Tracey Barnes-Priestley: Hi, I'm Tracey Barnes-Priestley.

This week, on "What's on Your Bucket List?"

we join an adventurous retiree as he explores a creative project he felt he had absolutely no talent for.

Happily, he was wrong.

Tracey: We introduce you to a magical world of beautiful glass that draws people deep into every corner of the county.

Tracey: Coming up next on "What's on Your Bucket List?"

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Tracey: Our first guest wanted a unique and colorful Humboldt activity that would add to his life experiences and wardrobe.

Tracey: Hi.

Ron Dawson: Hi.

Tracey: Thank you for being here.

This is Ron Dawson, my guest and, Ron, would you please tell everybody what are we checking off your bucket list today?

Ron: Well, today we're gonna check off making a tie-dye T-shirt, going all Humboldt County.

Tracey: That's right.

I really liked it when I read that you thought this was the Humboldt experience.

Ron: I think it's a part of that je ne sais quoi.

Tracey: Yeah, yeah, now you have-- you retired to Humboldt, is that right?

Ron: I was retired for eight years before coming up here, and this was a destination that's been on my radar for a long time.

Just, I fell in love with the Pacific Northwest and I liked the Humboldt area and liked the idea of having a four -year university.

We came up here several times and just fell in love with the area and the people.

Tracey: So it's been a good fit?

Ron: It's been a great fit.

We're very, very happy here.

Tracey: Great, wonderful.

So in all of your trips to Humboldt, you kept seeing tie dye everywhere?

Ron: I think you can't miss it, yeah.

Especially go to any festival, any concerts and so forth, any events, yes, you'll definitely see the tie dye.

Tracey: Yeah, well, and based on your attire today, it's probably not your everyday wear?

Ron: It's not my everyday wear.

I was an IT manager for many, many years in the DoD, Department of Defense, and yeah, so it's a bit out of my zone and also I'm gonna be a very challenge for Lacey today because I can hardly tie my shoes, let alone do a tie dye so if she can get through this, she can get through anything.

Tracey: Okay, I like the spirit of that, yes.

So what do you think it is about you that you went ahead and applied to the show?

I mean, a lot of people think about it but they go, "Oh, I never wanna do that."

You followed through.

Ron: I followed through 'cause I like the idea of the show.

I saw some interesting segments of the show.

I've done a lot of adventurous things in my life.

I've jumped out of airplanes, surfed big waves, but this is probably more out of my comfort zone than some of those things.

Tracey: Is it?

Is it?

Well, the creativity part of it, but what else--what else feels like a little bit like, "Oh God, never done this before"?

Ron: I just am two left hands and, you know, just not very coordinated with the art of fashion.

When I retired, one of the things I did, I went and took a class on art on a tablet and it was watercolors.

And the teacher would go by and look at everybody's stuff that they were doing and she'd look and say, "Oh, that's very interesting.

Great perspective.

Oh, I like your use of, you know, colors and your blots and how your things are appearing."

Come by me and kind of pat me on the head, saying, "That's nice," and walk on.

So, I will be your challenge today.

Tracey: Okay, all right, and that--and so I was curious about what is your greatest challenge but there it is, right?

Ron: There it is.

Tracey: So without further ado, are you ready?

Ron: Yeah.

Tracey: All right, I think it's time.

Tracey: We were lucky to have the owner of Tie Dye Hippie Goodies with us, who explained her love of this unique art form.

Tracey: This is Lacey Bruhy-Jimenez.

I'm so glad to have you with us today as our expert tie-dyer.

Lacey Bruhy-Jimenez: Thanks for having me.

Tracey: Oh, well, when I found you and I saw your website I thought, "This is the one we want," so thanks again for that.

Tell me how did you get to start doing tie dye?

Lacey: I've been doing tie dye since I was a little kid.

Tracey: Really?

Lacey: Yeah, I was just doing it for fun for many years, and then COVID hit and I had a lot of time on my hands so I was like, "Sure, I should start selling it," yeah.

Tracey: So your folks would just give you a bunch of dye and say, "Have at it, kiddo, and have fun"?

Lacey: Yeah, I would kind of just find any white clothes that I had at home, so at some point I just didn't have any white clothes left.

Tracey: What do you like about tie dye?

Lacey: I just like seeing the colors that come out.

I like seeing people walk around in it.

