Yes! it is true, a whale has been spotted in my Garden! With such 'big' news I felt a blog was needed to show all. So,
please scroll down and you will see that indeed in one of my flower beds, a thirteen foot whale has appeared! There
are also some nice images of recent blooms in the Garden...

View of back yard from path leading to my studio.


Awesome Blossoms!


There she blows!  I am removing lawn to increase the size of my flower beds, but this baby is staying put!


Nellie Moser Clematis.


Oriental Poppy


Wisteria with Golden Chain in background.


Golden Chain Tree.


Wisteria...Look at that trunk! I love it!


Shooting stars...One of my all time favorites.


Peonies.


Peony close up.

I have lived in Oregon since 1991 and I have never seen snow this deep since I moved here. I know that many of you in the colder regions of the country think this is a normal winter, but there must be others that think like I do, that this is just way to crazy! The snow started sticking around the 15th of December and I did not leave my property until Christmas Eve day. That was a trip to the store in my neighbors Toyota FJ Cruiser (all wheel drive with snow tires and chains!) which took about three hours. And the store is only about three miles away! My daughter, who lives two hours south in Eugene, Oregon could not make it home for Christmas, and I could not get down to see her. She finally was able to visit on the 26th, but had to return the following day...I hate snow and ice!


Looking out of south studio window.


Apple tree branches with about 1" of ice.


16 feet tall Arborvitae, now about eight feet tall!


This is my "cold shop" where I grind and polish my paperweights (when I can get in).... What an appropriate name!


Trampoline anyone?


Looking out my studio door.


Brrrrrr.....I'm glad I'm not a Doug Fir.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Here are just a few of the wonderful flowers that are currently in full bloom in my garden. Sorry the photos aren't better, but I do not have time to reshoot them.


Western Columbine


Evening Primrose


Rhodie


Blue Lupine


Red Lupine


Aster and Friend


Foxglove and Friend

Bleeding Heart


Veined Wonder


Japanese Iris


Green Oddity


Lady Stratheden Geum

Well, after weeks of non-stop gardening, mostly in the wet and rain, I have finally whipped my garden into shape!
This set of photos will be an  overview of the yard and hopefully in a week or two I'll have some spectactular close-up shots of some of my favorite blooms. I hope you enjoy the pictorial.


Front Yard


Left side back yard


Overview main garden

Closer view main garden 


Even a bit closer


Right side looking toward main garden


Left side again towards studio


Closer view toward studio


Apple trees and vegetable garden (Japanese style)


From cold shop towards house


Wisteria and arbor


Left side rear towards main garden


Right side rear towards main garden


Main garden from deck

In the blog I posted yesterday, I stated that I had no recollection of any of my Ribbon Bouquets coming up for resale on the secondary market. Since that posting, I received an email from a paperweight collector who stated, "I have come across a ribbon bouquet paperweight in the L. H. Selman auction of Fall 2004, it is lot No. 169." This lot was a Ribbon Bouquet paperweight created in 1996 and the original price in 1996 for all the full ribbon bouquets was $2400. If you include Selman's 10% buyer's premium fee (from 2004), it pushes the price realized for this paperweight to a $4125!





Lot 169
Chris Buzzini 1996 "Ribbon Bouquet" paperweight, with red azaleas,
blue phlox, golden asters, buds, green leaves, and white ribbons looped
around the stems. Signed/dated. One of one. Diameter 3-3/8".
$2250-$3000

Current Bid:                                                                          Sold
$3750

I thought some glass collectors might enjoy a few extra pictures pertaining to my latest "Ribbon Bouquet." I first created  these pieces in 1996 and between 1996 and 1998 I produced about fifty different "one of one" designs that were sold through L. H. Selman Ltd. I don't recall ever seeing one of these for sale on the secondary market.


This is my "hot plate" where I place all the finished components for the "set-up"
I am working on. Not every single item will end up in the paperweight, but it is
better to have a few extra components, than not enough!


This is the final "set-up" ready to be encased. It is only 2-1/4"
in diameter which is the same for all my designs.


