Engles Join Studio Tour With Glass, Tie Dye

Mike and Nikki Engle enjoy traveling together and participating in shows and fairs with their complementary creations, and this weekend they are staying home to host visitors during the Off The Beaten Path Studio Tour.

Mike will share his marbles, pendants and other glass creations offered under the Bunky Glass banner, while Nikki shows the colorful clothing of Sylamore Tye Dye.

They will host visitors at the studio they are developing on Industrial Road, just off Highway 66.

The free, self-guided driving tour takes place this Friday through Sunday, showcasing the work of artists in 22 studios around the area.

Mike was originally a full scholarship art student in college but finished his education in business and marketing. The couple was operating a restaurant at Blue Sky when Nikki asked Mike if he was interested in taking a bead class with Sage Holland. He immediately said yes, if he could get the needed time off, and Nikki made that happen.

“I just instantly fell in love with it, like a moth to the flame,” Mike said of the technique of lampworking, which involves heating glass over an open flame.

Sage asked him to do the second day, which was intermediate level with more advanced techniques.

“It just felt natural to me,” Mike said, and Sage invited him back for the third day.

Mike and Sage became great friends, and they spent about a year with Mike eagerly asking how to do more and more.

“I just wanted to soak it all up, and she was so wonderful and such a great instructor,” he said.

After a couple years he got involved with Arkansas Craft School and served as a board member. He helped Sage teach and eventually taught his own classes. He started attending shows right as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. It was a time of uncertainty that led to the couple closing the popular restaurant they operated, which they felt was a big risk. But the next year, he returned to the Las Vegas expo and did better than he ever had, selling out of his inventory plus pre-selling a year’s worth of work.

“At that moment, I said, ‘okay, we’re gonna be okay,’” Mike recalled.

That confidence was cemented through a collaboration with a candle company from California that would put glass trinkets in candles to be discovered as the candle burned. He had met the owners at the Las Vegas trade show in 2020, and in 2021 they chose Bunky Glass as a supplier and Mike worked with them for months.

“This allowed me to grow and fund all the other little things that I wanted to veer off and explore,” he said.

Different types of glass require special techniques that he has had to learn. He has chosen to work primarily with borosilicate glass, a durable type of glass used for Pyrex, designed to resist extreme temperature changes without cracking. It takes longer to melt and is stiffer, which allows him to take his time while executing chosen designs.

“I was able to refine what I was doing,” he explained. “I knew all the basics, I knew all the techniques and I just was able to transfer it to a glass that was better for me to translate what I wanted.”

His favorite things to make are drinking vessels, marbles and pendants. He creates heart pendants with an anatomical representation that evolved as he sought to put a unique spin on the traditional design.

“Selling little hearts to me is like spreading love,” he said. “To me, it means something.”

He also makes bear head pendants as a nod to family lore, reflecting a story in the Pogue family of his second great-grandparents keeping a bear tied up in the yard. He has been told they were “a wild bunch” and he thinks of his glasswork as derived from his wild side. “Bunky” was the nickname of his second great-grandmother Pogue. Having always been interested in genealogy, he thought it fitting to use her nickname.

He plans to continue working and honing his skills, and to share that with others by developing a teaching studio at the Industrial Park location, though some of his larger equipment will likely remain at his residence work space.

Following them closing Mikey’s Smoked Meats at Blue Sky, Nikki started creating tie dyed clothing, something she has always loved. She is self-taught after watching various videos and learning by trial and error. Now, attending trade shows is something to do together.

“That’s the most exciting thing,” Mike said. “I get to travel with my best friend. We get to sell our art. We get to make people happy.”

They have turned their attention to more local shows, such as those held during Arkansas Folk Festival and Bean Fest. They also plan to participate in the Mountains and Mistletoe Market in November.

“We’ve been so blessed and so lucky to have such wonderful people supporting us, from new customers, to online customers, to our locals,” Mike said. He added that they love seeing former customers from the restaurant.

Mike’s family has been in Stone County for generations, but he was born in Georgia after his father moved there and married.

He attended school on Connecticut, but would often spend summers in Stone County. He met Nikki one summer around 2005, then returned for Thanksgiving to visit her and they stayed in touch. She moved to Connecticut and continued her work as a hair stylist while he finished school. They returned to Stone County in 2007.

Nikki established Sylamore Tye Dye in 2021, and now applies colorful designs to clothing such as t-shirts, dresses, tanks, crop tops, sweatshirts and hoodies. Any fabric that is at least 80 percent cotton assures bright colors, she said. Other natural fibers like bamboo and hemp also die well but are more expensive.
While she sometimes has as many as 50 articles of clothing rolled, gathered and tied and ready to color, she is restricted by space on her racks to completing batches of 12-15 pieces.

The process involves soaking fabrics in soda ash before wringing them out and tying. Rather than use liquid dyes, she prefers the process known as “ice dying” in which she places garments on a grate, using cardboard or other material to create a frame if necessary for the design. She covers the bundles with ice and then sprinkles on dye in powder form and allows it to melt into the fabric. She says it’s a perfect summer activity because the ice melts in record time.

They buy large bags of ice in quantity, and people who see this tease about throwing big parties and offer to join them.

“You’re gonna be sorely disappointed,” she says. “It’s a tie-dye party.”

Though she claims to throw colors on randomly most times, Mike is impressed with her renditions of looks such as amethyst and rose quartz.

“It’s a fun little process; I enjoy it,” she says.

She can achieve shapes such as guitars and banjos, which are sold locally at View Life 72560. She also has two other wholesale outlets.

To achieve her designs, half of a desired shape is drawn onto a garment at the half-fold, and the fabric is gathered according to the shape.

Mike says lots of people look at her work and comment, “oh I’ve made tie-dye” but not everyone can achieve what Nikki does.

“She’s always had an amazing work ethic,” he commented.

Nikki credits her Grandma Lucille Nixon for cultivating her artistic side. When she was a child they would spend time in creative pursuits.

“I think she’d be very proud now,” Nikki said.