I've seen a few kids in the little hoodies that I'd made, riding their bikes with their parents, so that's always fun to see around.

Tracey: Oh, satisfying.

What do you think is the hardest part?

What do you think it's gonna be for Ron today?

What will challenge him the most?

Lacey: I think trying to get the spiral right.

Sometimes that gets a little annoying 'cause the shirt doesn't wanna stay even.

Tracey: Well, I really wanna thank you for joining us today.

I think you're gonna be a great teacher and I think Ron's gonna have a good time.

Lacey: Thank you.

Tracey: Thank you.

Tracey: And now it was time for Ron to try his hand at this colorful and uniquely Humboldt art form.

Tracey: Well, here we are.

Ron, I'd like you to meet Lacey.

Ron: Hi, how do you do?

Tracey: Our tie-dying expert.

And we're finally all together.

Now, Lacey, what's the first thing we're gonna do?

Lacey: First thing we're gonna do is we are gonna make the presoak so you just need some warm hot water and some soda ash right here.

This is about a quarter of a cup for how much we need.

And you're just gonna put it in here.

Ron: And what does the soda ash do?

Lacey: This just preps the clothing to take in as much dye as it can so that way you can hold on to those colors and help make it bright.

I'm just gonna take the whisk and just mix it up.

And so then this is all mixed up and we're gonna take the shirt.

Do you wanna put it in?

Tracey: Yeah, all right.

Step one, here we go, Ron.

Before.

Ron: And just drop it in and soak it in?

Lacey: Yeah, just put it in and get it all wet.

Ron: Okay.

Lacey: And we're just gonna leave that in there for 20 minutes while it soaks, and then we'll mix up the dye for the shirt.

Tracey: First, we put on our masks to protect our respiratory systems from inhaling any dust from a product used in the dye.

Then it was time for Ron to mix up some color.

Lacey: And then here is our dye right here, ultraviolet.

So here's your teaspoon.

Here's the dye.

You're only gonna need 4 teaspoons to make one cup.

Ron: Okay, and what is ultraviolet?

I mean, this is just a purple or-- Lacey: It's a purple.

It's like a darkish type of purple.

It's a pretty rich, dense color.

And then you'll just take the water right there, and you'll fill it up to 1 cup.

Ron: Okay.

♪♪♪ Tracey: Can you see?

♪♪♪ Tracey: Perfect.

Lacey: Then you'll just take the whisk again, and you'll just start mixing it up.

And here's this, and you just pour it right in there.

Ron: Okay.

Tracey: No pressure, Ron.

Ron: Uh-uh.

Tracey: Pretty color.

Ron: That is definitely deep and rich.

Lacey: Mm-hm, it's one of my favorite ones.

And that's how you mix the dye.

Tracey: Okay, all righty.

Ron: So, one down and two more to go.

Tracey: Well, thanks to Lacey's organizational abilities, she premixed the color.

Lacey: Premixed them.

Ron: Oh, good, good, good.

Tracey: After soaking the T-shirt for 20 minutes so it would better hold the dye, Ron wrung it out and positioned it on the table.

It was time to tie dye.

Lacey: All right.

Now, the swirl's as simple as just taking your two fingers like this and deciding wherever you want the middle of the swirl to be.

So it could be over here, in the middle, down there at the bottom, wherever you want the middle of it to be.

Tracey: Get creative.

All right, the pressure's on.

Lacey: So once you pinch it, you'll just start twisting.

♪♪♪ Tracey: Oh, there you go.

Ron: I think I'm ready for the hemostats.

Lacey: Yup.

♪♪♪ Lacey: There you go.

There you go.

And then we just loosen that up and then we make sure the middle stays there, just lift them up a little bit.

There you go.

Ron: All right.

Lacey: There you go.

Ron: Thank you for your help.

Tracey: The shirt spiral was held in place by a series of well-placed rubber bands.

Lacey: And then we're all ready to dye.

Now you just get a--take your colors, decide which section you wanna put it on, and then you'll just start putting it on there.

Usually, what I like to do is just kind of like outline with the color and just make sure that I know that's where the color's gonna go.

Ron: I'll start with green.

Lacey: Just put it on there.

Try not to squeeze too hard, 'cause if you squeeze too hard the dye will come out and go into the other sections.

Ron: Got you.

Tracey: Oh, this is gonna be fun to see the final product, Ron.

Ron: It'll be interesting.

