When years of working too hard and traveling too much started to take its toll, Denise Lockett started looking for an alternative career that could keep her close to home. A friend had introduced her to his glass-cutting business in Yellowknife, and she realized this kind of operation would be a great fit for Bowen.
"It's a win for Bowen Island," says Denise. "I pay BIRD and the General Store for sorting the bottles, but because I take them, we can avoid the cost of sending them to the mainland for recycling."
After she picks up the bottles and gives them a thorough cleaning, Denise uses her industrial glass cutter to make them into the shapes and sizes that work best for the bottle and its potential end-use. Once the edges are cut to a soft, smooth finish using a wet disk-sander she chooses from her vast repertoire of pre-cut stencils and sand-blasts various shapes and motifs into the glass. Then the final pieces are packaged in recycled shoe-boxes for display and sale.
The designs on the glasses, vases, lanterns, candle-holders and other uses Denise creates are all Bowen-esque motifs. She has a stag, geese, a large fern, kayaks, hummingbirds, seagulls and dolphins to name a few.
She has also recently commissioned a local Bowen artist to do a series of Northwest Coast designs that will be released in the New Year.
