british society of scientific glassblowers

Ed's Crack 115

Chairman's Message 117

A Chairmans Concern 120

Quartz Training in Malta 122

IFG - Stourbridge 2015 127

An Interview with Phil Jones 139

The BBC, a Knight and Me 142

British Glass Biennale 146

Fifty years of Fingers Fiddling 150

AVCF 1st International Flameworking Symposium 156

BGAS Gathering 162

Board of Examiners News 164

Aquacultural Encounter 165

SCIENTIFICGLASSBLOWERS

British Society of

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- C O N T E N T S -

DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE - November 16th 2015

VOLUME 53 October 2015 No. 4

B.S.S.G. JOURNAL - VOL 53/No. 4

114

Founded 1960

BSSG SOCIETY CHAIRMAN

JOURNAL

www.bssg.co.uk

SCIENTIFIC GLASSBLOWERSBritish Society of

The Journal is published by the B.S.S.G. every quarter and is available to members free. It is also available to others at subscription rates. Apply to the Society Office. Copyright to B.S.S.G. and contributors

Please could all communication on BSSG matters eg. competitions, training, membership etc. be with the BSSG Chairman in the first instance. Thank You.

Mr William Fludgate

Unit W1, MK2 Business Centre,

1-9 Barton Road, Bletchley,

Buckinghamshire MK2 3HU

Tel: 01908 821191 (Office hours)

Mob: 07885 582 257 (call before 9pm)

Email: [email protected]

SOCIETY LIBRARIAN- Terri AdamsGlass Design & Fabrication Facility,University of Oxford,Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory,South Parks Road,Oxford OX1 3QR

Tel: 01865 272609Fax: 01865 272690Email: [email protected]

EDITORIAL MATERIALIan PearsonJournal of the B.S.S.G.Glendale, Sinclair Street, Thurso,Caithness, Scotland KW14 7AQTel: 01847 895637 (Evenings & Weekends)

01847 802629 (Business hours)

Fax: 01847 802971E:mail: [email protected] [email protected]

HON. TREASURER- Phil Jones- MinervaBloomfield Close,Timsbury,Bath,BA2 0LP

Tel: 01225 385513Email: [email protected]

HON. SECRETARY- Terri AdamsGlass Design & Fabrication Facility,University of Oxford,Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory,South Parks Road,Oxford OX1 3QR

Tel: 01865 272609Fax: 01865 272690Email: [email protected]

ADVERTISING MATERIALGraham ReedHunter's Oak, Trendle Lane,Bere Alston, Devon PL20 7HTTel: 01822 840002 07484 112300E:mail: [email protected]: grahamsciglass13


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ommunication is est radix omnium malorum est. So one person's

Cidea of glass cricket is another person's expectation of extreme

sport. So it came to be that I wacked a lump of white hot glass

straight from the furnace into the far distant trees. All part of art and I

volunteered during a course at Northlands Creative Glass, Lybster

Caithness. Good fun indeed as I hope the photograph conveys. Thanks to

Steph Preston for catching the action with a camera rather than catching the

ball.

Can an eight-inch bore, floor standing Heathway lathe fit in a Vauxhall Astra?

This was my dilemma recently. Short lived as reality meant to do so would

involve lots of crunching, squashing and slicing. I opted for the bench

mounted one-inch bore version. Much more sensible and seat-belt

compatible. The subject arose as I am in the process of emptying my

workshop in order that a local glass charity can benefit. This involves

negotiating through five fences, some electrified and several armed police.

Yet this is simple when compared to the two and a half years negotiating and

a fourteen page email trail of administration to gain approval for such a

transfer of assets. Now that really is an extreme sport!

Staying with the theme of volume capability of cars was my experience of

stuffing a painting into the boot of a Mercedes. As Chairman of a local arts


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Ed's Crack

group in my home town I was responsible for uncollected paintings from our

annual exhibition. A portrait of an ex-MP required to be returned to the owner

who was the ex-MP in question. I knew he frequented a church next door to

my home. So one Sunday I waited patiently for the congregation to exit and

then pounced on the owner's wife and mother. I was distracted by a

misplaced sense of urgency as I rushed across a busy road carrying a two

foot by four foot oil painting. It didn't help that it was raining so it became vital

to open the boot and get the painting under cover within seconds. Just an

inch to spare so relief all round. In hindsight I should have explained what I

was doing to the ladies who were somewhat bemused at my antics. They

quite naturally assumed I was out to attack them or steal their car!

Talking of so called famous people such ex-MPs it is always a privilege for

me to interact with real fame. By this I mean the Duke of Rothesay or HRH

Prince Charles as he is perhaps more widely known. I have met him a few

times at local art exhibitions where he displays two of his watercolours. This

year his work was held up at Balmoral and I had to drive to Inverness for a

pre-arranged meeting with a member of the Royal staff to carry out a high

level, top secret transfer. This took place in Inverness football club car park, a

rather bleak and lonely location but safe as away from prying eyes.

Ignorance really is a great security enhancement for which I need no

training.

