Here's a few more pics from the rafting trip- I'm still waiting on the rest but here are a few for now!  I'll be posting more pics very soon from a hike I just did this weekend with my roommate too so check back in the next day or so.

Half way up- above me is Mt. Hood beginning to poke above the rim of the canyon.

Here is when we got to the top (looking north- that's Mt. Hood over my shoulder on the horizon).   I checked and we climbed right around 1500 ft in elevation on this hike... it was awesome.  Look how far down the river is!

Here is looking the other way from the same spot (looking south).

Above me, our star, and a very interesting effect in the sky.  Most of you I'm sure have seen those rainbow arcs around the sun (or moon) from condensation/ water vapor in the air, right? Well look close at this one... there are 2; one is a circle and one is elliptical.  They coincide near where the arcs run into my silhouette and spread out on either side of that... weird!!   I noticed it with my naked eye before we took the pics, it's not a camera phenomenon.

These are random...

Have a good one!!!!

Kevin Nail

Check out the pics and read below!

I wanted to share a bit about my weekend.  I went on a rafting trip with my older brother, niece, my dad, and my bro's dog.   We floated down the Deschutes River here in Central Oregon for about 45 miles over the course of 3 days.  We started in Warm Springs and pulled out just south of Maupin.... it was amazing!   

I've never been on a raft before, though I have spent a lot of time on the water.   It was fun and a little scary- those rapids are something else!   We were in my brother's 15 ft. boat with LOTS of stuff so we plowed right through a lot of them.  Every once in a while we'd get a huge wall of water in the face- that water isn't warm this time of year!

The scenery was unbelievable!!  I looked on Google Maps before we left to see what kind of terrain we would be passing through and could tell there was some sort of canyon and otherwise very dry, desert like conditions.    It turned out to be spectacular- each day brought us to a slightly different place.

The one really cool thing was all the wildlife we saw out there- a zillion beautiful birds, wild horses (on the Indian Reservation), and even a coyote! Some parts of that river have no other way to get to them besides floating so it's very remote.   It was great to get away and enjoy doing nothing for a bit!   I'll post more pics as soon as my dad sends me his.

Kevin Nail

I've been overflowing with ideas recently- which has been great!- and even though I'm really wanting to explore more sandblasting I've discovered a new technique in making fume murrini.    I've done several designs before but they were all singular pieces, now I can make complex canes with an amazing amount of detail.   These first ones are only scratching the surface so I'm really excited to see what I can come up with in the future!   I have several designs drawn out waiting to be made so keep your eye out!    The marbles pictured are currently listed in my eBay Store where you can see more viewing angles.

And of course I still am playing around with some different colors, etc. with the sandblasting... here are a few more I've done- I'm starting to get sense of certain colors I want to use but there are still many more to be explored.   For those who don't know/ understand- some colors aren't "what you see is what you get"... they change e.g. they "strike" or they "luster".   Essentially there is metal(s) in the color that cause a reaction to take place at a certain temperature or cause it to be affected directly by the flame atmosphere (more or less oxygen) of my torch.  For example, one color I use called "Amazon Lagoon" starts out blue, almost cobalt, but turns white on the outside (see the footprint marble below).   I still have color powder to explore too- it's another way of acheiving a contrast through application and then sandblasting... but that's another blog :)

This one has a black layer underneath gold and silver fume:

Here are some great purple colors I'm playing with:

And I had to do another footprint marble...

Kevin Nail

Welcome to my first blog..... ever!  Thanks for checking it out!

Well I got my sandblaster and have been having fun ever since!   There is a lot to learn and refine, but it's a great step in a new direction.   Even more then that, it almost transforms the glass into another medium.   Standing there carving the glass away with the stream of abrasive flowing through the air is a fascinating process!  It's a real dynamic to go from distorting the glass with heat to distorting with... a little machine gun.   My ideas are flowing so much I'm having to write them down so I don't lose them as I can only make them so fast....  it feels great to be so artistically inspired.

Here are some pics of my new style of marbles I just made this week.   They are just the beginning- they will only get cleaner and more complex :)  Be sure to check out my Store for more pics!

Kevin Nail