Tracey: Yeah.

Ron: So I wanna go to blue.

Lacey: Okay.

Ron: And I'm gonna do that quadrant right there, right?

Lacey: Yes.

Ron: So I'm gonna have a little bit of overlap, but that's fine, right?

Lacey: Yes.

Ron: Okay.

Tracey: The beauty of tie dye: there are no mistakes.

Lacey: Just don't wanna mix too many colors and overlap them 'cause then you'll get brown.

Tracey: Oh, yeah.

Lacey: Which I have gotten before.

Ron: So this will all be purple now, right?

Lacey: Yeah.

Ron: Okay.

Tracey: Once the top of the shirt was done, Ron turned it over and dyed the other side.

Tracey: Interesting.

♪♪♪ Tracey: You picked good colors, Ron.

Ron: Well, thank you.

Ron: How am I doing, Lacey?

Lacey: Good so far.

Ron: Never be able to even attempt this without your help.

Tracey: Ron made sure to fill in all the folds with dye so there wouldn't be too much white on the finished shirt.

Ron: That's about as much damage as I think I can do.

Tracey: The process complete, the shirt had to sit for 24 hours.

Tracey: The next day, Lacey rinsed it out and then tossed it into the washer and dried it.

Finally, it was time for the big reveal.

♪♪♪ Ron: Wow.

Tracey: Wow.

Lacey: There we go.

Ron: I love the colors.

Tracey: Wow, look at that.

Ron: I love the colors.

Tracey: God, that--who would have known that that-- Ron: Is there enough muscle room for me there?

I don't know.

Tracey: Look at that, though.

Ron: It came out great.

Tracey: That's really beautiful.

Lacey: It is, the blue-- Tracey: Who would have thought, Ron, right?

Tracey: Wow, Ron, I think that's amazing, but what do you think?

Ron: I like it.

I think the colors look good and just for, you know, just the simplicity of it, it looks very sophisticated, so I have to really give a lot of thanks and shout-out to Lacey here.

Lacey: Ah, it was easy to teach you.

Ron: You're the first person who's ever said that.

Tracey: Well, I'm really glad you joined us.

Lacey, I wanna thank you 'cause you made this whole experience so much fun for all of us.

I wanna thank you for being on "What's on Your Bucket List?"

Tracey: Next, we met up with a woman who has a real passion for some of the smallest art imaginable.

Tracey: One of the things I love about hosting this show is that I get to learn about so many new and exciting things right here in Humboldt County, and today is no exception.

So I wanna thank you.

I'll introduce my guest, Kym Hansen, who's gonna join us and please, Kym, tell everybody what we're doing today.

Kym Hansen: We are going to be making a marble.

Tracey: That's right.

We're going to be making a marble, a glass marble.

Now, I pulled your application 'cause I was so fascinated by what you wrote.

"I'm one of those crazy marble hider hunters who goes out searching for marbles from clues revealed on Facebook.

I'm really fascinated and mystified by the process of marble artists that they use to create their intricate glass globes."

For me, this was kind of a one-two punch.

I thought, "Glass marbles?

Fascinating.

Marble hunting?

What is that?"

I'd never heard of it.

Please explain.

Kym: Well, on Facebook there are many groups that you can join where people go out and hide marbles anywhere in the woods or in town or--and then they post clues, and then people look at those clues online and try and figure out where those marbles are hidden.

Tracey: So what kind of clues?

What are they posting?

Kym: They can be picture clues or they can be descriptions of where they are, and then you have to figure out from that where the marble is hidden so you can go get it.

Tracey: God, it's fascinating to me, it just sounds like so much fun.

Kym: I mostly hunt on the Avenue of the Giants.

Tracey: Oh, how beautiful.

Kym: Because that's where I am most of the time, and so I know a lot of the trails there.

You know, sometimes I'll see a clue and I will be immediately, "I know where that tree is," and I can go right there, but then you still have to figure out where exactly that marble is.

The marbles are such pieces of art and that's one of the reasons this happens is, you know, to recognize and celebrate the artists that are making the marbles.

Tracey: Now, is there also an element of sort of a pay it forward kind of thing?

Kym: Yes, so the PIF, the Pay It Forward.

Tracey: Oh, there's actually a--okay.

Kym: It's also called, "You find one, hide one."

So it keeps the game going.

Tracey: Sure.