Then there is the story of Fanny Christie and her glass viruses. Pictorially

reported later in this issue, it doesn't give justice to the full experience. To be

honest one would need to breathe the same air as Fanny just to gain a little

insight into her work. As a conceptual artist Fanny is idea led and not

restricted in any way by media. Working in the flame with a camera

circulating at rapid intervals right above my hands and face added just the

right level of excitement and annoyance for me to realise that I am not an

artist. I was actually told by a professional artist that I am a scientific

glassblower, so it must be true. The easel never lies!

ERRATUMReaders should note that on page 100 of July 2015 issue of BSSG Journal, Vol. 53 No. 3 the captions of the two figures were transposed.


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B.S.S.G. CHAIRMAN'SMESSAGE

ell I do hope everybody had a good summer, as I am sure you must Whave been able to get a picnic in one afternoon, unless you missed that day.

Being in my workshop makes me wonder if retirement is a good idea, not that I am off that age yet, but the idea of being at work and wanting to do some art work during the day is just a pipedream at the moment. Time seems to be rushing away and evenings seem to be full of things I have yet to do, or at least finish. On top of that, we have recently got ourselves a new puppy and he is a handful but a very kind and softly mannered dog despite him being completely deaf. Keeping him amused and teaching him hand signals seems to be working, but we can't let him off of the lead yet because he does not respond to his name and I am not chasing a deaf dog.

I am sometimes accused of being deaf, due to being “told” things that I have allegedly forgotten. Saying that, I am also accused of being able to hear when a job has to be done at work but not at home. There must be a scientific reason for that. What has all this to do with this Journal I hear you ask? Well, to be honest, not a lot, other than an awful lot of my time is taken up with things to do with glass. In hot weather I seem to attract the hottest job, the artwork would be glass related, my dog comes to work and falls asleep in the office during the day. If I try to work on my ham radios or my old motorcycles I am distracted by things that I should have already done.

Now I know we all have things that we should do and things we would like to do and if you are reading this, you already know that I am about to ask to add something to your already busy agenda. How about an article that I know you promised to send up to our Editor for him to fill some of the pages of our wonderful and informative Journal.

The work done by the team, dotted all over the country from top to bottom is done to keep the wheels of our Society going and to benefit those around that need help, advice or better still, ideas and suggestions. This can be shared via the Journal and if need be, a workshop session could be arranged and we could take some very good photos to give exposure to your skills.


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Chairman’s Message

Here at work, the kiln has gone down big style, new control box and thermocouple ordered and hopefully we can catch up with our work orders, but in the meantime, where do I start with all the things I said I was going to do because I can't work. It's raining, so the new canopy over the back door can't be fitted, my bike is in for its service and MOT, have not got my art stuff yet, the dog is asleep, so down to the shed to play with my ham radio again I suppose.

By the time you read this, I might get some of those things done. Oh, the scientific term is often called procrastination!

Keep the glass hot and not the skin.

Glassblowing Skills over 50 Years

by Roger Waring

I once watched a video, borrowed from the BSSG library, of a Glassblower who was a l so a ba l l room dance r, a Scoutmaster and a glassblower of note. Dressed in a three piece suite he proceeded to blow a fairly large flask inside another flask to make a cold trap for a high vacuum system

How many glassblowers today would attempt to produce a cold trap in this way?

Th i s was done a t a t ime when glassblowing workshops didn't have the luxury of a lathe or other mechanical aids.

I started glassblowing in the 1950's and in those times general glass apparatus was produced in soda glass Hands up those who have made a double surface condenser in soda glass? The only lathe was for sealing sintered discs for inline filters and crucibles, not for general day to day use for production.

In 1963 I transferred to the company's

Rhodesian branch, when I returned to UK in 1970, on holiday, I was told that the Company had changed its training policy because of the stiff competition from Europe. The training of workers was changed to teach them to undertake certain tasks only, and not an overall training such as I had, because this was too expensive. This appears to have been an Industry wide decision and not just a Company one. Another factor in this scenario is the constant desire to improve production techniques to reduce costs.

On my return to the UK in 2008, I found that the general glassblowers were unable to work on the bench, producing items by hand, their training was on a lathe, using jigs, to produce the items required.

It became obvious to me that a whole load of skills had been lost due to this lack of training and made me wonder where the industry is heading, say in the next 10 to 20 years.


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A Chairman's concernAn open letter to all members of our esteemed Society

I find it ever increasingly difficult to try and muster people to join our Society. I even put an offer down to the membership to introduce new members and I, yes little old me, would pay for your next year's membership if that new person joined. How many people took me up on that offer? Nobody!

I write a Chairman's message in our Journal and I ask questions through my wittering, to our members and to the many others who also browse through the pages. Now this comes across as if I am preaching only to the converted. I probably am, but the message goes a bit deeper.

The costs incurred in keeping the BSSG afloat and organising events that are not well attended tends to be a drain on resources other than financial; time and effort, freely given by a strong team of dedicated unpaid staff can be met with disappointment from the lack of enthusiasm. I get emails and telephone calls, often asking… “What are the wage rates for a scientific glassblower?” “How long does the training take to become skilled in that field?” “Where can one learn our skills?”“Who can we talk to…..”“Where can we find….”

