Wanganui 1 Vessel (Red-Orange) by Brian Russell

Glass is natural, ancient, and beautiful—a symphony of heat, earth, and creativity that has seduced us for centuries. As an art form, there are very few pursuits that can match the history of glassmaking and the ingenuity of glass artists. Generatlly speaking, artists work with glass in two realms: blown glass and cast glass.

Cast glass pieces are created when the artist pours molten glass into molds. There are several variations of this process, but there is at least one constant – unlimited possibilities to create beauty that will catch the light, hold the gaze, and last for lifetimes.

Brian Russell constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of cast glass creativity. Whether through new processes, or through the creative use of new materials, his work represents the emotional power the medium holds over us. Russell’s &quotlWanganui 1 Vessel" is particularly striking. Created with the "lost wax" technique, it’s one of a limited series in the artist’s studio. The lost wax process refers to a casting technique in which a carved wax model is placed in a container that is then filled with plaster. After the plaster hardens, the container is super-heated to melt and evaporate the wax. The resulting mold is then ready for molten glass. Russell’s deeply resonant work has captured the attention of some well-known collectors like Al Pacino and Robin Wiliams.

Vincent Olmstead’s "The Scotty Goes to France" is another important example of materials and process working together. This one-of-a-kind, sand-cast glass sculpture epitomizes the versatility of both the artist and the medium. Jonathan Winfisky’s "Ming Vessel" is a vibrant marriage of blown and cast glass.

The Scotty Goes to France by Vincent Olmsted

All three of these wonderful pieces are quite durable, as are most works in glass, but a little but of sensible care will preserve your collection of art glass for generations.

When handling glass work, use care —and two hands! Make sure your hands are clean, but don’t wear gloves; your own skin does a much better job of holding onto the smooth surfaces of glass objects. Be sure to avoid lifting by handles, spouts, or other protruding elements.

Should it become necessary to clean pieces in your collection, a little goes along way. First carefully examine the piece (following the handling steps above) to make sure it remains in good condition. Your best bet for removing dirt or dust that may have accumulated is a soft brush. It’s best to avoid using cloth—even a soft one. Cloth can snag on some surfaces and edges.

With a small amount of proper care, your cast glass collection will assume its place in the centuries-old history of our fascination with glass, and remain there for generations.

While visiting Boston over the weekend, a friend and I got to spend time with artist Amy Nguyen at her live/work home/studio in Boston. The excuse for the visit was to review some pieces of wearable art we intend to show in the Fall 2010 Artful Home catalog, but the truth is that I always like seeing an artist in her own environment to get a better understanding of what makes her tick.

Amy provided us with a feast for both our eyes and stomachs, as she graciously created lunch salads perfectly composed on handmade plates. As we sat in her showroom/living room, we were surrounded by an abundance of colors, as Amy is a master dyer and textile designer, strongly influenced by Japanese textiles in her development of contemporary shibori designs.

Fashioned into modern shapes, Amy combines a painter’s eye with a perfectionist technique. It is staggering to understand the meticulous process she employs to create her designs. Each fold and pleat is calculated to create a specific effect, repeatable though slightly differing every time Amy hand-dips each piece in the vat of dye. Often, shibori garments are left in their pleated state, but Amy presses out her fabrics after pleating, folding, stitching, dyeing, re-pleating, and re-dyeing, revealing the full effect of all this work. There is no forgiveness of mistakes, so her master technique is critical to the final outcome. In her garments, she then pieces her textiles, referencing Japanese quilts as she develops bold graphic designs. The end results are elegant, classic, and powerful – and obviously I could not resist trying on almost every piece!

I was once again inspired by an artist’s passion for her work. As Amy explained her ideas for new work and showed me samples of experiments in the works, there was a visible fire in her eyes. “Look at this – and this!” she exclaimed, in her quiet way, pulling out swatches of inspiration and resulting new directions. She knows that she could probably make a lot more money through some version of mass production, but has no interest in that at all, preferring the thrill of creating by hand, from concept to experience to final work. I, for one, am most grateful for her passion!