The completed "Ribbon Bouquet" paperweight.

For over a year I have been thinking of and dabbling with the idea of creating some kind of "glass" wallpaper
or linen or fabric to use as a background for floral designs. So, throwing caution to the wind, I finally just sat down at my torch and worked on this until I got, what I think, is a pretty unique and excellent result.

I tried several different ways of trying to create the background and ultimately I settled on the following procedure. After pulling out about 150 small diameter rods of pink and purple glass encased in clear, I sized and grouped the rods in sets of two. The longer ones to use for crossing the center of the paperweight and decreasingly shorter ones for use on either side of the center rods. Then I fused each set of two rods together at both ends and pulled a bit of a tip on each end. After all the rods were done in groups of two I started from the center with two rods of purple and started adding groups of two pink rods on both sides. The groups of two are fused to the next two with a very small dot of clear between the points of each end. So working from the center to each side I fused all the tips of the rods together, creating the 'circle' of wallpaper background. Then the lampwork flowers were fashioned, the design created and fused together and then all was placed right on top of the "wallpaper" rods. My major concern was that after all the work was done, when I encased the design, that the "wallpaper" rods would not allow the vacuum system to properly draw the air out of the design. I had visions of bubbles trapped all along the rods. But, low and behold, the result was flawless!

I would greatly appreciate any comments on this new direction, be they positive or negative. Any comments submitted to the blog will be published and that would allow readers some insight into what others collectors might think. There is a "Add Comment" link right below the image of the paperweight.

Sincerely,

Chris

This latest post from...  www.buzzinipaperweights.com  ...contains
a recent article and most of the included photos which appeared in:


The Oregonian
Portland · Oregon · Homes & Gardens Northwest · September 27, 2007


NW ARTISANS
by Nanine Alexander     Photos by Marv Bondarowicz

A TORCH FOR NATURE
A glass artisan re-creates his visions of flower and leaf

A week's worth of Chris Buzzini's work can be lost in the seconds it takes to pour molten glass over one of the floral sculptures he has painstakingly created.

"I can literally feel my heart muscle tighten," says the artisan, who re-creates nature in botanical paperweights. "The results are made or lost in the blink of an eye."

It is this do-or-die outcome that makes glass an irresistible medium for Buzzini, a solitary and spiritual artist.

"I try to take my vision of flowers and put it back into the glass," Buzzini says in his 500-square-foot workshop just beyond the garden of his Oregon City home.

Every paperweight is a miniature marvel. His artistry and technical skill shine through the crystalline spheres that cover his molded-glass bouquets of lady's slippers, lilacs, peonies and numerous other blooms.

Buzzini, 57, says he feels the pull of nature and art as a spiritual calling. "My talent is God-given. . . . I've asked for more talent and it's been given."

The work is tedious; the material temperamental.

Turning a slender rod of glass in the torch's flame until it softens into a green teardrop, Buzzini touches the tip with another glass rod, pulling it into an elliptical shape. He flattens it with tongs and returns it to the torch.

The technique is known as lampwork, and every petal and leaf is formed this way.

The behavior of glass under flame is predictable only within a narrow range of temperatures. It can't be touched by hand while it's being shaped. Everything, Buzzini explains, must be manipulated with a tool.

Buzzini began working in glass in art school and worked professionally at several highly regarded California art glass studios, including Orient & Flume, Lundberg Studios and Correia Art Glass. After 13 years as a studio artist, Buzzini launched his own studio in 1986. It was a step that both excited and frightened him. But he had strong encouragement from colleagues and fans.

"What I needed was a 16-hour day in my own studio, not eight hours in someone else's," says Buzzini. In 1991 he moved to Oregon, settling on a half acre on the outskirts of Oregon City.

Today, Buzzini works his own schedule, selling his paperweights through his Web site, www.buzzinipaperweights.com.

His floral creations shine as expressions of beauty and light.

By: Nanine Alexander: 503-221-8340; nalexander@news.oregonian.com