How it was made...Glass Holiday Paperweight

I'm in New Jersey visiting family, and helping to clear out the coffers! We're in the basement today photographing items for my mother-in-law so she can sell them. But, while I was taking pictures, she found this great holiday themed paperweight and I had to share it!

When looking at a paperweight to see how it's made, the first thing you look at is the underside of the paperweight. This allows you to see the layers of the paperweight and how it "grew", kind of like looking at the rings of a tree:

The underside of this paperweight shows us a first gather (The first bit of glass that was collected on the pipe as it was dipped into molten glass.) that was coated in white powder. A second gather (The glass on the pipe was again dipped into molten glass to encase the first bit of glass.) of glass was collected over the white ball, and then then piece was marvered (rolled and shaped) onto a pin frog (or the equivalent) to give it a bunch of pock marks where air could collect to form the many tiny bubbles upon the next gather of glass. At this point, the paperweight would look like a small, white, bubbly paperweight. But, this was just the background for the scene that was picked up (The holly leaf and berries were laid in powder on a steel plate "marver.") next.
After the powdered design was melted into the paperweight, it had to be shaped and another gather encased the design. Finally, a green wrap was created on a separate pipe and swirled onto the paperweight. But, that was only the last HOT step!
See all the facets? First, a nice polished flat bottom. Then, a nice bevel that allows the paperweight to sit with it's holly design pointed at you. BUT, you can't see the holly without a window carved in, as well! That's at least three (and more likely, four) different polishing pads for each flat surface!
To finish it off, an etched artist's signature...and Voila!
It's just that easy ;)

Napa Valley Open Studios - 2009

For the last year, I've been working with Saint Helena hot glass artist, Ed Breed. I've been learning to work with hot glass so that I can assist him in making pumpkins, glass tumblers, and vases. While he can make pumpkins by himself, it certainly is quicker and easier with an assistant. But, when making larger pieces and pieces that need to be transferred back and forth between pipe and punty, two or more people are needed to complete the process.
In the beginning, I was very timid. It's rather sketchy working with hot glass on the end of a stainless steel rod. Especially when that glass is so hot that it moves around like honey. (In fact, in the very beginning, I would practice with actual honey and a wooden skewer.) "How hot is glass when it moves like honey?" you ask. Well, it's about 2000 degrees F, or hotter. Hot enough that you probably wouldn't feel it right away, because it would burn your skin off and then the nerves as well!

So, my feeble attempts in the beginning made the work harder for Ed. The glass that I would bring him for the pumpkin stem was hot, but not nearly hot enough. He would have to pull harder than is comfortable to do repeatedly, to get a pumpkin stem...and then need a day or two to recover strength in his overworked arm muscles... (My first solo pumpkin attempts can be seen here, and are a great example of what happens when the glass isn't hot enough.)

What really helped me to get my heat right was the repeated pulling of flowers, which I really enjoy. Once I got my heat right, it was no longer a race against time with me trying to pull the glass before it got too cool to move. It was also easier for Ed and I to work as a team. Now, he could focus on blowing, and I could bring the stem when he was ready. After a year of working with Ed, I am now able to anticipate the steps, and we can work more efficiently with fewer mistakes.

Sporting my hot glass gear and my hot glass flower

Here I am at Open Studios in Napa, this year. I made the trip out to Napa, shortly after moving back to Nebraska (to be nearer to my family), to help Ed out with hot glass demos. We had a beautiful setting on the patio of Beverly Wilson's house in North Napa. We were set up outside, with Beverly showing her bright and bold Napa themed paintings both inside and out, and jewelry artist Marjorie Shachnow displaying the tools of her trade and her beautifully organic precious metal jewelry inside.

It was a hot time in the sun with the weather being over 100 degrees and the glory hole blowing 2000 degrees out at us, but we had a great turn out and a lot of friends were able to stop by and see what I've been doing.

For the demos, we pulled flowers, blew a few pumpkins, and made some drinking glasses. We were able to keep most of what we made, but the traveling hot shop's annealer is much too small to hold everything. There were several broken hearts every time we had to let a piece break open or shatter because there was no where to let it cool slowly. Below, are pictures of Ed and I making a tumbler...

Ed blowing hot glass into the shape of a tumbler using a wooden mold

After Ed has blown and shaped the glass to the point where he can go into the mold, we need to transfer it to a punty and shape the lip of the glass, knock it off and put it in the annealer to cool.

Transferring a blown glass from the pipe to the punty

Shaping the glass with a paddle and jacks

Finished glass

I really enjoyed my short California vacation and can't wait to get out there again!
As a side note, Ed can only make the drinking glasses with an assistant, and they really are beautiful and impressive when entertaining guests. Hint, hint ;)
Thanks to Erika for the great pictures of Ed and I working at Open Studios!

Ed Breed's pumpkins
(photo courtesy of Ed Breed)

Ed's "Pumpkin Patch" at Open Studios

Looking at new techniques...

Have you ever looked at a piece of art and said, "I wonder if I could do that?"
Now mind you, this isn't the question, "I wonder if I could do that and make a whole bunch to sell?!?" That is copying....
I'm talking about the artist who is looking to expand the techniques in their repertoire, see's a new technique, and begins to wonder, "How could I do that?"
Then, the artist tries the technique and expands upon it, or moves on.

Well, recently, I was emailed a link to a video of hot glass artist, Cal Breed working on a piece:
(and if you have time, you should really browse his website, Orbix Hot Glass, because he's got some gorgeous stuff there.)
After watching the video, we had one of those moments that I mentioned above. I say "we" because if you've watched the video or worked with hot glass, then you realize that in order to make substantial pieces as a glass blower, you really need a team of people.
So, "we" studied the video and decided to try out the technique to see what we could come up with. And it was mighty successful, for a first attempt!
Check it out!

The outside:

The inside:

The bottom:

I really love how the addition of a bunch of globs of glass to the outside of the vessel really add to the dimensionality and depth of the piece.

I Blew It!

My First Attempts..., originally uploaded by CalyxAnn.

My very first solo attempts at making a blown glass pumpkin. A super mini-sized pumpkin, whose introduction to the world was doomed from the beginning...
It cracked as I added the too-hot stem, which was also too much glass for the tiny little pumpkin. So, after my feeble attempt at pumpkin-making (a good exercise in heat management and the dynamics of the whole process), we moved on to flower pulling. Again, a feeble attempt. My "flowers" were another great exercise in heat management. I need to be a bit quicker in pulling and turning the petals to give the flower some depth. Basically, I've got the idea and I just need to perfect the technique.


On a very positive note, we found the crucial point in the process where my pumpkin stems were falling apart. Saint Helena glass artist, Ed Breed is blowing the pumpkins while I prep the stem (gather glass, add color, heat and go into the mold) to finish them off. Unfortunately, the last few days have been Ed working overtime, both blowing the pumpkin and then finishing the stem, because I couldn't get my heat just right. So, yesterday we walked through the process and pinpointed the glitch. Hopefully, from this point forward, the stems will now be finished by me, perfectly!

The Best Weekend Ever...

or The Very Successful Holiday Sale...
Not only did I sell several of my new sushi dish sets, as well as many necklaces and pendants,

I was able to talk to Saint Helena hot glass artist, Ed Breed about the possibility of being a studio assistant during 2008. Turns out that he had been thinking of approaching me to see if I would be interested in helping him out. So, beginning in January, I should be working with Ed once a week, helping him to kick out 1000 pumpkins:

Also, hot glass will be moving into Michele's studio. And we are happy...