending a couple of hours visiting with Degas, Van Gogh, Cezanne, and their buddies, I headed down to a very special little jewel box of a gallery - the Arthur Rublof Paperweight Collection.  See the cases in the photo above?  All of the little shapes inside are gorgeous, fabulous paperweights.

Okay, y'all.  People tell me they don't know how I can work with seed beads.  They say they're so fiddly and teeny.  But seriously, LOOK at the detail and intricacy of these pieces. (While you can click on these photos and see them a little larger, if you want to see one of them in a size that'll give you a better view of the details, let me know -- I'll email you the original photo).

And while most of the paperweights in the collection are the size you'd expect (what, 3" or so in diameter, maybe?) there was a giant honking paperweight, called a super magnum, there as well.

look at the size of this baby next to its normal-sized neighbors - wowzer!

Tomorrow I'll get back to some jewelry, I promise.  But this eye candy was so delicious, I just had to share it with you today!