For the past month, I’ve been craving fish and chips. To me, this is the ultimate comfort food, turned to when the weather is foul, the wind blowing in the wrong direction or something in my world not as it should be. It is a constant, an anchor, a reminder of childhood days on Rhyl beach (believe it or not, a good memory). I like lots of salt and lots of vinegar and it always sets things straight.
Having made flameworked dragons on and off for several years now, I realise that they have become for me the glass equivalent of comfort food. I reach for a dragon when I’m stuck, when whatever I am working on needs to be worked out, when I’m making the same thing over and over again and just need a break. My new kiln, much larger than its predecessor, allows me to keep parts like wings warm while I work on the body and also allows me to anneal a larger piece safely. This means that I can now make goblets of a fair size without too much difficulty. What better way to test it than to put a goblet in it?
So, having had fish and chips on Tuesday, the best thing to do to compound the good feelings gained was to make a dragon on Wednesday and attach it to a foot and a bowl. And now, many other glass tangles are resolving in a glow of comfort and wellbeing.