Kym: You can't just go out there and grab a marble and then not-- Tracey: And hoard it.

Kym: Hide one, yeah, because then the game stops right there.

Tracey: Right, so you wanna make marbles and did that just come out of your appreciation for them?

Kym: I'm also an artist.

Tracey: Oh, okay.

Kym: But I don't understand how they get all the shapes and the colors inside this round piece of glass.

Tracey: Yes.

Well, I'm really glad that you applied for the show because, as I said, selfishly, I'm really looking forward to what we're doing today.

So I think we should introduce you to your teacher and get you making a marble.

What do you think?

Kym: Great.

Tracey: All right.

Tracey: Okay, are you ready?

Kym: Let's get going.

Tracey: Okay.

Hey, Topher, come on out.

I've got to introduce you to somebody special.

Kym, Topher Reynolds.

Topher Reynolds: Welcome to the Glass Garage.

Kym: Thank you.

Tracey: All right, let's make the--let's make a marble.

Topher: Fantastic.

C'mon in.

Tracey: Topher Reynolds, the 2021 Eureka Artist of the Year, is the owner of Copious Glass and an enthusiastic supporter of both the Humboldt Marble Weekend and the world's biggest marble hunt.

He first explains some safety concerns and showed us the basics of marble-making.

Then it was Kym's turn to try her hand.

Kym began by heating a glass rod.

♪♪♪ Tracey: Topher walked Kym through how to collect a gather, which is simply a small portion of molten glass picked up from the end of the rod while still in the flame.

Topher: That's a pretty good gather.

What we--concentrate on getting it just hot enough that it's moving a little bit and then pull it out and see if you can get it to really go nice and straight and you may even wanna pull--let gravity pull it back the other way a little bit in doing so, and try to get it really on center.

And you'll see it change color.

It'll go yellow and then orangeish and then it'll kind of get a little bit clear when it gets really hot.

A little bit more.

So, that's pretty good.

You wanna go ahead and try that?

Kym: Okay.

Topher: Go straight down into the frit and push just a little bit but not too much.

It should kind of spread on its own.

And that's probably about what you're gonna get so come back up and we'll melt that end and we might do a second drop down in.

I would say you could probably do another dip in the frit now.

The other thing is now the frit's warmer because you dipped in it once, so it'll stick a little bit better the second time, 'cause there's-- Topher: And that's probably good.

Kym: It's fun.

Topher: That's getting melted in.

You're doing a good job of keeping it in the flame.

That's the key.

And now we're gonna go to kind of the tire compression where we're gonna try to get some of the glass on the side to flow over and just to the point you're comfortable with.

Kym: Okay, that's the part that I didn't understand how that happened, but okay.

Topher: It's kind of just a trick of glass the way that works.

Tracey: I bet you're not gonna hide this one, Kym.

Kym: No way.

I'm keeping it.

Topher: So the idea is that you're going to heat up this rod and just kind of push it, a bit of it, into the back of this and at any point you're uncomfortable with it, let me know and we'll go from--we'll come up with a plan B, but I'd certainly like you to give it a valiant effort.

Kym: Oh, okay, so-- Tracey: Kym added more color using a second rod and then worked to make the beautiful hot glass round.

Topher: I'd say you're ready to go.

Kym: So, in the flame.

Topher: In the flame.

And then sort of keep twisting 'em both in the flame, both hands together.

And you kind of build--as it heats up, you can push this one in ever so lightly, but just micro-micro movements.

Kym: Okay.

Tracey: Now that looks challenging.

Topher: Now we're gonna go ahead and melt that color in, so you're back to working the flame, and the other thing we're trying to do is trying to work towards round and that's the nice thing about that particular green color is it works, we call buttery.

It melts in really, really nice.

Some other colors are really stiff and are harder to melt in.

Nice job melting that in.

Tracey: Are your hands getting tired, Kym?

Kym: Actually, it feels okay.

Topher: See how it's starting to go round?

Kym: It is.

Tracey: It really is.

Topher: If you're patient with it, most of the rounding happens in the flame and it's just a matter of, again, speaking the language of the glass and telling it exactly where you want it to go in its language.

It's a nice big marble for a first one.

Round is hard.

If you can get smooth, smooth is the first step to round.

And there's a lot of people who, on their first lesson, never achieve smooth and you've achieved smooth.

Tracey: Kym, way to go, Kym.

Topher: But try not to get it too hot to move it.