These questions and many others shows me that we are in demand, it also shows me that we are specialists in a field that engineers do not understand. I have this concern that we must generate more membership, which will in turn, generate more meetings around the Country and get our Society back off of its knees. We are not a Union, we are not even a Trade Association, but to the outside World, the BSSG is the leading light in a dark place. We often get called a “Trade Association”, something that companies recognise in the jargon filled office environment. We are a Learned Society, filled with some of the most respected people I could ever wish to meet in our glassy world.

If you have been working in our field for the last four, five or six years and know about us but have never joined, I bet it is not because of the cost of the membership, not even because you have never taken any exams. Could it be, because you might think that we (members), might judge you and your ability? We don't, so why not join, and if you don't like it, maybe I will refund your membership.


1743 441 955

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Quartz Training in Malta

by Robert McLeod

After the Symposium in Edinburgh the BSSG were approached to see if it would be possible to arrange a training course in quartz working for Raesch Quarz (Malta) Ltd. As I worked in the quartz sector for a number of years I was asked if I would be interested in such a project. After much thought I decided it would be a good opportunity to put what I had learned over the years to good use. I enlisted the help of Bob Marshall, the owner of Kee Logic Limited, a quartz company based in Scotland. To assist in putting together a training programme we had a look at the history of Raesh in Malta and how they had develop since opening there.

The key points were: 1997 Started Production; 2002 Doubled factory area; 2004 High speed equipment installed; 2007 Celebrated 10 years of successful operations; 2011 acquired laser drilling equipment.

It became clear the company had a very high skill level and produced a wide range of very good products. As the company is mainly machine orientated the opportunity to develop more hands on skills was limited. To make the

Programme Outline

Complete Programme


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company more flexible in an ever changing market then this is the area which needed to be developed. A training programme was put together consisting of three different levels: 1) Beginners, aimed at staff who had never handled a burner; 2) Intermediate, for staff with limited experience and 3) Advanced, for staff with a working knowledge of quartz. The areas to be covered were to include lathe and bench techniques with special attention being given to welding. With the training programme agreed, dates were set for us to travel to Malta to start the programme outlined in the previous page.

We arrived in Malta on Thursday 7th May ready to start the training on the Friday. On Friday Morning we started with a tour of the factory followed by us giving a short presentation on Quartz. Then it was down to the training in earnest. The group was split into two and training was soon under way following the programme as laid out. Our job was made relatively easy due to the enthusiasm and wiliness to learn of the workforce. It seemed like no time until it was Tuesday and time for us to leave for home. This was just the start of training and we will be keeping in touch to further develop the training with the hope that the trainees will eventually take the BSSG exams. It is worth noting that the training was partly funded by Malta's Training Aid Framework 2, which is a scheme managed by Malta's Employment & Training Corporation and co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) of the European Union.

Anyone interested in finding out more about Raesch Quarz (Malta) Ltd should contact Mike Sijbrandij, Business Development Manager, email address [email protected] or visit the web site www.raesch.net. Bob and I would like to thank all the staff at Raesch for their hospitality and the friendly manner in which we were received, with special thanks to the Managing Director Marisa Xuereb, who went out of her way to make us feel at home and took time to show us round some of the beautiful sights Malta has to offer.

On Thursday 16th of July I returned to Malta with my wife Isabel for a holiday. By this time , with the help of Terri Adams, we had certificates made up for those who took part in the training course .Indeed it is worth mentioning what a great job Terri did in designing the said certificates . The company were only too happy to arrange a night out for the presentation of the certificates .So on Friday 24th July my wife and I were invited along to Playa Del Sol Water Polo Club, St Julian's. We were made most welcome and had a great time, and can only hope all who attended did likewise.



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Students and trainers ready for work!

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Lathe worktraining


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Bob Marshall demonstrating

Mauro Scerri withRobert McLeod

Aron Zammit Caroline Muscat


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The International Festival of Glass– Stourbridge 2015

by Ian Pearson

Introduction

The Festival takes place every two years in Stourbridge, although the scheduled event last year was postponed until 2015. Held over four days the public part of the Festival commenced on Thursday May 28th, concluding on Sunday May 31st. I attended the last two days as having visited the festival three times previously judged two days to be perfect in gaining the appropriate level of pleasure and education. I was so wrong! Even wearing running shoes and sprinting between Festival venues I only managed seeing eleven exhibitions, a dozen demonstrations, four churches, one museum and an auction. That's a mere fraction that was on offer. I missed all the lectures and soon learnt how ignorant I am. A series of master classes were available to those who had pre-booked.

The Festival's main “selling point” is that it is home to the British Glass Biennale, an exhibition by over seventy glass artists living and working in Britain. A review of this exhibition appears separately in this issue of the Journal.

Stourbridge was the chosen location by virtue that it was at one time the centre of English glassmaking. More information on the subject can be found on www.ifg.org.uk

Warming Up

Perhaps “breaking into” a church was not the best way to start my visit but really St John's should review their open door policy. This venue was hosting the New Beginnings Exhibition by Robyn Smith whose work “To Leave is to Enter” I first saw in 2012. Her gates appeared more receptive than the Church's! I was allowed to enter the darkness before someone (not God) found the light switch and “lo and behold” showed me the way. To be honest the glass was as fantastic as I remember it but the surroundings looked a mess. Deliberately I presume as this was the venue for upcycling workshops. Still looked a mess to me. I really liked the gates and perhaps they did remind me of the gates to heaven but I had to be on my way with a


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IFG - Stourbridge 2015

promise to myself that I would return. To St John's, not Heaven! Much to my regret I never did.

