Day 1 ~ July 12, 2011

I was walking to my studio this afternoon, and something on the ground caught my eye......



I did a double-take.... gee, that color looks awfully familiar... so I bent down closer and what do I see?




Yes, apparently even ANTS know when a color is really special. I had spilled about a teaspoon of Z-99 frit when I was sifting the different sizes of frit the other day, and these guys found it and carried it ALL back to their nest, which is almost 20 feet from where it got spilled. That just kind of blew my mind!

I had heard of ants "mining" pyrope garnets before but these ants were not bringing the z-99 up out of the ground (oh, if only they could!) they were carrying it home and 'decorating' their anthill with it. Interestingly, I went back a little while later and the chunks near the opening had been carried down into the nest. I wonder if there is a little tiny lampworking ant underground somewhere dancing a jig??

** For any readers who do not know what Z-99 frit is:

FRIT: Granulated glass used by glass artist to add texture, pattern and color to any base glass. Frit is used by flameworkers (also called lampworkers), fused glass artists, and glass blowers.

Z-99 FRIT: Z-99 is a rare and very beautiful reactive purple glass produced by a German glass manufacturer Zimmerman Glassworks. Sadly, this company went out of business in 2008 and their beautiful glass is no longer being produced. If you would like to see examples of Z-99 frit (or maybe get a little bit for yourself!) please click here.