Pack Rat makes new friends but keeps the old, because one is silver and the other’s gold

When I was a wee Meghan, every weekend I would take my $5 of allowance to the closest, tragic little mall that was more of a glorified parkade. There I would spend hours in a home goods and novelties store called “The Hoot.” Towards the back of the store, right as the fancy-pants, fragile home goods (wind chimes, hand made ceramics, etc.) gave way to the over priced kids’ toys, there was a small, rotating display of porcelain animal figurines. Each animal was glued to a small card with the price printed next to it. Over time, I accumulated a Noah’s ark of these suckers. A crazy cat lady even back then, I had plenty of kitten figurines, dogs, a bunny rabbit, a frog, a horse, a unicorn–the list goes on and on. My favorite was a cartoon looking little dragon. He had a baby blue body, pastel pink wings and spots, and an iridescent glaze that made him sparkle like secret treasure. I use to twist and turn him in the light, marveling at his opalescence and gently touching his sharp, delicate wings. It’s eighteen years later, and I’ll be honest, I still love that little guy. That’s why I can’t get enough of these glass creatures created by Pipyr. Shinier than porcelain, more classy then a figurine glued to a card, and reasonably priced ($25 for my favorite, the Boro Flameworked Dragon), Pipyr’s fantastical creations are the kind of thing that I would love my adult treasure chest to be full of. Bonus: you can wear her menagerie as pendants. (Sad epilogue: As I live my life in a Three Stooges-like choreography of clumsiness, not surprisingly I broke off the fragile wings of my porcelain dragon soon after buying him. That’s $8 I’m never going to see again).

photo copyright Pipyr