The First seal

To the Bonded Warehouse I was bound. Scene for the bead show which lived up to its title as a building full of stalls selling beads. Actually not that many stalls as I have seen before and for me beads do not turn me on. My days of wearing necklaces are long gone! What intrigued me was how several bead makers are developing their skills to go “off-mandrel”.

It was here that I met Craig Deacons the son of John who I would meet the next day and see both create a paperweight. Craig had a fantastic display of their finished work who, with his Father manages their business at Crieff in Scotland. I suppose paperweights are just giant beads without holes! Many years ago the Scottish Section of the BSSG visited John's work-place to marvel at his creations.

I did make my first purchase of the day and that was a small stick (technical term for length) of red boro (technical term for borosilicate) from Martin Tuffnell. Technically that's a success.

Slightly offset

My plan to head straight for the Festival centre was disrupted by the open doors of Holy Trinity Church at Amblecote. I fondly remember previous visits and their home baking with instant coffee, so in an instant I was in. Warmly welcomed with a full colour catalogue showing the glassware on display I learnt the title of the exhibition was Amblecote Echoes but didn't appreciate the meaning. Some excellent examples of contemporary glass positioned in such a worshipful manner. It was here I met James Devereux who appeared shrewd enough to know how working with other world-renowned artists is good for business.

Although the title of this show may have been a mouthful, a sweeter one was the lemon drizzle cake on offer and set me off across the road. Interestingly enough this was a dangerous road to get to the other side and I did wonder how many funerals the Church deals with each year.


17129


Reamering out

On arriving at the Ruskin's Glass Centre I was awarded a wrist band allowing me “free” access for £5 a day. Later that evening I cut my hand in attempting to remove the shackle vowing to avoid this punishment the following day.

Alfresco glassblowing was prominent by virtue of good weather and appropriate equipment. This included original transport for Merlyn Farwell who was demonstrating his energy efficient mobile furnace. There appeared to be a competition for the most retweeted photograph related to a glass bubble that customers had blown but I am afraid this was lost on me.

Keen to find the main Festival office I stumbled across several puppets, an emergency poet (yes really!) and some ladies on stilts. Inside my head a voice was screaming, “I hadn't spent fifteen hours travelling 700 miles on buses and trains just to look at this rubbish! Where's the glass?” Soon found my mantra and entered the Glasshouse, venue for the 2015 British Glass Biennale which was advertised as the highlight of the festival and thus potentially the same for me. One hundred and twenty two pieces of work by seventy seven artists just sitting there waiting for me to admire. My initial view caused such shock that I just had to find the bar and console myself with some specially brewed Festive ale.

The sun shone and instead of angels singing, out popped the local community choir. Local that is to Stourbridge and obviously not to me. Called “Got-2-Sing” they positioned themselves in readiness for what I expected to be a classic Black Country ditty that one would neither understand nor appreciate. Well you could have slapped me down with a heat resistant glove as familiar music whirled around. A fine version of Coldplay's “Fix You” followed by Elbow's “One Day Like This” encouraged me to stay to hopefully hear the Floyd's “Wish You Were Here”. Sadly this was not to be. However there was a fine exhibition with the same title.

Getting hot

The Contemporary Glass Society had asked its members to submit glass postcards for an open exhibition and all were displayed in cabinets along a wall inside the Glass Centre. These created a very impressive effect with over one hundred and fifty identically sized items but each an individual original masterpiece. Priced at £50, £100 or £150 they tempted potential buyers to own a very convenient shaped work. “Wish You Were Here”


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with Craig Deacons

with James Devereux

Furnace on wheels!

“Got-2-Sing” choir


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indeed, I was!

Avoiding non-glassy interruptions I found myself heading towards the Web Corbett visitor Centre which, although appearing to be part of the Ruskin Glass Centre, involved exiting the latter to enter the former. I noted a possible “free” entry for future use. To quote its publicity leaflet; the Web Corbett Visitor Centre depicts not only the heritage of crystal manufacture on the site but is a reflection of every other crystal manufacturer in the area.

For me it's all about methods of interpretation and I loved the glass hands of former glassworkers which I thought very appropriate and a clever idea. A bonus for me was that Graham Fletcher MBE was present and gladly signed a couple of his books for me to purchase. Delegates at the 2012 BSSG Symposium will remember Graham for his presentation on the Portland Vase Project. His latest book would appear from the cover to be a homage to cats so initially I thought instant litter! However once Graham explained the connection of the title to his favourite things, which thankfully are glass, then a copy was mine and a review of the book appears elsewhere in this issue of the Journal.

