Tag: 2015

Here something very special! Courtesy of the team from Verlocal & Jason’s students!!!

A recent glassblowing Class with Jason Stropko in – wide view!

We have been super happy to be working with Verlocal and offering Glassblowing Classes trough their website. Verlocal is kind of like an Airbnb but for experiences. So you can go to their site, check out what’s on offer in your city and book yourself an extraordinary afternoon! – At the moment it is only for major cities in America, but if it takes off then anywhere you live can take part!

Working with the video team the other day was excellent fun. We are super grateful that Verlocal decided to support our glassblowing classes and career in the Bay Area with such a huge gesture of appreciation. We couldn’t be happier!

Our experience with Verlocal has been very good. Transactions are transparent, with the site handling the money it gives reassurance to potential students / customers / clients and offers protections both ways. The Verlocal Team have been unfailingly supportive and really on the ball, always making sure that customers and we the hosts (we: Jason the glassmaker and instructor & Birgit being the invisible admin on Jason’s team, making a lot of this happen)  are always up to date and that nobody falls off the communication wagon.

Verlocal do take 15% of transactions which is a little bit of a chunk but we can honestly say are delighted to be on board. The site has brought us students that we otherwise might not have had. We have been very happy so far and look forward to continuing our work with Verlocal in the coming year.

We are now taking a little break from teaching classes in the Bay Area for the duration of the typical low season for crafts of all types January – April. So we will be back in time for everybody to wake from their winter slumber, offering even more classes than before!

We haven’t got a fixed date for our spring term start but keep connected, here on Jason’s blog as well as on Facebook!

You ask what will the glassmaker do in those winter months..?

Follow us and we will show and tell.. It will be good!

 

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Jason Stropko’s exquisite Batutto drinking glass

Batutto : 'carved' glass. Blown and 'carved' by Jason Stropko
Batutto : ‘carved’ glass. Blown and ‘carved’ by Jason Stropko

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.

LINK to BATTUTO

by Categories: christmas, gift, glass, Jason Stropko GlassTags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

A unique solid clear glass acorn

.. the acorn is shown photographed from the same angle but with slight changes in the light direction.. DSC_8050

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… DSC_8068

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..

DSC_8088

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..DSC_8115

We will upload more pictures of acorns in the coming weeks. Keep your eyes on Jason’s blog.

by Categories: christmas, gift, glass, nuts and seeds in glass, Objects of DesireTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Jason Stropko presents some of the ‘Tactile tableware’ set that is in development… First pieces are available already.

Jason Stropko presents some of the ‘Tactile tableware’ set that is in development… First pieces are available already..  Several items are ready to be shipped and others can be made to commission  within 7-10 days. (quicker turnaround time of as fast as 48 hours is sometime possible)

Tactile twisted ripple effect table ware set, blown glass, made by Jason Stropko
Tactile twisted ripple effect table ware set, blown glass, made by Jason Stropko

Orders are welcome for pieces to be made in good time for Christmas gift-giving season…  and it will be best if you can let Jason know by November 20th, this will allow lots of time to pay close attention to detail.

tactile twisted ripple effect : dessert bowls by Jason Stropko
tactile twisted ripple effect : dessert bowls by Jason Stropko
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It is time to begin thinking about Christmas / Season ornaments…

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!

Jason blowing a huge clear glass bubble...
Jason blowing a huge clear glass bubble…

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!

more possible Christmas ornament designs..
an idea for possible Christmas ornament designs..

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!)

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Small objects of desire..

The colour of this small vase / decanter is called tea. Personally we think it also reminds us of smoky rose or smoky salmon. In the background are visible some flamingo coloured drinking glasses. Jason has prepared a really nice description for this post but I couldn’t decipher his writing …

Jason Stropko's tableware includes this small water decanter that also works really nicely for a small wine decanter as well as a small vase
Jason Stropko’s tableware includes this small water decanter that also works really nicely for a small wine decanter as well as a small vase

Any item in your imagination is of course available in any of the colours that you see on Jason’s online profile. He will be happy to make items to commission, please ask if you have an idea. It’s not a distraction to work with you, it’s what we are here for.

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Some lovely feedback for Jason’s glassblowing class received from last week’s student:

Just as we came back from a short out of town break we received this feedback from one of Jason’s glassblowing students (definitely making us feel like we are on the right track)

“This was my first time at a class for glass making and I must say it was amazing. Jason has the confidence, patience and expertise to show you the basics and then progressing with more elaborate designs if you are up for the challenge. As a beginners class we got to do so much and is really hands on. He will show you how to really get in and shine while creating your design. Very happy with this class, thankful and definitively will be visiting the studio more often to sharpen up my craft.” Alejandro

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Working with glass artist Evan Kolker

Working with glass artist Evan Kolker on his high quality Pitcher Plants for exhibition later this year.

Working with Evan Kolker on his amazing blown glass Pitcher Plants.
Working with Evan Kolker on his amazing blown glass Pitcher Plants.
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We just spotted this amazing promotion for Jason’s Glassblowing Classes … follow this link to see

As you might already know Jason joined the Verlocal team who are offering a wide range of weekend activities, experiences ranging from glassblowing with Jason to building terrariums and drawing classes, photography tours, macaron baking, surfing, rock climbing and more..

{click here to see Jason’s glassblowing workshop on the Verlocal website}

verlocal promotion - https://www.verlocal.com/event/sf-crafting-glass-class
verlocal promotion – https://www.verlocal.com/event/sf-crafting-glass-class

Jason is pretty excited to start working with Verlocal and we have already booked and seen the first few half-day-students who each made their choice of drinking glass or ornaments.. NOW we spotted this incredible discount code in an email promoting Jason’s glassblowing experience class with 20% discount.

What could be better than that? Only actually being there in the studio and having your first ever experience of turning the blowpipe, gathering glass, shaping this viscous, honey like consistency into the object of your desires?

Please share this forward with friends and work colleagues while the code is still valid. We aren’t sure what the expiry is on it.

https://www.verlocal.com/event/sf-crafting-glass-class
https://www.verlocal.com/event/sf-crafting-glass-class
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