Glassmaker and Artist Evan Kolker at work in Glow Glass Studio in Oakland, working on a pitcher plant, September 2015. This is very technical work requiring years of glass working experience. Evan is regularly assisted by Jason Stropko and sometimes assists with Jason’s projects, too. There are some things that are very difficult if not impossible to create without having a competent assistant who also has a thorough understanding of how glass works.
… there was a hive of activity, everybody was working.. David worked on his line of drinking glasses with rocks embedded in them, Evan assisted, Jerry worked with a group of clients with another glassmaker assistant, Heather was just outside the field of vision working on a deadline…
..but where was Jason?
This handblown glass bowl takes a total of 26 hours to create. There are 2 separate hot glass blowing processes used, each requiring a 12 hour annealing (precise temperature controlled cooling) and a cold worked engraving process, which takes another craftsman up to an hour for each bowl.
The making of these bowls requires a high level of competent glassmaking craftsmanship, something that Jason has dedicated himself to full time for the past 12 years..
As an outsider I just keep finding it amazing how much physical energy and simultaneous fine tuned technical skill goes into making each object that emerges from the hands of any of the glassmakers here at the studio.
Alex Abajian has some serious skills and a few more years of experience than most of the other glassmakers around the studio. It is always additionally exciting when two or more talented makers work together!
… this is where if you were new to glassmaking you would learn about the fact that once in a while each ceramic melting pot, sitting inside the furnace, will develop a crack, due to erosion and unforeseeable factors.. Once the crack deepens it either causes molten glass to leak or an effect takes place that is best described as ‘cords’ developing in the glass, which float on top of the molten glass and can appear in the blown glass pieces as raised cord like areas.. This is rendering the molten glass a lower quality and hence creating an unworkable situation.
This is when it is time to face the challenge and begin a 10 day process of cooling the furnace and molten glass slowly (several days), changing the ceramic crucible (ceramic pot that holds the molten glass) and bringing the furnace and a new batch of glass back up to temperature. The entire process takes somewhere around 10 days.
Of course this can throw a real spanner in the works when multiple glassmakers all booked time to create glassworks, when students lined the doors to take classes… We got lucky and Jason is able to continue teaching his glassblowing classes at Glass Hand Studio, a Glass studio on the lovely island (which originally was a peninsula) Alameda, just down the road from Oakland. Jason had met the owner Prax recently at a Jeff Mack, goblet making workshop that Jason assisted at. We are really happy that Prax can host Jason’s classes!
Jason just received a whole batch of bookings for glassblowing classes through #Verlocal and we are pretty excited about meeting these new students who will be coming for individual short sessions. The first few classes will be at Glass Hand Studio in Alameda before we relocate back to Glow Glass, where Jason usually works with fellow glassmakers, creates his own glass and teaches…
#BayAreaGlass
spending the day developing project ideas and making more of the blown glass table set items.. drinking glasses, bowls and functional vessels will be ready soon!
The process benefits tremendously from teamwork. Good communication, a sense of humour a steady hand and years of skill are all requires from both the gaffer (Jason) and his assistant; today Evan Kolker who is an incredible glassmaker, on other days Jason assist him in the making of his intricate and highly technical skill requiring glass art objects! It is a real stroke of luck that Jason found this glassmakers community. Where many colleagues also have very high skills levels. There is also Alex Abajian, the studio owner and another outstanding glassmaker. A series of glassmakers rent the studio and there are a lot of fantastic projects happening here. You wouldn’t know what you are missing until you see what these people make out of molten glass..
these are the tools of the day…
#teamwork #jasonstropko #glassblowing #glowglassstudio #glass
Jason Stropko Glass 