The Death of Skeliwag (and his continuing contribution)

We created Skeliwag in October of 2017. We measured and calipered Tyson, the skinniest member of our crew and Skeliwag’s skeletal frame was a pretty accurate depiction of Tyson’s stature. Skeliwag hung out at our studio always changing his attire as the seasons progressed from late fall to winter to spring. Alack-and-alsa - he met his demise in the spring of 2018.

The glass critters at Lumel held a life celebration for him at the base of the furnace and his shattered bones were placed in a cardboard box. Unfortunately, in early 2018 we had to change the supplier for our clear furnace glass and Skeliwag could not be recycled, as his bones were not compatible with our new glass. A box containing his remains was tucked away in Lu’s garage, with the hope that something, someday would be made of him.

Miracles of miracles it happened sooner than we thought.

We had a family return to the studio with a past Lumel ash creation piece that needed changing. The piece no longer fit its purpose, and it held the ashes of their son. We told them that we could not rework the piece as it was created with the old clear glass and adding our present glass within the remaking process would cause fracture lines in the new creation. PUT THEN…we thought of Skeliwag - his fractured bones could be used!

Since that time we have had two other people return with ash pieces, one broken during Yukon’s 2018 earthquake, the other knocked off the shelf by a curious cat. These pieces too were healed using Skeliwag’s fractured bones.

He has become Lumel’s bone donor and he lives on in wonderful and useful ways.