Antlers

Why antlers?

I've always been infatuated with deer and deer antlers. Whether it started with my dad's hunting stories, or from reading too many stories about hunting whitetails, or from finding that first small shed while turkey hunting, I'm not sure. I love all sizes and shapes of deer antlers and just finding one in the woods is super exciting for me. It's so neat to think that a  deer can evade, hide from, and outwit the hunters, and then at the end of the season, drop their antlers almost as a laughing salute to us sophisticated and techy two legged creatures that have been pursuing them all fall.

Sometimes Jenelle gets frustrated because she thinks all that I think about is bucks. She says that my mind keeps wandering off and thinking about deer and big bucks and antlers instead of staying focused. I don't mean to let it happen but it does. We'll be driving down the road in the middle of a deep conversation and bam, there's a buck standing out in the field. I slam on the brakes to get a better look and everything gets silent. I don't know why  but those bucks show up at the worst times! It must be a disorder or something. I'm sure that it's tough dealing with someone with this kind of issue and my hat is off to all of you ladies that have to put up with this kind of a man, and Jenelle, I really am trying to do better

 I started working with glass years ago. For the most part, we were asked to make certain items, and that's what we would do for the day. On our breaks we could play around with the glass. Being young and ambitious, I valued that time and instead of heading to the break room, I would enjoy my swiss cake roll and coffee while trying to make glass, learning and trying things that we didn't get to do while working as an apprentice on production time. It was a little bit like being an overgrown boy with a giant can of hot playdough. It didn't take long until I was trying to make deer antlers. They didn't look like antlers at first and some of my coworkers would laugh  and call my creations things that might be best left out of my journal. Eventually they started looking like antlers and I made some decent ones. It was then that I started thinking about the future and decided to sit on my idea until I had my own shop. I figured that making antlers would be a great hobby to get old with and in the meantime, focused on making the normal vases, lamps and such.

When we started Keen and Bright, I really wanted the glass deer antler to be a part of it.  We wrote down a list of items we would try to make. My list looked like this:

Glass antlers

Antler ornaments

Antler tealight

Antler handled mugs

Antler lamps

Eventually antler chandeliers

Jenelle helped me recognize that not everyone is a whitetail fanatic and antlers may not pay the bills. Since variety is the spice of life, we will  be trying our hand at other things as well.

Vases, pumpkins, birds, flowers. So many things that people love.

Last week we made a unity piece for someone's wedding where they pour different colors of glass frit together signifying the blending of their lives. Then they give it back to us and we make it into a keepsake.

Well, this morning I'm sitting out here in my office chair (tree stand) and writing my blog and thinking about all of these things. I hunt a lot. We eat what we harvest, but really l enjoy just being out here. I don't have a problem with passing up opportunities for the sake of getting to spend more time in the tree. And on days that I don't have an opportunity, well they are usually great as well. Today I've seen a bear lumber by, a couple of gray squirrels, but no deer.

I can't help but think that Mr. Big is up on the ridge thinking and laughing about where he'll drop his shed this year.

 I should probably head home and focus on making some glass and figuring out some things for the business.

 There's definitely a lot more to it than making glass! Jenelle has been the best at figuring it all out with shipping and people paying with credit cards, taxes and everything. She truly is the organizer behind all of this! Even if it weren't for that, I do love her dearly and thank God every day for bringing us together!

Ok, I better get home.

. . . wouldn't it have been neat if we had made a unity antler at our wedding!