R Visions in Glass
is a company of Northwest artists committed to a mission of creating glass art that warms the heart and stirs the imagination. Our vision is based in the shared belief that art can have a transforming effect on our lives. A portion of all proceeds is given to charity, with the hope that each artistic expression will enrich our community and those in need.
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R Blog
How It All Began
The 3 people in patio chairs huddled in a semi circle were not sitting around a campfire. Instead, they were huddled around a Skutt 1414 glass kiln in a garage. They were waiting to see their first firing happen. They didn’t know what that would look like, so they would take a peek every so often-nothing…hmm. They waited patiently for something to happen. Eventually they decided to stop waiting (since the process would take 14 hours). The next day they opened the kiln to see their creations. They were excited!!! They had made glass plates…well sort of.
I was one of those 3 people; my son, Andrew, and daughter-in-law, Robbin, were the other 2. I am Ruth, and I am passionate about glass. The day was Mother’s Day, five years ago. Much has happened since. We now have a website; http://rvisions.net; a fusing studio; and a hot shop. As I blog, I hope to take you on our trip through the world of glass.
When we began we had no real knowledge, but we had a burning desire to create in glass. Andrew and I had worked in stained glass, but it was not where our passion was. Our real passion was to blow hot glass. We knew that was a very expensive dream, so we were excited when we stumbled onto fusing.
Andrew and I saw some fused pieces at the glass store where we bought our stained glass. We also saw a small kiln to cook pieces. We were hooked. We had to have a kiln. Robbin reminded us about a commission we had coming and told us we needed to go ‘big’. We decided to buy the biggest kiln (short of a commercial one) we could. It took six months, but then we ordered our wonderful glass kiln. We had no lessons, little knowledge, and a lot of excitement! We finally could make glass!!! We could hardly wait to get the kiln!
When Andrew picked up the kiln, the sales ladies asked him how long he had been fusing. He told them he hadn’t. They looked surprised. He said he was a chef and caterer and wanted to make special serving platters. Oh…and his mom wanted to make jewelry. Then they really looked at him! I guess most people don’t start learning how to fuse using a 48”x24” kiln.