Caribbean debut

Ok, I admit it the freshness of this blog has slightly dwindled whereby the last post I wrote was actually written on August 29th, So I’m about a week behind. The ships internet is incredibly slow and slightly frustrating… however I’m still here & blogging – Stay posted – It will be good!

Today Solstice docked in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for the 3^rd time since I embarked. This is the start of my third week. Each week starts on a Sunday for the crew, this is when all the passengers board each week for a cruise also. The good thing is my happiness still remains. Another reason to be happy is Chris Rochelle from CMoG will rejoin the ship after a 5 week absence as our now supervisor. Don Pierce who has been lead gaffer since I embarked was filling in for Chris. Something of great fortune is having been able to work with Don again since my training at the museum in April. Don has worked in Corning with the Steuben crystal factory so his level of skill in making is fluid. Something I aspire to accomplish. Now that Chris is back on and team leader/ supervisor the fun begins. Chris is extremely proficient as a maker and he was my sanctuary while I undertook my training. Now that I have a good feeling about the glass/ my making and the set up it’s time to shine. Having made many things this last week, I’m feeling more confident in my ability. There are a great many different determining factors at play within this environment. Battling with the elements; being conscious of the ships movement and having people constantly in your face about when and where the raffle of glass is going to be. Now I understand how athletes must feel after they win a race or have just performed and are bombarded by the media. It’s exhausting; tiresome; ball breaking; dehumanising; frustrating and I’d much rather be maintaining a lil’ happiness. So a little ignorance is blissful.



It was my purest intention to blog regularly, however now that I’m on board and so I’ve discovered that maintaining a ship life is busy and full-on, to say the least. The crew is like one big happy family continually supporting each other & keeping each other’s spirits up. The team I currently work with are good fun and we provide very lively glass blowing shows. People seem to enjoy the demonstrations and are amazed by our ability as well as our “seamless” adaptability especially when its blowing a gale, the rain is teaming down and we have a cross wind raging through the hot glass stage which seems to play havoc with taking the heat out of each piece we make. Hence the rate of survival for the pieces we make during these extremities is minimal. The Hot Glass Show area is on the top of the ship which makes for a challenging performance in such squalls. As I’m so addicted to glass making, I felt a need to get making as quickly as possible. The work to date that has survived was a “You Design it we make it” show where we use a little bit of artistic integrity to recreate a drawing selected from the youth programme on-board. Also to date I’ve made a bowl and a vase, so that I could get into the swing of things, adapting to the system of operation; the equipment; my team, who I’ve never really worked with before as well as the extreme humidity and the beautiful sunshine. Our temperature gauge read 140 degrees Fahrenheit humidity on Thursday. Each day I go through two shirts and two pairs of shorts due to the amount of perspiration my clothes absorb. Attached is a couple of pictures. Tomorrow we will be visiting Grand-Cayman Island, which at this point in time is approximately 675 nautical miles away, yee-ha!

Training demonstration at the Corning Museum of Glass, NY as a hot glass show narrator