Visiting Molly Stone and Michael Cohn at their studio in Richmond, California has been an occasion to which I’ve looked forward forever. I always seem to be out of town when they open their studio and gardens to the public, so I was very flattered when Molly allowed me to come by right after her major studio opening.

Situated in an industrial building, the Cohn-Stone studios are huge and light-filled, with furnaces and ample space for the meticulous precision of color and form in their glass. Not surprisingly, I was greeted by glass pumpkins of all colors and sizes at the entrance. But of just as much interest was the display of magnificent peaches which Molly and Michael are creating, just in time for peach season across the country. I had to take a picture of Molly with these peaches so that I could remember the scale of these sculptures. They are large, coming in sizes of large, extra large, and appropriately-named huge, all with delicate details and perfect blushes of color.

I emphasize the perfection, because I was strongly impressed by the attention to perfection the Cohn-Stones insist upon. Around the studio were several “seconds”, peaches which Molly would not allow into the hands or homes of customers as the details were not “quite right”. My lay-person’s eye could not easily detect the minor flaws, but to Molly’s artist’s eye, they made all the difference between right, and not! As I watched Michael blow new peaches at the furnace, it was evident that all the trial and error that went into those “seconds” contributed to his mastery on display, to his ability to take a molten blob and rapidly create a perfect – to his eye and mine – a perfect peach.

This type of artistry and craftsmanship is at the heart of American craft. Perfection co-exists with soul, as well as with evidence of the artists’ hands in each piece that is created. While I am an admirer of much design which is mass-produced, nothing – nothing! – can ever replace the complete experience of the handmade.

Tutti Frutti Wine Powder Twist Goblets by Robert Dane

For 3,500 years, glass vessels have been a hallmark of human civilization. When the ancient Syrians began blowing molten glass around 50 BC, they took the medium to a whole new level of delicacy and translucency. Glass-blowing technology, using a long thing rod, has changed very little since then.

When building a collection of blown glass, it helps to choose a theme to guide your acquisitions. Affordable and small in scale, goblets offer an excellent starting point for would-be glass collectors. They possess a recognizable form and function that can be reinvented endlessly. You may use your goblets to toast life’s milestones, if you like or reserve them for strictly decorative purposes.

There are myriad niches for the glass goblet collector, and today the market for these pieces is hotter than ever. Those with a taste for history may favor Depression-are pressed glass, engraved Bohemian glass, or Art Nouveau glass from the design houses of Tiffany and Lalique. Collectors who thirst for new work can find astonishing goblets in the studios of living, breathing masters of glass. These artists typically blow each piece freehand rather than into a mold—thus, even their production pieces possess a compelling and desirable individuality.

Cobalt Martini Goblet by Laurie Thal

Many of the artist who have been reigniting the art of glass blowing in America since the 1960s have found inspiration in the vivid colors and intricate designs fo the Venetian glassmaking tradition. Robert Dane uses Venetian techniques to embody the shapes of his fertile imagination. Each goblet is a unique gem, made with multiple techniques of hot-forming glass. Fanciful stems sprout unexpected appendages, spiral up to slim flutes, or curve like graceful sea creatures.

Colors in glass are produced by adding metal or metal oxides to the basic ingredients of sand, soda, and lime. In ancient times, red glass, made with copper or gold dust, was prized above all. The opulent crimson of Kenny Pieper’s goblets, set off so beautifully by subtly faceted surfaces, is the product of experimentation with a variety of chemicals.

In most cases, the three parts of a goblet—foot, stem, and bowl—are blown or formed separately and fused together while they are extremely hot.

To keep your collection at its toast-worthy best, wash goblets carefully by hand. Raise the temperature of the water slowly—sudden changes of temperature may cause glass to shatter.