Saturday, October 18, 2008

An different kind of pumpkin patch

Last November my husband spotted some blown glass pumpkins in a San Francisco gallery. They came many sizes and shapes and we had purchase paralysis so we didn't buy any. He's been thinking about them ever since. So much has he been thinking about them that he researched them extensively and nearly a year ago calendared where we'd spend October 18, 2008.

These particular pumpkins are made by the Cohn-Stone Glassblowers in Richmond, California. And every October Richard Cohn and Molly Stone open up their studio and set up an outdoor pumpkin patch to showcase their designs.

Today was the day! We met our friends Fabio, Danielle and Gian Luca there. The Pinks were fascinated by the glass-blowing process and even the wild one stood in front of the artisans for a long time, just watching the liquid glass take shape. The mother in me was thrilled that we escaped without inadvertently breaking anything.

Have you ever seen glass being blown? It's magical and we're enthralled by it. Dave and I have been to Venice twice and Murano, the island outside of Venice where all the Venetian glass is blown, twice. The first time we were so overwhelmed by all the choices that we bought nothing. On our second trip, for our 10th anniversary, we did pick out a piece together.

This pumpkin patch was truly a sight to see -- hand-blown pumpkins in shades of orange ranging from nearly salmon to day glo, and red and gold and bronze and green and white and pink. There were glass birds and even some glass fish in the fountain. The smallest ones were perhaps 3 inches across and the largest were closer to 18 inches.

We each picked out a pumpkin and now we have our own little pumpkin patch nicely displayed on the half wall between our kitchen and living room.

After the studio tour we headed to the Richmond Marina Park and enjoyed the city view while eating a picnic lunch. It was a great Fall afternoon!

2 comments:

Amy S. said...

I am green with envy. I have always eyed the glass pumpkins and I wonder if this is the same company that I recall from years back. There was a news story when I lived in the south bay of a fundraiser on the peninsula that had glass pumpkins strewn on a field. The tickets to the event were very expensive... and the well-to-do lined up hours before the event. The basic idea was run in, grab a pumpkin of your liking and probably have lunch before or after. The tickets sold out - the pumpkins were glorious and I still have an image of the ladies running around like crazy! I have eyed the pumpkins from afar since they are so delicate (and Jenna is NOT). Enjoy them. Quite a memory (with a memento) for the girls.

Neeracha T. said...

We hit the annual Great Glass Pumpkin Patch at the Palo Alto Arts Center last year and acquired 6 glass pumpkins - I've refrained from buying any more this year!