Spring feels as if it is finally springing here in the Lakes despite the weather continuing to be on the cold side. The bluebells are in full show and I’ve moved the courgettes to the
greenhouse from the warmth of their indoor windowsill now that (I hope!) the possibility of frost is past. We have rhubarb and all’s well with the world.
I have decided that as part of an ongoing trend towards being ever more ‘foodie’, I’m going to look into making a few home vinegars, starting with spruce. We have therefore been eyeing up
the new, bright green growth on the trees, debating when the best time to pick will be. Once they start, they seem to grow at quite a rate and I can’t see it being long. Spruce vinegar is supposedly
full of vitamin C and I’m hoping it will also have a nice forest pine flavour.
It might look good in one of my new oil jugs, too. These have a spiral of colour running up them, dotted with little three-petal flowers. I’m
very happy with them, but they are a beggar to blow! Coloured glass is generally stiffer than clear and because I add the colour on top of the clear tube,
it is also thicker. This means that the coloured part of the tube doesn’t want to blow out nearly as easily as the clear, giving a tendency to a wonky result.
One solution would possibly be to blow the jug bowl in a mould, but I don’t have one the right size and am not generally a huge fan of moulds. I prefer to
work freehand. My workaround is to aim more heat at that coloured spiral, balancing this against evenly heating the whole piece. It seems to work.
I’m also beginning to itch at the idea of a new glass chandelier. It’s been a few weeks since I finished the last one, and I’m feeling the need! I have a spare frame here and just
have to work out the theme and colours. The wild flowers are so good at this time of year that perhaps I should take them as a starting point. Watch this space!
