Village Squire, 1980-08, Page 14Artistry at
Sommersun
Glass. flowers and weeds make some of the nicest gifts around
Paull Is responsible for cleaning the
glass and making the artistic plant
arrangements.
PG. 12 VILLAGE SQUIRE/AUGUST 1980
BY SHEILA GUNBY
"Sommersun" sounds like a quiet
serene place --and that's the feeling in-
spired by Pauli and Phil Sommer, partners
in the Sommersun Glassworks near Dun-
gannon.
Situated in a comfortable old farmhouse
on the Nine Mile River, they specialize in
making creations of coloured glass - boxes,
mobiles, terrariums, hanging planters as
well as lampshades and shelves.
Originally from Kitchener, Pauli and
Phil found it hard to work in the city and
now work here full time. They don't feel
they need to live on a main thoroughfare. A
few times a year, they get their supplies in
Toronto or they order what they need.
Both are self-taught. Phil says a man
from P.E.I. showed him the basics; now he
makes his own original designs.
"If you are taught, you tend to follow
your teacher's work," Phil says.
DRIED WEEDS AND FLOWERS
Dried weeds and flowers are used in the
boxes they are spending time on right now.
Living in the country, near the river, gives
the chance to get all kinds of plant
specimens. They often take their children
Jeremiah and Noah on a picking "pick-
nic". All materials gathered are brought
back and pressed six weeks to two months
in big old telephone books. Phil says they
are ideal as they are heavy and the paper is
porous, to take up the moisture from the
plant material.
When it comes to making the boxes
Pauli, using the dried material, forms a
design on one piece of glass. She places a
second sheet of glass on top, then, using
copper foil with an adhesive back, she
binds them together. Phil says Pauli's
designs "give the effect of watercolours".
HANDMADE GLASS
Phil, incorporating Pauli's portion, de-
signs the rest of the lid and cuts the glass
for the box. He tries to obtain glass with a
lot of character and imperfections.
"Pauli and I usually pick our own
glass," he says, "so we can get what we
want. We like handmade glass; it's not as
consistent as machine rolled glass. We look
for nice bubbles in the glass."
"Glass cutting is my favourite part,"
says Phil, with enthusiasm. "The closest
step to designing is when I'm cutting the
glass. Soldering is the work part."
Often Phil will cut several boxes out or
solder several at a time. Right now, he is
experimenting with offset design and
cutting different shapes in his glass.
"I've hardly done the same thing
twice," he says. "The boxes are all similar
but still all different. People appreciate the
larger pieces, though, if they've bought the
only one of its kind."
FULL OF IDEAS
Phil and Pauli are full of ideas to expand.
They usually work in the evenings and
devote most of the day to their family and
garden.
They plan to get more involved with
larger pieces like lampshades. Recently,
they made 14 lampshades for a Kitchener
restaurant and have made more for two
stores in the same area.
"A lampshade takes about four hours to
cut and wrap with foil, another six to eight