Minneapolis, Minnesota: Tawny Reynolds is a sustainable thinker and talented craftsperson working in Minnesota. At an early age, she had an interest in lenses and the heat they derived. After experimentation, she started melting glass with the Fresnel lens to create all sorts of forms and eventually came up with her jewelry collection. The cool thing about this process of melting recycled glass is that it has no emissions nor consumes any fuels. Wanting to examine her entire production footprint, her studio also uses partly recycled silver in the bindings and recycled paper in the packaging. The process is mostly solar; first the lens is tilted until the sunlight is focused on a rock attached to a wire stand. The lens rotates both horizontally and vertically to adjust as the position and angle of the sun which changes throughout the day. The hot spot is concentrated and can get up to 3000 degrees Fahrenheit! Gravity and surface tension pull the molten glass into a lobe that cools as it falls and stretches into the sun drop shape. The final sun drop is connected to the strip by a thin stringer of glass, which breaks off to disconnect it. Tawny's earrings and pendants are made from recycled liquor and beer bottles to get their vibrant color. Can you guess which ones she uses?

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