Memorial Bead - Charlie

I was asked some time ago to work on a Memorial Glass Bead for Charlie. Charlie was a therapy dog and his mom is a repeat customer who places my Memorial Beads among her Chihuly's! (I'm BEYOND flattered!). As always, I like to know about the dog or person to be memorialized in glass:

Charlie was not the smartest dog on the planet, but definitely the sweetest.  He had the longest eyelashes I’ve ever seen, and was the best snuggler ever.  Charlie loved children, and was a therapy dog.  He worked at a not-for-profit literacy organization in downtown Detroit, where kids who were reading-challenged would sit and read to him.  He also worked at Children’s Hospital of Michigan, most often in the burn unit.  He had an uncanny ability to sense what each child needed and brought so much comfort to them.  And he loved to sleep, preferably in the softest chair he could find – always with pillows for his head.  His favorite toy was a very large soft fleece ball.  And I mean very large – 18” in diameter.  He would carry it around and look like a giant bullfrog.  When he lay down, he would put it under his chin as a pillow.  Mostly, he just loved to be loved.  

 

Charlie

 About Charlie's Bead

Charlie's mom wanted a blue bead to represent Charlie's calming presence. She originally wanted twisting ribbons which I do in my off mandrel work but as this was a display bead that needed a hole, that would be problematic. I did make a few attempts at getting it to work... to no avail! The bead release broke. Then we tried a few examples of paw prints on the blue to see what Charlie's mom liked best.  These are the prototypes:

 

 

She really had her heart set on cobalt and subtle paws as she didn't want to take away from the ashes showing in the glass. The color tests above where to show how different background reflect the light differently.

And here is the first shot of the Charlie bead right out of the kiln.

And here it is all cleaned up and ready to go. I love how the cremains swirl and reflect the light... and how they popped through right above the paw.

 

 

I failed to realize as I was shooting this photo that my own pup, Mabel has walked up and was reflected in the bead. The next memorial beads I made were hers. I'll tell you about those really soon.

Even though this large bead is a really straightforward design and far less complicated that most of the memorial beads I make, I just love it. Simple and elegant! These are always my favorite beads to work on....they touch my soul in such a deep way!