In my workshop here at Belle’s End I’m trying to learn about Art by doing it, with occasional guidance from Belle, of course. Lately, I have come to appreciate how she’s taken a distinct form that she’s developed to a high level — her Innurendos — and is now raising the visible Art on the inside without compromising the function on the outside.
And all this has to happen within one rapidly cooling glob of molten glass on the end of her blowpipe.
I’ll leave the fancy outside forms to her. I wonder what I can do within a sphere — a simple sphere. How hard can it be?
Musings about Art in our lives.
on Wands of Pleasure
As I see it, one consistent trait of humans (in which we are not alone) is our ability to make and use tools, and we make tools to use making tools.
Wands are tools that extend the reach of our hands and multiply their versatility.
A wand is a thin, light-weight rod that is held with one hand, and is traditionally made of wood, but may also be made of other materials, such as metal, plastic or stone. . . .
In modern times, wands are usually associated with stage magic or supernatural magic, but there have been other uses, all stemming from the original meaning as a synonym of rod and virge.
A stick that is used for reaching, pointing, drawing in the dirt, and directing other people, is one of the earliest and simplest of tools.
The Magic Circle, by John William Waterhouse (1886), portrays a woman using a wand to create a ritual space
The Magic Circle (1886). Oil on canvas, 182.9 x 127 cm (72 x 50 in). Tate Britain, London
Ahem – here Granny RedBird must take exception with Wikipedia. The Witch in the painting is obviously releasing the Circle, as she is using the wand walking widdershins, rather than deosil to cast it.
on Art and Function
Patrons are willing to pay the price that fine art commands for an item that one would rarely expect to see on display — on the coffee table, on one’s desk at work, on the dining room table, on a pedestal properly lit to show off its beauty.
Fundamentally, these pleasure wands promote enhancing pleasure in solitary or intimate sexual activity with the pleasure of interacting with fine art. The shape of the wand on its surface reaches the sense of touch, while the colors and shapes inside, sealed in clear glass, delight the sense of sight — forever out of reach
On a more subtle level, dedicating beautiful tools to enhancing one’s pleasure underlines the importance of the enjoyment to health and well-being, and accepting the pleasure promotes self-acceptance and growth.
Later, encountering the beauty on display, in passing, reinforces the spirit with memory of the experience.
on Inspiration & Muse
The Artist’s Spirit brings the most basic of elements — the Earth, the Air, the Fire, the Water — together to form glass that acquires its own Spirit through the hands of the Artist.
Much later, at another time and place, someone else picks up the glass and their Spirit seeks communion with the Spirit of the glass.
Belle’s passion and a great source of pleasure is creating beautiful and useful items of glass, exercising and growing her skills. This particular line of her creations resonated with purchasers to the extent that they came back to her, not necessarily to acquire another one, but to share their opinions of what would make these toys a little better.
What started as a resemblance to the shape of an erect penis has morphed into the current style which alludes to that shape but provides a wider variety of pleasurable possibilities and transcends distinctions of gender.
RedBird at Belle’s End