Hello Squirrels! (and everybody loving autumn fruits and nuts.).
The acorn harvest is in the bag, we have already selected boxes to ship them in, are just waiting on labels from the printers. This is the season to be nutty.
Clear acorns are proving difficult to photograph, but they are easy to admire. They have lovely light catching qualities and complement well with the etched acorns that we have recently added to the repertoire.
We have a big, giant autumnal goal to get as many acorns out into the world this autumn and winter as possible. Everybody should have some of these precious nuts.
Fun fact: Did you know that acorns are edible? They were an essential crop used to grind into a flour by Native Americans. Since we found out some months ago we have been rearing at the bits to go acorn harvesting (in nature, not the glass studio) and try them for ourselves.
Have we already missed the acorns?!
Another great fun fact: California is home to a great variety of acorns / Oak Trees!
Want to get more connected? Love acorns so much you want to ask about a commission for your wedding table decoration? For a graduation ceremony? For Christmas? For a gift for somebody recently returned from hospital..?Acorns are fabulous, you can use the contact form below to say ‘Hi’ to Jason.
see the flyer here: 2015_Jason_Christmas_flyer_4
www.jasonstropko.wordpress.com
Such a rare opportunity to touch and drink from such a unique glass. I didn’t know that this kind of glass even existed, it’s not exactly what you find in Ikea or even more upmarket home interior stores.
A completely handmade glass: blown by hand. Recently Jason had a mould custom made from a drinking glass that he created. He uses the mould to make the drinking glass creation process more streamlined and the products more easily reproducible. Each drinking glass is still finished by hand, this is not the same as a completely mould blown process where the tops are ‘popped’, instead this mould acts as the guide to the final shape, which then has room to vary slightly, giving the lovely handmade feeling.
This particular drinking glass was blown very thick and sturdy to allow plenty of room to battuto it. What is battuto? It is effectively carving of the glass, or rather grinding it with a glass grinding disk against which the glass is pressed to grind each facet that you see.
A single glass takes a good 90 minutes to battuto (this one actually took 2 hours!). But first it needs to be blown, for which it is really quite useful to have an assistant who can open and close the blow mould (it operates with a hinge and is tricky for the glassmaker to use alone unless he/she is an octopus).. After the glass is blown it enters the annealer, which is effectively a slow cooling down oven. The glass will idle in the annealer overnight on a long cooling cycle. This is essential or else the glass would be prone to cracking when it is knocked slightly, or it could just spontaneously combust, too.
Nobody wants a combusting drinking glass, right? After the glass has cooled down it then goes through the battuto process after which it is hot torched to soften sharp edges. And this is where I am not sure if it will be annealed once more..
You can imagine how rare such a battuto drinking glass is, but it also is a very old and traditional technique. If you ever are in need of a present that nobody else will bring to a favourite family members wedding or super special occasion then you now have an idea…
I just found this great link to A Murano website that explains Battuto better than I.
.. the acorn is shown photographed from the same angle but with slight changes in the light direction.. 
This particular acorn is currently unique in Jason’s collection because of the way that the acorn cap was created. Every time Jason is in the studio we try and experiment with one thing so expand the overall range. We haven’t made more of this one yet, so in case you love it: it is here and has no twins and might never have any, but it fits really well with all the other acorns and nuts and seeds… 
Yes, sorry, I am getting a little bit ‘salesy’, its coming up to that time of year and Jason is coming to spend Christmas in Germany & England, he might depart as early as December 15th, so we are ‘laying our eggs’, ready to hatch as early as we can this year..
We imagine these seeds to look just fantastic in window displays, on table settings, anywhere where light reflects, at Thanksgiving dinner tables or displays. The symbolism of acorns is reflective of the symbolism of Oak trees, their strength and the characteristics of prosperity and wisdom. Seeds in general are great symbolic gifts for anybody who is planting seeds in life, starting something new, beginning a journey of education, career or health… Glass like this acorn is a really good gift idea for minimalists as well as those people who love to populate their home with treasures and objects of desire..
We will upload more pictures of acorns in the coming weeks. Keep your eyes on Jason’s blog.
We agree, it feels like it is just a little bit too soon to say those words, but knowing how time can fly and how making glass to meet orders can take a little time we decided to join the and shops that already play Christmas Music, except we aren’t playing the music (just yet), we will wait until December before we do that!
Just playing around making a large clear glass bauble, thinking about larger than life christmas ornaments made in glass! These will only be made by special order and cost from around $95 for a clear/transparent colour and around $125 for an optic mould blown one.. Orders should ideally be received during the month of November. It will be possible to make some in December, too. But the sooner you dream up your christmas ornaments colour choices and designs the sooner they can be in production!
But here an early offering of: place your order early and be guaranteed a timely delivery (in good time to send gifts as ornaments to friends around the world even!)
Jason Stropko Glass 