Checking for cracks

Before leaving the Ruskin's Glass Centre I headed off to find a “clan” gathering of Scottish Glass Society members. As a member myself I knew we had a publicity stand situated somewhere but after asking several people where this was, always seem to end up in the bar. Eventually after walking behind the outside of the bar and climbing stairs I found myself in familiar company. Following the obligatory photo shoot I “shooted “off up the road towards the Red House Glass Cone but not before popping into the Lace Centre, www.laceguild.org

Mixing glass and lace worked better than I expected although I was expecting to see bobbins. Not sure why but having visited this venue before, which is essentially a house, I thought there were more displays upstairs. There wasn't of course which would have explained the surprised look on the face of an attendant when I asked her if I could go upstairs. Wonder what she thought? Great exhibition and one could have a go at lace making in the front garden. Unfortunately I was on a tight time schedule and need to move from one house to the Red House.


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No scratches

My focus at the Red House Glass Cone was an exhibition of glass engraving. In fact there were two exhibitions of engraved glassware occupying the same venue but in different areas. This gave the casual visitor a confusing challenge to identify each artist and appreciate their work as intended. The members of the Guild of Glass Engravers are celebrating forty years of active work and excellent examples of craftsmanship (and of course “womanship” too!) were displayed collectively as “Contemporary International Engraved Glass”. The detail and evidence of patience was clear to be seen but then I suppose that is the style of work. I was drawn to the engraved tiger, the plate with scenes of glassblowing and various cubes with deep cut engraved imagery.

Not “International” but advertised as “Modern European” the smaller exhibition of engraved glassware was a show entitled “Gravur on Tour” and again an excellent collection of dexterity between hand and glass. Some artists work appeared in both exhibitions, notably Alison Kinnaird, Nancy Sutcliffe, Christian Schmidt, and Katherine Coleman. My favourite piece was an optical treat in that the cube engraved by Nicholas Rutherford, “Riverboat Station,” could be viewed from many sides giving an exciting different perspective. However, the work that held my attention the longest was an engraved picture entitled “In Perfect Harmony” by Guergana Sabkova. Lots of mixed imagery and fun to guess what it was all about.

Both shows offered free lists of work to the visitor but a few illustrations would have been beneficial. However I did purchase the book providing a good overview of the “Gravur” exhibition. One day I might even find time to read it instead of rushing around visiting exhibitions. Of course there are websites to indulge: www.gge.org.uk

Flame polishing

My time at the Red House Glass Cone was spent wandering with more wondering than wonders. It is a testament on how diverse subject specific events have to be to attract audiences when witnessing a collection of medieval knights amongst glassy exhibits. At the risk of being lanced, all this frivolity was wasted on me.

There are several permanent excellent displays at the Red House concerning the history of glassmaking in the area but having seen this four


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times now with no noticeable changes then it was time for me to be off. However I did glimpse at a glassblowing demonstration which must have been very good as I couldn't see who was doing what due to the size of the crowd.

The “Button” seal

The Broadfield House Glass Museum always impresses me and during the festival a paperweight day was held. Here one could buy from a fantastic selection of paperweights from several knowledgeable dealers. In addition there were members of the Paperweight Collectors Circle on hand to offer advice and describe any of the vast collection of paperweights that members had brought along to display. I was interested in an early Paul Stankard but what impressed me more were a couple of small globes by Josh Simpson. Josh is based in the USA and well-known for his large and therefore heavy globes of glass. I learnt how the fashion for paperweights can develop into miniature items such as jewellery and then into marbles and vessels such as vases. All in all an excellent interactive showcase for miniature works of art. I am sure everyone who visited would be encouraged to start a collection of their own.

A bonus during my visit was seeing a paperweight being made by John Deacons who not only shown off his expertise in a casual appearance but gave an sight into his thinking when working. Around the furnace room at the Museum were example of experimental work which I found more fascinating than the products on display in the shop.

The Museum has a very good selection of books and I love browsing through the shelves. On this occasion it was made slightly difficult in that Nancy Sutcliffe had set up her table and was engraving a glass vessel on it. I did get told off for moving what I thought was just an unused lamp stand, only to be told it was a time lapse camera. Oh well time waits for no man!

I had seen examples of Nancy's work at the Engravers Guild exhibition earlier but had not seen her work until now. That's a little white lie as I had read about her work in of all places “The Flow”, a magazine usually devoted to bongs and marbles. I presume one can get high on the dust from engraving!! using flexible diamond drive equipment which I was familiar with but not her subject matter. Nancy explained that her subject was part of the celebrity doodle project where various celebrities’ doodles were being transferred to the medium of glass through serval various techniques, one of


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with Graham Fisher MBE

From L to R: Michael Bullen - Northlands Glass,Kate Henderson - SGS Chair, Vicky Higginson- SGS Treasurer & Kirsten Gow - SGS Student rep

with John Deacon

Carrie Fertig with lamb


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which was engraving. I saw the original doodle by Raymond Blanc ready to be enhanced.

Upstairs in the Museum another engraver was interpreting work by a celebrity. This time it was by Robert Plant. He wasn't the engraver though as this role belonged to copper wheel engraver Steve Piper who seemed very relaxed at his craft. Further doodling was seen in the furnace area where Dave Hill's sound bite was converted into a decorative vase by Darren Weed and Vic Bamforth. All finished items will be auctioned for the British Glass Foundation. If you don't recognise the celebrity's names then I suppose they can't be much of a celebrity. Of course in reality we all are celebrities!

