resources

This page provides links to fellow glass schools, suppliers, and other items we have found of interest. Note that inclusion on this page isn't necessarily an endorsement - just a pointer.

Glass suppliers - color and batch

Feed the addiction!

• C&R Loo - Richmond, CA (Reichenbach, Kugler)
• East Bay Color - Richmond, CA(Reichenbach, Gaffer, Spruce Pine, Spectrum)
• Olympic Color Rods - Seattle, WA (Reichenbach)
• Hot Glass Color & Supply - Seattle, WA (mostly Kugler)

Glass manufacturers

• Gaffer glass USA - New Zealand color manufacturer (rod in whole kilograms only)
• Kugler - German glass manufacturer (color chart)
• Reichenbach (aka Q-color) - German glass manufacturer (color chart)
• Reusche - enamels for glass painting.
• From David Ensign: "Here's the catalog. I ordered from the list of Hot Glass Colors at the bottom of page 7, my teacher (John DeWit) recommended them for anything you want to gather over. I also got the sample kit #3000, but it was a only a tiny bit of each color. I'm using the 1903 paining medium, but there is also a water medium. You can silkscreen this stuff. The COE is unknown, but it seems to work."
• Spruce Pine Batch Co. (also have color charts for Kugler, Reichenbach)

Tool suppliers

• Blockhead Tools - blocks, molds, paddles, parchoffi - distributed in US by Olympic Color
• Carlo Dona - brass molds, hand tools - distributed in the US by Spiral Arts
• C.R. Machine - pipes, punties
• Cutting Edge Products - hand tools, pipes, punties, shop equipment
• Hot Block Tools - cherry wood blocks, molds, paddles
• Jim Moore - hand tools
• Maruko Tools - hand tools - the Japanese language pages have the complete range of tools, the English does not.
• Palmer - hand tools, pipes, punties - distributed in the USA by C&R Loo
• Putsch - hand tools, pipes, punties
• Steinert - hand tools, machines, molds, pipes, punties

Glass schools

• Bild-Werk Frauenau, Germany
• Corning Museum of Glass, New York
• The Glass Furnace, Turkey
• Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Maine
• MIT glass lab, Massachusets
• Ox-bow, Michigan
• Penland School of Crafts, North Carolina
• Pilchuck Glass School, Washington state
• Pittsburgh Glass Center, Pennsylvania
• Pratt Fine Arts, Seattle
• Red Deer College, Alberta, Canada
• Scuola del vetro abate zanetti, Murano,Italy
• Urban Glass, New York

A longer list can be found at WorldArtGlass.com. and another one (slightly out of date), at Steiner Industries.

Rental facilities

Public

• Public Glass, San Francisco (SFSU glass class partitpants sometimes get special membership deals over the summer here)
• Bay Area Glass Institute (BAGI), San Jose

Private

These typically require that you know the owners or someone who has previously worked in that studio.

• Effetto Glassworks, Richmond, CA
• Glow Studio, Oakland, CA
• Slow Burn Glass, Oakland, CA

Glass Organizations

• Glass Art Society - preeminent glass organization in the USA
  • 2008 annual conference, June 19-21, Portland, OR
  • 2009 annual conference, June 11-14, Corning, NY
  • 2010 annual conference, June 10-12, Louisville, KY
  • 2011 annual conference, June , Seattle, WA
  • 2012 annual conference, June 13-17, Toledo, OH
  • 2013 annual conference, June 13-15, Boston, MA
• Glass Alliance of Northern California - non-profit organization whose mission is to further the development and appreciation of art made from glass

Glass museums

• Museum of Glass | Tacoma, WA
• Corning Museum of Glass, NY
• Glass flowers, Harvard Museum of Natural History, Cambridge, MA
• Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion, OH

Books/Magazines

Glassblowing:

• Ed Schmidt, Beginning glassblowing, Glass Mountain Press, January 2005, ISBN 0963872826 (Abe's books, Olympic color, Amazon.com)
• Ed Schmidt, Advanced glassworking techniques, Glass Mountain Press, December 1997, ISBN 0963872818 (Olympic color, Amazon.com)
• Ed Burke, Glass Blowing: A Technical Manual, Crowood Press, November 2005, ISBN 1861265212 (Amazon.com)
• Lucartha Kohler, Glass: An Artist's Medium, Krause Publications, March 1999, ISBN 087341604X (Amazon.com)

Glass art:

• 500 Glass Objects: A Celebration of Functional & Sculptural Glass, Lark Books, May 2006, ISBN 1579906931 (Amazon.com)
• William Warmus, Fire and Form: The Art of Contemporary Glass, Norton Museum of Art, June 2003, ISBN 0943411394 (Amazon.com)

Magazines:

• Jim Wiltschko's list of magazines and publications that are either entirely about or frequently have articles on glass blowing

Technical:

• Henry Halem, Glass Notes: a Reference for the Glass Artist, Franklin Mills Press, November 2006, ISBN 1885663064
• Graham Stone, Firing Schedules for Glass: the Kiln Companion, Igneous Glassworks, 2010 ISBN 978-0-578-05495-7
• Dudley F. Giberson, Jr., A Glassblower's Companion: a Compilation of Studio Equipment Designs, Essays, and Glassmaking Ideas, 1998 ISBN 0-9665713-0-4
• Pete VanderLaan's CraftWEB message board (many wide-ranging discussions about glass)
• Brad Shute's handmade-glass.com

Marketing and selling

• Marty Kremer, How to sell your stuff, July 2009. (Posted with Marty's permission.)

Videos

There are many good glass-related videos to be found on sites like YouTube. This link highlights just a small part of that selection.

• Corning museum of glass (CMOG) - a wealth of videos on their YouTube channel
• Murano glass blowers making a glass goblet [caution: disable the sound!]
• Jim Wiltschko's how-to videos including: Guido doing avolios
• John Wilkes' glassblowing videos, including: Tobias Møhl at Corning, July 2009: tall leaf, tall cylinder

Miscellany

• Resource Guide to Glassblowing (Artisan Elevators) - glass-related articles