Hey Friends, We are so excited to welcome you back. Do you want to learn something new? Organize a fun event for friends or family?

Come and learn the process of cutting the bottle, grinding and polishing the glass and then sandblast your own glass to take home. Workshops are 1.5 hours. Cost includes one glass and you are welcome to sandblast additional glasses within the workshop time (extra fee per glass applies).

We have over 15 designs to pick from and you can mix and match elements of the designs.

We require a minimum of 2 person/ workshop, 6 person group maximum.

Our first scheduled workshop is May 18 7:00pm- 8:30pm. You are welcome to suggest your own date too! Hope to see you soon.

As kids my siblings and I used to fight over who could claim the title of “Hawk Eye” or “Eagle Eye” for spotting next most unusual species of bird-  or license plate. After a while, I knew I was never going to win the title so I gave up in favour of keeping my eyes to the ground in search of the next patch of wild berries. 

My parents are biological scientists so I knew that I could just ask them to identify the birds for me. What birds I do know I seemed to have absorbed by osmosis.

But since the pandemic, I’m learning to appreciate watching the birds from my deck. We started making bird feeders for Peregrine Glassworks out of recycled wine bottles in cute wood house shaped holders. The first one we mounted right outside our dining room window. Then I began to wonder, am I feeding these feathered friends the very best?

I recently asked my Dad for his advice on what seeds to feed the birds to encourage them to stay a bit longer in my backyard. 

Here’s his advice:

The crowd favourite is hulled sunflower seeds (without shells). Apparently all birds love these. If you have sunflower seeds in shells, some birds will pick through them dumping most on the ground in favor of the hulled ones.

Chickadees will eat anything. Big seeds, small seeds and suet. 

Finches like small canola seeds.

Woodpeckers like nuts and suet.

But the short of it, if you put in a mix of seeds, you will get a mix of birds. 

Seems simple right?  

If you want more published advice on seeds see this articles by Allaboutbirds.org and The Spruce.  

Another hot tip: Join the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and its app “eBird.” You can join thousands of bird watchers who track their sightings throughout the year. Watching the seasonal migration of birds through time series maps is truly amazing.

Peggy - Peregrine Glassworks

The COVID-19 pandemic has us reflecting outwards and inwards. Outwards to the natural world, to the wonders of nature, and we find ourselves marveling at the smallest things. And inwards, to reflect on what matters, on what we value.

As a family, Hugh, Peggy and two kids, we are well practiced at cocooning together. We moved to New Zealand for a year in 2013 and we moved from Yellowknife to Cochrane, Alberta in 2017, both places where we knew very few people. These times of isolation have always made us stronger as a family. They are not without fights or arguments, but through the struggles, we have found ways to make amends and support each other. As is our core value as a family (as written on our corny mission statement in our diningroom) is to be witness to each other’s lives.

Since the schools are closed, our daytimes are filled with a homeschooling schedule: reading, writing, math, free learning and hands-on-learning. Our hands-on learning will involve time in our studio, showing our kids (or maybe they will show us) how to invent something new from what was once discarded. We have started with bird feeders. This is a prototype for a feeder made from the bottom of a wine bottle. We filled it with bacon fat and bird seed. No action yet, but we’ll let you know.

During this time, Peregrine Glassworks remains open as an online store. If you want a gift for yourself or a friend, from one of our designs or custom, let us know. We are healthy and will take the utmost precautions to wipe down every product (and our hands) regularly. If we have any sign of being sick, we will suspend our online store and completely self-isolate, as required.

Please reach out to us and let us know how you are – we are all apart but our togetherness will get us through this. Take care.

Peggy and Hugh

Peregrine Glassworks

There is something in us that craves the power to create. As most of us spend hours on the computer everyday or engage in non-physical work, we are missing the unique sensation activated in our brains by working with our hands.

It’s no wonder then that there’s been a renaissance in modern culture through the maker movement. It’s the newest descriptor for the creative space also called “Do-it-Yourself” (DIY), born by suburban home life and changing gender roles in the 1950s.[1] 

The maker and DIY movement allows us to reclaim work that is often done by professionals and artisans, and learn to do things for ourselves in a variety of fields, including engineering-based robotics and 3D printing, as well as traditional activities such as metalworking, woodworking and hot and cold glassworking.

Since we started Peregrine Glassworks we have had this idea to join the maker movement and offer workshops. Many of our customers have been curious about the process we use to make the glasses. We heard many stories from people who have attempted to cut bottles themselves, only to fail over and over again (see first blog).

At the workshops, we start from the beginning and you will learn to cut a bottle on your own (it often makes participants laugh), and then the processes of grinding. Finally you will pick your own glass and get to sandblast it yourself with one of our many designs. The final stage of your glass is exciting, as you clean the glass in water, peel off the stencil, and watch as the surface dries to reveal the permanently etched drinking glass. Participants will spend an hour and a half in the workshop and go home with new skills, and a glass that you can be proud you made on your own.

The classes can accommodate up to six people and are a great way to spend quality time with your pals, switch up date night or make special, memorable gifts.

We will schedule three classes a month to start but if a better time suits you, let us know. We hope to make with you soon.

[1] Gelber, S. 1997. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/2269

Over several glasses of wine one night, we came up with a long list of names for our new business. All the helpful online advice was to make it short, memorable, different, to reflect the product...  And we also wanted it to reflect an inspiring story. 

Finally it was the story of the Peregrine Falcon in North America that inspired our business’ name.

Fifty years ago a chemical pesticide named dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) was plunging the Peregrine Falcon population towards extinction. Through the banning of DDT and the work of governmental and nongovernmental organizations, the Peregrine Falcon population in Canada is back to pre-DDT levels.  Many dedicated people acted to enable the Peregrine Falcon to persist today.

And we made a corny parallel to Peregrine Glassworks…

Just as the Peregrine Falcon was on the brink of extinction but has now recovered, the drinkware we make has a new lease on life and it too has been recovered. Peregrine Glassworks intercepts each bottle on its journey to the recycling depot and crafts it into an artistic glass. Just like the majestic native falcon, it is something beautiful in our world that almost never existed.

Cool, eh! Cheers!   

I really enjoy meeting all the wonderful customers at the Farmer’s Market and the Craft Fairs. There are so many great stories people are willing to share. I find it so interesting to learn how many people have tried making their own glasses at home. Customers will tell me they bought a glass scorer kit and used hot and cold water to break wine bottles.  Break is the key word there as very few of these stories end in success. This is exactly how it all started at Peregrine Glassworks as well.

I remember the first day I started cutting glasses. All my supplies were ready. I had watched many online videos. I proudly took my first scored glass and using the hot and cold-water method, it broke along my score line and I had an almost perfect glass. I thought this glass cutting is easy. Out of the next twenty cutting attempts, I successfully only cut one more glass. Now I know why many of my customers did not persevere! However, I have figured out the process and now I can cut twenty glasses with few mistakes. It’s true that perservance is all that is needed for success. This quote by Johann Wolfgang van Goethe seems apt: “In the realm of ideas, everything depends on enthusiasm… in the real world all rests on perserverance.”

- Hugh