Message in a Bottle

This piece truly is a real message in a bottle. I created this sculpture as my final for my advanced glass course because I couldn't not commemorate my once-in-a-lifetime discovery. I was vacationing in Port Aransas, Texas in December of 2015, the same year my mother passed away. The weather was unseasonably cold and rainy that week, and the storms had washed a whole lot of detritus up on the beach. In an attempt to make the best of the weather, I set of on a beach walk with my family during a reprieve in the weather. My mother-in-law's chiding that I wouldn't find any shells on the beach, urged me to find something of value to bring back. Glancing toward the sawgrass I spotted the green bottle partially covered with seaweed and figured that some wino had left it there, but when I glanced down I noticed a yellow note scrolled up inside of it. Surely not... but when I picked it up I saw that it was indeed a real message in a bottle. When we arrived home we carefully retrieved the scroll. It was a love letter from a woman to her deceased husband. In the letter she speaks of her love for him and how she was simply not prepared for losing him. She writes, "But could I have ever been prepared? No, never." I have little hope of ever finding the woman who wrote the message, and I'm sure she probably never expected or intended for anyone to ever read it. It was simply "Eugenia's" message to her beloved "Godfrey." I don't even know if the names are real. All I know (from clues in the letter) is that it was probably thrown in the water at Saint George's Island in Florida. The letter is dated October of 2015, so it took about 3 months for it to cross the Gulf of Mexico. The woman was a Georgia Bulldogs fan, and sadly, her team lost the game she refers to in the letter. 

The message inspired this sculpture. I made copies of the original letter and cut out excerpts from the 3-page letter (a little long-winded, Eugenia?) to fit the words that brought me to tears onto a single page. I used a toner copier to transfer the image onto Waterslide transfer paper. This was a tricky process because you have to very slowly heat the transfer paper to bind the image to the gummed surface or it will fade when you fuse it to the glass. Again, when you fuse the transferred image, you have to use a very slow ramp rate and minimal heat to achieve the look you want or the image will fade. The finished image turns a sepia color as shown in the image. After succesfully transferring the image onto the glass and then fusing it again under a layer of clear frit powder to achieve a glossy surface, I used a wave mold and fiber blanket to create a custom shape reminiscent of a sheet of paper curled slightly at the corner. I created the base out of driftwood, shells and other items that I found on the beach during my trip. While it is no Donatello, this piece is priceless to me!

• 90 COE glass
• Waterslide paper
• image transfer