Southern Indiana Living SeptOct 2012

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Above: Roni works on a piece featuring three kimonos that will be sent to a customer in Kansas City. Opposite Page: (Left) Dee Downey of Corydon said she likes to work with glass because “It calms my nerves. It’s a very good stress reliever.” (Right) All kinds of glass objects are for sale at the White Cloud Window, some are home-made, some from other places in the world. life kept messing up Roni’s plans. When the economy tanked, she closed her business, lost her day job as an administrative assistant at PCUSA in Louisville, and su ered through spells of Àbromyalgia (a disease affecting soft muscle tissue and motor skills) and a persistent back problem. A protracted, ugly divorce made things even worse. She found peace by getting up in the middle of the night to work for hours on stained glass projects. “As I’m fond of saying, ‘Get lost in the glass’.” She was encouraged by a woman who ran a stained glass shop at the Green Tree Mall in Clarksville and others in Southern Indiana and Kentucky. Most, if not all of them, have since closed. Roni decided to take the plunge and open another shop in 2007, this time in Corydon, in the old Saulman Tree Service building on Old Forest Road. She said it was one way she could control her life. In a short time she moved to two other locations facing the town square, and then in January of 2011, needing more room, she reopened at the corner of Mulberry and Chestnut streets, opposite Harmony and Health. Business was so bad in April and May this year that “I thought I would have to close, but June was phenomenal,” Roni said. Word-of-mouth advertising has been great. One Colorado couple who heard about her store from an employee at one of the local motels told her that when they returned, “they would bring an SUV instead of a VW.” Roni is typically upbeat and rarely looks harried. She gives her students plenty of individual attention (they come in whenever they can), works on her custom jobs and commissions from all over the country, and sells many kinds of glasswork, some of which is made at White Cloud Window and some of which comes from faraway places like Murano, Italy, the glass-making capital of the world. You can buy sun-catchers and custom-made elaborate designs for windows, not to mention bowls, pitchers, plates, cups, jewelry boxes, crosses, shamrocks and amusing knick-knacks -- like an azure blue corset. She and her advanced students do a lot of repair work. She encourages the advanced students to experiment with their own unique designs, some of which can be quite complicated. For example, Bob Bursey, 69, Corydon, an “associate” who has been coming to White Cloud Window for about two years, is a trained electrician-professional handyman-turned artist. He’s currently making a sunÁowerlike sunburst window featuring a bright red, heavy antique glass plate with dramatic red Áares. The old Amberina glass design is called “Buttons and Daisies.” Terri Jones, now a good friend of Roni’s, started coming to the shop 3-1/2 years ago. She lives in a New Albany mansion that was built by a state senator in 1905. She drives to Corydon twice a week to make things for her home and for the shop. Among other things, Roni is working on a 20-by-40-inch piece for a lawyer in Kansas City that features three kimonoes. It will be mounted on a wall and enhanced by a light box. She’s getting ready to bid on a 40-inch circular piece 15 feet above the Áoor in a home that will require scaolding to install. A woman in Evansville has asked her to create a 16-by-24-inch piece for a bay window. She will soon start on two Converse sneakers based on a story like “Blind Side” for a person who works for the Amarillo (Texas) Economic Development Commission. Barbara Fitzgerald, Elizabeth, who started in glass four-and-a-half years ago, just Ànished a 40-inch circle of The Trinity for St. Peter’s Church in Buena Vista. It was dedicated in April. Scott Dell, 47, Ramsey, a former Navy Seal and an aluminum fabricator by trade, said he didn’t have an artistic bone in his body until he started working with September/October 2012 • 40
glass at the White Cloud Window. Now he’s working on an interesting 18-inch diameter cross and considers himself an artist. Scott is perhaps the best example of what Roni means when she says that experience and training are not required to work with stained glass. “I haven’t found anyone I can’t teach,” she said. And one of the nicest things about working in Roni’s store is that all the students share a camaraderie and help each other with their projects. • The White Cloud Window store hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The phone number is 812-596-0393. 5 THE % SOLUTION PO Box 279, Corydon, Indiana (812) 738-6668 | www.hccfindiana.org 4104 Charlestown Road, New Albany, Indiana (812) 948-4662 | www.cfsouthernindiana.com If everyone in Southern Indiana gave just 5% of their estate to their Community Foundation, in the next ten years that could mean an additional $9.8 million in grants for our communities every year. If you’d like to be a part of the solution, call your Community Foundation today. PO Box 205, Milltown, Indiana (812) 633-2077 | www.cf-cc.org 1707 North Shelby St., Suite 100, Salem, Indiana 812-883-7334 | www.wccf.biz DESIGN PROVIDED BY IDEALOGY MARKETING + DESIGN | WWW.IDEALOGY.BIZ silivingmag.com • 41
Page 1 and 2: Freshen up your home this Fall •t
Page 4 and 5: SOUTHERN INDIANA Living in THIS iss
Page 6 and 7: For nearly a year, I had the privil
Page 8 and 9: Top 10: Easy, InExpEnsIvE HomE Impr
Page 10 and 11: THE PERFECT SETTING For over 125 ye
Page 12 and 13: snapshots Earlier in the year, Corp
Page 14 and 15: The next thing I know I’m standin
Page 16 and 17: Helen Smith holds the name tags of
Page 18 and 19: Treasures and Simple Pleasures The
Page 20 and 21: lowing that. Tom taught industrial
Page 22 and 23: Nothing CHILLY about it Chillers’
Page 24 and 25: “Give people more than what they
Page 26 and 27: September/October 2012 • 26
Page 28 and 29: Making a splash at Great Wolf Lodge
Page 30 and 31: memory together that takes them awa
Page 32 and 33: Dining Car or Woman Jasper Train De
Page 34 and 35: Once upon a farm... Defying the nor
Page 36 and 37: “Years ago a dollar would buy som
Page 38 and 39: Classic Oldies FM 102.7 AM 1550 Ori
Page 42 and 43: Hayswood Theatre: Acting out and se
Page 44 and 45: ® the shows on the road and perfor
Page 46 and 47: e-opening the venue.” The new gro
Page 48 and 49: Flashback Photo 1984 Rothrock’s M
Page 50 and 51: everyday adventures Missing Mayberr
Page 52: PICK UP RIGHT WHERE YOU LEFT OFF. H

Southern Indiana Living SeptOct 2012

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?