Shuttlecocks, Battledores or Birdies?

Table centerpieces

Last night I accompanied dear friend and  Pilchuck Glass School Board member, Patty Barrier, to the 35th annual Pilchuck Glass Auction at the Westin Hotel.  We left our husbands happily at home in front of their respective TVs.  As usual, this was such a beautiful auction with all the beautiful, fascinating and whimsical glass displayed.  The table centerpieces were interesting geometric tangents and clustered pillars designed by artist Lynn Everett Read, that several people said looked like Kryptonite out of a Superman movie

When we arrived, Patty was immediately enthralled with a glass piece in the silent auction entitled Black Battledore by artist Tyler Kimball, which I think was misnamed since that should mean the racket that is used to hit the object that looked just like the birdies that I used to play with when I played competition badminton in high school.  Patty was the successful bidder and we have since been arguing about what the correct name should be for this piece of glass art.  I kept calling it a "shuttlecock" which she thought sounded naughty, but looking up the definition in Widipedia, I was right, which is of course a huge relief!

According to Wikipedia,
A shuttlecock (also called a bird or birdie)^[1] is a high-drag projectile used in the sport of badminton. Battledore and shuttlecock or jeu de volant is an early game similar to that of modern badminton.  This game is played by two people, with small rackets, called battledores, made of parchment or rows of gut stretched across wooden frames, and shuttlecocks, made of a base of some light material, like cork, with trimmed feathers fixed round the top.  The "shuttle" part of the name was probably derived from its back-and-forth motion during the game, resembling the shuttle of a loom; the "cock" part of the name was probably derived from the resemblance of the feathers to those on a cockerel.

We ran into artist Steve Jensen, shortly after we arrived to find out that he had a piece in the live auction which was very unlike his traditional art.  This piece was an art glass bottomed boat with amber glass and driftwood sides.  Both Patty and I really liked it.  And then we ran into artist Debora Moore and also loved her white flower vase with orchids that was included in the live auction too.  There was also an exquisite black and white and red Dante Marioni piece that reminded me of how much I loved the tall red Dante Marioni that I received during my year as PONCHO President.  Everywhere we looked, there were amazing pieces of glass art!

Friends that we ran into also enjoying the evening were Faye Page, Bob Cremin, Dena Rigby, Carole Ellison, Toni & Rod Hoffman, Nancy & Charlie Hogan, Larry Hitchon & Dana Reid, Mitzi & John Morris, Sandi & Tim Premselaar and we were seated with Dorothy Saxe, Eve & Chap Alvord and Karyl & Elias Alvord, long-time supporters of Pilchuck Glass School and the arts in our community.