A T–piece

As with all museums the two facilities that always prove popular are toilets and refreshments. Leaving the former as “de rigueur” then the pleasure at Broadfield House was the excellent coffee and cakes provided by the Friends of Broadfield House Glass Museum. A pleasant surprise in seeing Barbara and Richard Beadman who BSSG delegates will remember as attending symposiums under the Plowden and Thompson banner.

It was when chatting to Barbara that I learnt of a glass disaster when an artist handed an example of his work to a member of the audience and the vessel dropped and broke. Broadfield House resident glassblower Allister Malcolm thankfully came to the rescue with a repair. Another potential disaster which I hope is as easy to fix is the closure of Broadfield House and the transfer of its contents to a new home. More power to the “Friends” and hence a few more pennies in the dish for coffee.

A clean cut

Clinging to the wall just outside the refreshment room was a wonderful display of beads. Trouble was they blended in so well that it was no surprise that most people passed without a second look. Luckily I had been prepared in that I had a copy of a book by Barbara Holt, “A String of Beads” reviewed in BSSG Journal Vol. 52 No. 3 page 110.

Smoothing sharp edges

The best exhibition by far at Broadfield House was that by seventeen Hungarian studio glass artists. I was so impressed that I snapped up the


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catalogue and a signed copy of one contributing artist's book. Michaly Melcher, never heard of him, in fact never heard of any of the artists. Loved Margit Toth's kiln cast polished glass hippo with wings. Check her out.

Coloured glass

Just along the road from the Broadfield House Museum is Wordsley Methodist Church. Well worth a visit throughout the year for the stained glass windows alone. The design is abstract and deep set into thick walls. Reminded me of castle fortifications, so I felt safe in the body of the kirk. Of course I wasn't there for the windows but it was the display of contemporary glass from the Brutnell Astley online gallery that attracted me. Simon Bruntnell is a photographer who has taken many superb photographs of work by glass artists. Simon gave me a brief tour of the exhibits and I have to say they looked far better in the “flesh” than online.

The Church garden seemed most appropriate to display outdoor sculptural work by Jenny Pickford who combines glass and metal to great effect. It was a shame that children's play equipment distorted my view somewhat or maybe that is the next movement in art!

Reflections

Feeling particularly spiritual I floated on down the way and found myself in a grave yard. Not just any grave yard though for this was no dead end place. Holy Trinity Wordsley has historical links to glassmakers in the area and several famous names in the world of glass are buried in the grounds of the church. I was so disappointed not to have seen any glass headstones! The stained and painted glass windows are truly magnificent and well worth seeing for a good read. Helpful staff (can church servers ever be called “staff”?) pointed me in the right direction of a tour ending with the obligatory cake station. The windows were memorable but then so was the Welsh fruit cake.

Cooling down

So it came to pass that I swallowed my double dose of religious medicine to move on. On to the fun auction at Ruskin's Glass Centre. Eighty-six lots were on offer and these ranged from glass items, books and tools. I timed my arrival to avoid the entrance fee and positioned myself next to the auctioneer Will Farmer who is well known from appearing on the BBC television series,


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“Antiques Roadshow”. Having attending several auctions I knew how long they can run especially if members of the audience have forgotten the combination to their purses. My entry was lot twenty seven so not long to wait. My estimate was thankfully not only reached but surpassed by 50%. Not all lots were so fortunate as glass artist Carrie Fertig discovered. Her glass lamb had an estimate of £500 but no bidders at all, not even at the starting offer of £400. Much to Carrie's credit she withdrew the work on the basis that she is not selling her art “cheap”. Go Carrie go! The money raised by this auction will go to the British Glass Foundation.

Annealing

I saw Martin Andrews and Vic Bamforth's studios at Ruskin's, so close to each other I did wonder how they managed their competitive spirit. Both different styles and of course they were not the only artists working in the same location. In fact, some are so busy they work the whole year around and are not totally dependent on the Internal Festival of Glass. Some artists had the audacity to ignore glass as a medium and work with other materials. How dare they!

It was intriguing to see Martin's experiments for sale and I was attracted to a wine goblet with what seemed like a creature or inanimate object sealed to the side. Martin did explain to me that this technique is very tricky. It is indeed so in lampworking circles so I guess very very difficult from the furnace.

Pack and post

After two full days of seeing glass, feeling glass and breathing glass it was time to relax and reflect in “Weatherspoon's.” I regret not spending more time at the Festival and not attending any lectures. So a bit like a BSSG Symposium! It was extremely disappointing not seeing many examples of lampwork and I ask myself why? Are we the poor relation of the glass art world? It's up to us to change that but we appear to be powerless or perhaps we don't care. There is so much lampworking going on that it really needs a wider stage to get the message across. The International Festival of Glass would appear to be the perfect opportunity. Hence I am up for a demonstration in 2017. If you are a conceptual lamp worker then we'll have a captive audience with a possible Government grant!


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SCIENTIFIC GLASSWARE DESIGNED

TO YOUR REQUIREMENTS.


