Haute fusion glass studio
We were excited to vist Haute Fusion Glass Studio because this once again (like many things in Middletown) would be a totally new experience for us and a fun one at that. Keeping with full disclosure, I was equally as nervous because Vegas and Sydney oftentimes move full speed like an atom when it's split. Needless to say, I had zero interest in bringing the phrase "Bull in a china shop" to reality.
Haute Fusion is owned by John Ferrando, a "Master Glass-smith" (is that a term? or should I copyright it?), with over 8 years experience in Kiln Formed and Fused Glass among other styles, is a teacher, author of the popular ebook "Decorative Motif With Fused Glass" (HERE) and is also a father of 5, which was great because he totally understood the art of catering to multiple minds at one time.
John reminds me of the guy you work with thats been there for 30 years and despite being given ample opprotuity to move up, declined them all because he genuinely loves his job. Debbie also works in the studio and is as patient as she is talented and did an excellent job with keeping the kids on task, which in the case of Vegas and Sydney, as I alluded to earlier, is no easy task.
Haute Fusion is an art one stop where you can view custom pieces on display in addition to making your own. It was interesting not only looking at art but also speaking to and learning from the artist himself.
The task at hand today was to create our own family portrait using only glass & glue, which would be a challenge for several reasons, lets delve into them shall we?
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2 of our clan would be unavailable to create their portraits, as MJ had yet to arrive and lil baby Sevyn is well.. a lil baby LOL.
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My artistic talent never evolved past creating stick figures and admittedly I was marginally good at that.
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Remember my "Bull In A China Shop" comment from before right? Exactly!
We were all given a round template and using different colored pieces of glass (which notably was not sharp or dangerous, whew), filled in the details of our faces and then used longer strands for our hair. I sadly could not participate in the hair portion as I suffer from the sting of male pattern baldness 😢😢😁.
Needless to say all of my prior concerns were totally relieved as Debbie & John's professionalism helped make everything a breeze and even made me feel talented (the same way Bob Ross did for so many of you reading this). In addition, Chipmunk sort of went into "the zone" and not only finished her portrait before everyone else, but even went ahead and created one for both Mj & Sevyn because as she said "It's not fair to have a family portrait without our whole family!" Very well said Chips, very well said!
We finished with our portraits and had a sense of accomplishment. One thing I can say that im really proud of is although we knew we would enjoy this, it was a great feeling to see the kids artistic skills blossom right in front of us. Certain things we do as a family carry no real value outside of entertainment and that's fine, but when you find something that both entertains and allows them to be creative, you've hit the jackpot. Our visit to Haute Fusion struck that balance perfectly and everyone had a great time. Without question we HIGHLY recommend a visit!
Watch the video above to see how fun our experience was at Haute Fusion and get a look at the finished product once we received it a few weeks after!
