The Bluebird House at Terra
 
Two California teachers, Leo and Rita Ward, founded Terra Studios in 1975. They quit their jobs, bought ten acres in the Ozarks, and started their own craft business. Originally, the glass studio, pottery studio, and gallery were all located in what is now the pottery building. In 1986, the glass studio and showroom were moved into the official Bluebird House.
 
In the beginning, art glass and glass wind chimes were emphasized in our glass studio. In 1982, the first signed versions of the Bluebird of Happiness were created. Did you know that more songs and poems have been written about the Bluebird than any other bird? It is associated with spring, love, and joy. It is a symbol that commemorates marriages and anniversaries. It also is a messenger for contentment and health. The blue-birds soon became our biggest hit and helped to fund the development of the grounds at Terra.
Our bluebirds are sold all over the U.S. and have also been sent to Australia, Germany, Great Britain, and Russia. You can find our birds in our traditional Bluebird blue, cobalt, red, green, and pink. We even have a special “rainbow” bird that has a beautiful rainbow-like sheen to it.
Terra’s Bluebird Showroom was redesigned in 2003. A mural, which depicts a country landscape as it passes through spring, summer, fall, and winter, covers all four walls of the first room you enter.      
 
   
 
 
Large man-made boulders are really cabinets and display counters. There are even a couple of cement trees. A wonderful water fountain, designed and constructed by Jason and Michael Ward, can be found in the right corner, just as you enter the front door. If you are tired, you can rest in a comfortable chair and listen to the water cascade down through the fountain.
   
 
A wide assortment of bird related items are for sale in the showroom. Bird feeders, bird magnets, and plush stuffed birds that sing can be found. If you want to take a souvenir home, we have tee-shirts and mugs with our logo on them. We have beautiful glass bottles, some of which have been slumped into flat cheese trays. An assortment of art glass, including the Painted Desert Series, can also be found.
     
 
As you walk through the showroom, you will find a second room that houses all of our beautiful Bluebirds of Happiness. Other glass animals, such as bunnies, swans, snails, elephants and pigs with wings are here. You can even find glass apples and flowers with curly stems.
 
                 
 
 
We have a wide selection of Mandy Cordes’ work in this room as well. Mandy creates delicate flame worked flowers, frogs, fish, and animals. Flame work is different than hot glass in that a torch is used to bend and melt Pyrex rods into shapes.  
   
           
     
 
 
A demonstration window, where you can actually watch our glass artists at work, is in the same room as the Bluebirds. We know you will be amazed by our artists’ skillful manipulation of the glass. They can make the process look so easy. Please call the Bluebird House in advance for the demonstration schedule (800-255-8995).    
         
 

How to Make a Bluebird

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