We're just trying to get it hot that the surface sort of smoothes out a little bit.

And next, we're gonna do what can be the most challenging part, which is doing the cold seal.

Kym: Okay.

Topher: And once that kind of rounds out, pull it out and blow on it for luck.

And then try to touch them straight into each other.

Nice job.

Nice job.

Goodness, does it feel like it's attached a little bit?

Kym: Yeah.

Topher: Okay, now you're gonna go through and hold it upside down and make sure you can hold it with this side.

Does that make sense?

So switch this way, no, other way.

And then can you let go of this and that still be attached?

Kym: Oh, agh!

I got it.

Topher: You there?

You're there.

Tracey: Yeah, ta-da.

Kym: Okay.

Topher: So now we're gonna go through and cut it off of this one, by putting a real sharp flame on the front and you're gonna basically focus on the very end of the marble, versus the rod, and that's the part you're gonna heat up, pull out just a little bit and do that twisty tear-off.

Little bit more, little bit more, and then eventually you're gonna do your kind of twisty to cut through it, in the flame.

Tracey: Yeah, there it is.

Topher: Nice job, nice job.

Tracey: Yeah.

Topher: Nice.

And then this will just go on the desk.

We're gonna kind of make that round on the top and you know how to do this.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Topher: Real carefully.

There you go.

♪♪♪ Topher: And then one of the tricks is, so this double light, can you see the reflection of the double light?

Kym: Yes.

Topher: So, watch that reflection as you spin it.

And if the reflection looks smooth, then your marble's smooth.

If the reflection wobbles, then your marble wobbles.

Does that make sense?

Kym: Mmm.

Topher: I call it feeling with your eyes.

Tracey: Finally, it was time to separate the marble from the glass rod.

Tracey: Yay!

Topher: And now we got a little bit of a punty scar, but we're gonna clean that off.

♪♪♪ Topher: It's a nice marble.

Kym: Thank you.

Topher: And then we're gonna carefully put it in the kiln.

Kym: Okay.

Topher: It's a 1000-degree oven.

Kym: Okay.

Topher: And just set it down and there you go.

Nice job.

Nice job.

Kym: Thank you.

Tracey: We returned to the glass garage the next day after the marble had cured for 24 hours and the kiln had cooled all the way down.

Tracey: Oh my gosh.

Topher: They're in there.

Tracey: Which one is it?

Kym: The one on the right?

Topher: One of 'em's yours, and one of 'em's mine.

I don't know if I can tell the difference just off of sight.

Tracey: I think that's yours.

Kym: It's cool.

I love it.

Tracey: Yeah, it's really beautiful.

And your first time.

That's what's so amazing, right?

Pretty amazing?

Topher: Yeah, yeah.

Welcome to the world of marbles.

Kym: Thank you.

Tracey: You made a beautiful marble, I mean beautiful.

What do you think?

Kym: I love it.

I mean, I know it's not perfect, but I'm okay with that.

I had more fun than I've had in so long.

Tracey: Is that right?

Kym: Yeah.

Tracey: Yeah, so your glad you checked it off your bucket list?

Kym: Really, really glad.

I didn't chicken out, and I could have, but I didn't.

Tracey: Whether it's being on television or even in life, people chicken out on their bucket list, and you didn't.

Kym: And I didn't.

Tracey: And you were good at it.

Kym: Thank you.

It was great fun.

Tracey: Well, thank you.

It's really been great.

And I think Topher has a little surprise for you.

Kym: Okay.

Tracey: Topher?

Topher: So Kym, I've really enjoyed spending the afternoon with you.

It was really a pleasure.

I was hoping that you could hide these in Southern Humboldt for me?

I love to get my glass out of the area and to put these out in one of the Southern Humboldt groups would be a great thing and I would appreciate the help.

Kym: I would so love to do this.

I'll probably hide mostly down on The Avenue but I will go around and, wow, yeah, I'm real excited.

I love to hide.

Topher: Awesome, awesome.

Thank you.

Tracey: I might go looking.

Topher: There you go.

Tracey: Thank you so much, Topher.

This has really been fantastic.

Topher: You're both very welcome and thank you for coming by and seeing me at the Glass Garage.

Tracey: All righty, thank you.

Tracey: "What's on Your Bucket List?"

Tracey: You can watch this and other episodes of "What's on Your Bucket List?"

at keet.org.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