Fresh and Exciting Start to 2016
I don’t seem to be very good with blog posts! I am definitely going to try to get one done at least once a month.
2015 proved to be an interesting year August to September was especially dramatic however I won’t go into that fiasco. I moved to Somerset in January; then returned to Surrey.
I was able to at the end of last year buy a Van which I desperately needed. (I think I may have finished off my mothers estate car, and I had out grown my Fiat 500 in 2014.)
In January I was lucky enough to travel to Corning in New York State to learn from a wonderful flame work artist Suellen Fowler. She has been making glass for over 40 years, and assisted greatly in the development of the Boro colour palette, hand making her own stunning colours.
The weeks course was begun by Suellen showing us how to mix our own colour from a one of her recipes. She then went on to show us how to make a perfume bottle, correct treatment of colour boro glass to get some wonderful colours. She showed us lots of techniques for shaping and demoed lots of different creatures including a dragons head, a dragon perfume bottle, a puffin and lots more. Hugh Salkind also demonstrated a dot stack marble and one of his goblin heads.
The experiences at the Studio in Corning went beyond the class time, we were also given the opportunity to go on various tours around the town. The beginning of the week was the tour of the museum which holds a massive collection of glass dating from ancient times to modern day studio glass.
We visited the World Kitchen factory where Corelle kitchen ware is made. There we followed the molten glass from extrusion through to testing and final packaging https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW8egUCzw-k
There was also a tour of the 11 large scale sculptures held at Corning Inc Headquarters building. These sculptures were amazing, no cameras were allowed in the building however the book Eleven Glass Sculptures by Suzanne K. Frantz is available on Amazon.
We were also given a once in a lifetime tour of the Laboratories at Corning. We were shown much fascinating research Corning is conducting with glass including the famous Gorilla Glass.
I returned to the UK full of ideas and new inspirations, new friends and contacts in the Boro Glass world. I am keen to visit America again soon. I will be exhibiting at many new shows with my friend and colleague Christiaan D. Maas which I am very excited about. These show dates and locations will be added to the Website in March.
I hope to keep you posted with my newest goings on fairly regularly. I have also been working very hard behind the scenes on the new website design and layout. I hope you like it!