139

An Interview with Phil Jones

by Ian Pearson

Phil has just taken up the purse strings of the BSSG by accepting the role as Hon. Treasurer.

IP May I start Phil by congratulating you as our new Treasurer and ask you how you first started in scientific glassblowing? What was it about the work that first attracted you?

PJ I'm not sure that congratulations are in order regarding the Treasurer role, but I look forward to the challenge!

Amongst my childhood hobbies I was particularly keen on practical pursuits such as model making. So it followed when I left school I wanted to do some kind of apprenticeship. I saw an advert in the local press for a Trainee Scientific Glassblower at Birmingham University and thought I quite fancy that. Despite a lot of applicants for the role I was fortunate enough to be shortlisted for interview and made a suitably good impression with the superb Glassblower Roy Dackus, the man who trained and mentored me, and who was to have a great influence on my life.

IP How did you hear about the BSSG and what were the reasons for joining?

PJ Roy wasn't one for meetings and officialdom and preferred to do things his way; so I didn't really know anything about the BSSG until a visit from Jim Huckfield, who by this time had put glassblowing on the back burner (pun intended) and was a rep for SLS. He was very enthusiastic about the goals of the Society and persuaded me joining up would be beneficial to my career. Of course, he was quite correct!

IP Have you had any “disasters”, large apparatus breaking or misunderstanding requests? Bad burns or cuts?

PJ Nothing tests your equanimity quite like spending several hours working and sweating over a multi-walled vessel only for it to crack just before you can get it into the annealing oven. This is a test I've had the misfortune to fail more than once, the result being the invention of new swear words awaiting entry into the OED!


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Working in a multi-national multi-cultural environment like a university, misunderstandings and misinterpretations over work are almost inevitable, but a friendly disposition and/or apology normally gets you through unscathed.

I think it's almost a rite of passage to collect cuts and burns as a trainee 'blower, but don't let H&S hear that! Probably the one incident that caused the most personal damage was attempting score and cut some old soda glass tubing. Whilst 'snapping' it, it broke unevenly, slashing across my thumb and leaving a scar as a reminder. It's a lesson learned though, not to 'force' glass if it doesn't seem to be breaking by this method.

IP What advice would you give to new trainees or anyone thinking about entering into a career of scientific glassblowing?

PJ It helps to learn the art of perseverance... and practice, practice, practice! As a trainee trying to follow the incredibly high standards set by Roy, I would often think I would never get anywhere in this profession. I found I would hit plateaus that I couldn't seem to get beyond. But Roy would always encourage me and eventually things would seem to 'click' and I could advance to the next challenge. Perhaps the best advice I received was to be told 'if you never make mistakes, you never learn anything'. The trick is trying to learn from your mistakes.

IP How do you feel belonging to a Society of Scientific Glassblowers has helped you with your career?

PJ Right from the very first symposium I attended it was obvious that there is a wealth of knowledge amongst our membership. You could ask half a dozen different glassblowers advice on a certain technique and get six different answers! I found its well worth tapping into this knowledge and find out what works best for you. Also, many glassblowers (me included) will tell you that you may have to relocate at some stage to advance your career and experience. The BSSG is the best source to hear about potential positions.

IP If there was one thing you could change about your career can you think of one or maybe more?

PJ It doesn't really help to have regrets about the past. However, hindsight is a wondrous thing. Shortly after my move to Bath University I was asked to relocate the glassblowing workshop. A room was found; though smaller than the space I was relinquishing, and was essentially a shell with little by way of services. Working to a limited budget a number of things were



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compromised; one being what might be considered 'future proofability'. That is, there is realistically only room enough for one glassblower due to limited bench space. Taking on a trainee has occasionally been mooted only to draw sighs from 'the suits' when I tell them it'll require further investment in the workshop to expand space. Looking back I wish I'd been more demanding about my requirements, though I think being new to the role then I was probably being too polite!

IP If there is such a thing as a normal day at work, then can you describe yours?

PJ One of the great things about working at a research intensive university is that, generally, no two days are alike. Typically, though I would get a visit from a PhD student or their PI (Principle Investigator), academic speak for supervisor! We'd discuss their ideas and requirements, and I'd tell them what can and can't be done and price up the job. Increasingly these days is a requirement for paper trails; spread sheets, invoices, risk assessments and responding to emails. And, with a bit of luck, time enough to do some glassblowing!

IP How do you relax away from glassblowing? PJ I'm not sure if it's relaxing but I'm in the process of doing a complete refurb of

our home. After doing it for the first time years ago and saying never again, I'm on my third house refurb. I also play 6-a-side football a couple of times a week, though that doesn't get any easier with age! More relaxingly I enjoy countryside or coast path walking with my wife Mandy and our schnauzer Lola (unfortunately we recently lost our other schnauzer Judy to old age) stopping off for a refreshing pint or three of real ale. After all, long walks, as with glassblowing, can be thirsty work!

IP Thanks for speaking to me Phil and I wish you well. Obviously this interview has been a highlight of your career (well I can hope can't I?), but can you tell the readers about others?

PJ There is one person in particular I've met through my work that I'd consider a personal highlight, but that's another story.



