The other night in the glass shop, Brian was making one of his color changing incense burners, and it cracked before it made it into the kiln. Which is a total bummer for him, because they do take a good amount of time and materials to make. But I couldn’t help but be a little excited about it, because that means I get a new smoking bottle burner for my collection! (Gotta look on the bright side, right?) Plus, it was one of his Bubble burners, which is extra awesome because I already have a slightly less-than-top-quality Spiral burner, and an also not-quite-up-to-par Swirl burner. Being a glassblower, and the wife of a glassblower, most of my own personal pieces of Brian’s work are seconds for one reason or another. He is understandably picky about only selling the best of the best. (Fortunately for me, even his cracked glass usually lasts for years if I don’t drop it just right. My first smoking bottle burner was a cracked one that I used almost daily for over 7 years before it finally bit the dust recently!)
The “Bubbles” design was the only design that so far I haven’t personally had the pleasure of making the colors change. (I was starting to worry that he was getting too good at making these, and I’d never get my own bubble burner!) I have been waiting for an opportunity like this to be able to take “after” pics of the Bubbles surface design. When it does change colors, you can see a pattern of round 3-D looking orbs, surrounded by squiggly lines and designs. I also want to show in a series of images how the color change is not an instant thing. It is a gradual process that happens over time. So out comes my stash of incense, and we’re off…
Here it is, my new incense burner after about 10 sticks into the color changing process… you can only just start to see the colors beginning to change at the very top… the surface designs are becoming more obvious with every stick of incense we burn!
I will post an update after I get a chance to burn some more incense, and you can sit back and enjoy this ever-changing journey through time and color with me… stay tuned…