Today we have another post from Ryan Doolittle, one of our glassblowers currently onboard the Celebrity Solstice.
Kali mera (good morning) from the Celebrity Solstice in Pireaus, Greece!
This morning I woke up early to light up the hot shop for our morning show and something rather unexpected was waiting up on the 15th open deck. It was a sea day so we were in the middle of the Mediterranean Ocean with no land in sight, so I was quite surprised to see 9 little birds flitting about on our real grass lawn that borders the hotshop. I have no idea where they came from but the reason why became clear when I asked one of our always smiling lawn caretakers, Arnold. He told me with a bit of a put upon expression that they had just reseeded the whole lawn so all the birdies were having the best lunch ever. I joked with him that the birds probably have a lookout that tells all his bird friends when a Solstice class ship with a real grass lawn chock full of delicious seeds is on the horizon.
The Hot Glass Show team
One of our team members, Tom Ryder, just recently left for home in Corning since his contract ended. We were sad to see him go since we had a blast with him blowing glass and visiting amazing ports of call but he left with a bang since we had our best auction ever before he departed. Let me rewind a little and explain. We often get asked if we sell the glasswork that we make and the answer is always no since we’re a not-for-profit museum, but there is one instance in which some of our best pieces that we make each cruise can be purchased. Most of the glass we make gets raffled off for free to our audience but we do have one auction per cruise in which the proceeds help fund the Celebrity Cruises Glassmaking Scholarship fund. All of our auctions have been wonderful since all our glass fans show up and literally pack the house.
Auction to benefit the Celebrity Cruises Glassmaking Scholarship fund
We were especially fortunate to have our fabulous Hotel Director, Nina, act as our Vanna White and show the glass up for auction to the audience.
Nina at the auction
Maybe it was her aide, the general joviality and generosity of our fans, the beauty of our glass, or just that some folks were absolutely determined to go home with the best souvenir ever but we raised almost $6,000! I think it may have been a combination of all of the above and we were all very proud that our work helped contribute so much to this amazing scholarship fund, which affords countless glass artists the chance to take classes at The Studio. Yay! Our newest team member, Dane Jack, has expressed his determination to beat our latest auction record, so ready, set, let’s blow some amazing glass on a cruise ship!
Andio for now!
Ryan