Friday, October 15, 2010

Glass Pumpkins by Walker & Bowes

IMG_5867 glass pumpkins

It's October, so that must mean pumpkins and here in Palo Alto, it means glass pumpkins. I happened to be at the Stanford Shopping Center a couple of weeks ago and came upon a large glass pumpkin display by glass artists Walker & Bowes.

IMG_5863 Walker and Bowes glass pumpkins

Andrew Stanton, who was manning the concession stand, patiently allowed me to photograph the pumpkins.

IMG_5884 Andrew Stanton with glass pumpkins

He is standing next to one of the sculptures which gives the illusion that these pumpkins are lighter than air.

IMG_5887 Walker and Bowes glass pumpkin display

Andrew showed me their traditional orange pumpkins...

IMG_5881 traditional glass pumpkins

...but they also had orange pumpkins peppered with black glass "seeds".

IMG_5883 Walker and Bowes pumpkins

The ghostly-looking white pumpkins are à propos for the season.

IMG_5882 milky white glass pumpkins

These look like they've been caramelized.

IMG_5886 Walker and Bowes glass pumpkins

Even with all the fancy options, I still am delighted to find a simple little traditional pumpkin with a curly green stem and tiny juvenile leaf in a patch of grass.

IMG_5873 traditional glass pumpkin

I hope you are enjoying your autumn.

17 comments:

Jeannette StG said...

Oh how beautiful -I love glass sculptures anyway. Good I'm here, I would burn a hole in my pocket with these!

Jeannette StG said...

I'm back to tell you how much I enjoyed your Oma's story about Lubeck, Germany and about the Mandelbrot!
I don't think the rosewater is any proof about marzipan having Arabic roots -in Indonesia they have rosewater (concentrated) lemonade, where I grew up with.

Ruth said...

Beautiful and fragile. I especially love the caramels and whites. I would like a perfume bottle like that one ecru gourd in the middle on the right, in the white collection. Dab dab.

Marilyn Miller said...

Gorgeous glass pumpkins. I would have loved seeing them up close. Lucky you to get to see them, enjoy them, and photograph them. I thought, oh I like the white ones, then I like the carmel ones, but who can decide - I like them all.

Anonymous said...

What a fun display...I love these artistic touches on these pumpkins...all are just beautiful!

Susan said...

Soooo gorgeous! I want to eat those caramelized ones!

Ginnie Hart said...

Don't you love it when someone comes up with a creative outlet like this and then just carries it to the enth degree! I love how you were able to take so many great photos of this craftsmanship. So lovely, DB!

Just this past Saturday we 6 carved pumpkins at Amy's house...a tradition from the last several years now. I'm so glad Astrid could be in on it because the experience was very foreign to her. She'll never forget it.

Relyn Lawson said...

I really love those huge ones!

Dutchbaby said...

Dear jeannette,
I know what you mean about burning a hole in your pocket. I've done my share of indulging. Once in a while I pick up a bargain in unlikely places.

Thank you for taking the time to read Oma's story. Regardless of the origins of marzipan, I love eating it!

Dutchbaby said...

Dear Ruth,
I like the white ones too. Some of them look like they have smoke inside them. I love the idea of the using the pear-shaped gourd as a perfume bottle. It is actually a bit too large, bigger than a pear, but a miniature version would be fantastic. Maybe you could commission one for Willow Ball next year.

Dutchbaby said...

Dear Marilyn,
Yes, it is hard to decide which is the prettiest. I was actually quite close to buying the tiny clear one at the bottom center of the white collection.

Vagabonde said...

You know I don’t even remember eating pumpkin when I was growing up. In France it was not something I used to see, maybe they have pumpkins as decoration now. I do like pumpkins in their glorious colors. These pretty little glass ones would look great on a nice dressed up table. I have never carved a pumpkin either that I can recall but I like to look at their crazy heads.

Dutchbaby said...

Dear tammymcchesney,
As you can tell, I can't seem to get enough of these pumpkins.

Dutchbaby said...

Dear Susan,
Or at least lick them :)

Dutchbaby said...

Dear Ginnie,
Exactly! I love the thorough exploration of this art.

How wonderful that Astrid had a chance to partake in the wonderful American tradition of pumpkin carving.

Dutchbaby said...

Dear Relyn,
Yes, the huge ones are very special. I wish they weren't so impossible to store.

Dutchbaby said...

Dear Vagabonde,
I never had pumpkin until I came to the US either. Pumpkin pie is one of my favorite desserts of all time.

I love the idea of using the tiny ones on a dressed-up table.

I love carving pumpkins. When the kids were in preschool, I used to have the entire class over to the house for pumpkin carving. It was a sticky mess, but great fun.

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