Glass Mosaics with Ellen Blakeley
JANUARY 14, 2008
Soooo...
with my [studio space all torn up](http://lealabyrinth.typepad.com/tales_from_the_labyrinth/2008/01/all-torn-up-bro.html)...
I was very fortunate to spend this past weekend in the studio of glass mosaic artist and teacher **[Ellen Blakeley](http://www.ellenblakeley.com/)**...
Now how is this for space???
Ellen is a delight.
with my [studio space all torn up](http://lealabyrinth.typepad.com/tales_from_the_labyrinth/2008/01/all-torn-up-bro.html)...
I was very fortunate to spend this past weekend in the studio of glass mosaic artist and teacher **[Ellen Blakeley](http://www.ellenblakeley.com/)**...
Now how is this for space???
Ellen is a delight.
She is quite fun, very talented, a great teacher, and gracious and generous with technique, inspiration, and finding order in the chaos of students in all sorts of material all at once!!!
Ellen was the innovator of discovering how to use tempered glass for mosaic art. Over the past sixteen years she has perfected this art medium into a tile and art business that is brilliant, literally. Her pieces are sometimes enormous, finishing walls, sinks, and even waterfalls. In the picture above, Ellen is standing on a table top, with bowls spheres beyond. Ellen's art has changed how glass tile can be used and installed in all sorts installations, concepts that were before, thought to be impossible.
Ellen was the innovator of discovering how to use tempered glass for mosaic art. Over the past sixteen years she has perfected this art medium into a tile and art business that is brilliant, literally. Her pieces are sometimes enormous, finishing walls, sinks, and even waterfalls. In the picture above, Ellen is standing on a table top, with bowls spheres beyond. Ellen's art has changed how glass tile can be used and installed in all sorts installations, concepts that were before, thought to be impossible.
Ellen is a true artist, for she doesn't see impossible, she always sees that there is a way...
So, eight of us dove into learning some beginning techniques of working with tempered glass...
while Ellen and her assistant Kate (on the left) gave us guidance...
I loved working with this medium...
and learned a lot...
And I'm loving all the new ways I can think of now...
to fill my new space...
And I'm loving all the new ways I can think of now...
to fill my new space...
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Labyrinths provide us with a path to practice change. Some labyrinths have withstood the passage of time for thousands of years. Others are here for just an afternoon, drawn in the sand at the edge of the ocean. Many modern labyrinths were meant to last for years, but because of unforeseen circumstances their time is shorter than intended. And they once again help us to practice letting go and giving thanks for the time they are with us. The Labyrinth of Life at the Sebastopol, California Teen Center reached such place of letting go and is at the end of one chapter and the beginning of another chapter that is yet unknown.

Sometimes... a labyrinth can take years to become a physical reality. In 2018 I met with my friend Deb, to discuss her desire to have a labyrinth on the beautiful land she lives on. Despite our plans and several meetings, listening to the land and finding the right spot, the labyrinth did not come to fruition. Fast-forward five years and in the blink of an eye... it happened!