142

The BBC, a Knight and Me

by Phil Jones

Once, in the wondrous land formally known as Wessex

An unexpected call...

It was deep into a dark and frosty December day, just as thoughts were turning to towards winding down workshop activities and gearing up for the festive season that the phone rang.

A plumy voice at the other end of the line introduced himself as Patrick Aryee, a researcher for the BBC. 'I wonder if you can help' he asked. 'We're trying to replicate an experiment from the 1950s for an upcoming science documentary we're recording for TV and we're struggling to source the appropriate glassware'. This came as no surprise to me. Expecting glass to survive sixty odd years of use and abuse in a laboratory is a tall order. However, my curiosity was aroused.

A fleeting description of what was required I revealed that nothing like it would be available off the shelf, but I could make a faithful facsimile. After all, it just seemed to be a couple of flasks, stopcocks, tubes and some electrodes for a final flourish. 'That would be wonderful if you could make that for us' said a delighted Patrick. And so a deal was struck. 'Just one final thing' he added, 'we need it straight after the New Year; can you make it that quickly'? Somewhat miffed that I'd been distracted from my festive musings I begrudgingly accepted the challenge.

The origins of life...

The realisation struck me that I was making something for television... for the BBC... something that would be viewed by mil l ions. Further correspondence with my new accomplice revealed that what they were trying to replicate was the famous Urey-Miller experiment; an experiment to simulate the chemical origins of life on Earth no less! This upped the ante somewhat; I'd better gen up on how this glassware was really used.

I discovered that in 1952 Stanley Miller and Harold Urey worked together to


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devise an experiment to support the theory of a 'primordial soup'; that the complex chemicals required for life to develop on early Earth could be produced naturally. The theory involved the interactions of hydrocarbons, ammonia and lightning, all thought to be present in the very early days of Earths development.

The glassware set-up consisted of an enclosed system of a 2 litre flask with two tungsten electrodes attached, a condenser, and an additional 500 ml flask. Water would be boiled in the smaller flask creating water vapour that permeated its way to the larger flask, where ammonia, methane and hydrogen were introduced. An electrical discharge across the electrodes simulated lightning passing through the water vapour and gases. A condenser would cool the vapour to be recycled into the small flask then to be reheated. This experiment ran continuously for a week. Analysis of the resulting product revealed that up to 20 amino acids were found. And there you have it, the building blocks for proteins, DNA and hence life on Earth! It's even been discovered that analysis of vials taken from this experiment and left for years revealed the formation of even more amino acids.

A surprise invitation...

Returning to the task in hand, the reproduction glassware was complete, just beating the deadline, and I still had time to enjoy all the frivolities of Christmas and the New Year. Job done! Except Patrick had another request... 'You couldn't help me out with a loan of a heater mantle, retort stands and other such paraphernalia to support and run the experiment?' he enquired. No problem, I knew our friendly and amiable teaching lab technician Robert Stevens would help out there, which indeed was the case. Finally that was that I thought. Patrick was on his way, fully equipped to do his recording, and I'm free to resume my 'proper' work.

Two days before filming was scheduled Patrick called... 'Phil, we have a bit of a problem'. Oh no I immediately thought, they haven't broken the glassware have they? 'We've just gone through the risk assessment and we need someone to set up and run the experiment; someone with lab experience and who can handle glass appropriately'. By now the teaching classes had restarted, and life in the University was at full throttle once again. 'I'm sorry Patrick; I don't think anyone is available at such short notice' I replied. 'Oh no, this is bad news. We can't possibly let down the presenter of the programme' Patrick said, with his plumy voice taking on a distinctly worried tone. 'Well, that is unfortunate' was my somewhat dismissive reply. 'By the way, who is



144

the presenter?' I asked. 'Oh, didn't I say... Sir David Attenborough. Of course, if someone could help out they'd get to meet him' Patrick said. But his mind seemed distant, as if trying to work out how he was going to get around this dilemma.

My mind was now racing. The little voice in my head had become a fully blown screech of 'oh my god – Sir David Attenborough', akin to the adolescent excitement of Beatlemania... from old footage I've seen of such things of course! Must keep calm, I thought. Show some decorum, this is the BBC. 'Well' I said, 'I'm sure I have some annual leave left to take, maybe I could help you out. I have some lab experience, and I know all about handling the glassware. I'll ask my boss if it's ok'. Patrick was now in a happier place... and this was one gig I wasn't going to miss out on.

The gathering...

Annual leave secured, everything was in place for an early start one chilly January morning. Filming was to take place in the biochemistry labs at Bristol University, a location deliberately chosen for its old school retro authenticity, going with the theme of the programme, and just before it was to undertake a refit. I was immediately struck by the plethora of people required for the shoot; the producer, director, researcher, cameraman, sound recordist, media assistant, electrician, and so on. But with military precision, everyone knew their task and set to. And so it was I was left to set up the glassware, attach the heater mantle, connect the electrodes, and get the 'experiment' running. By late morning everything was in place and the great man duly arrived. 'How should I refer to him' I asked Miles Barton, the producer and the man essentially running the show. 'Sir David will be fine'. Reverence was due and I was happy to oblige.

Sir David, the consummate professional, had read the script whilst been driven to the shoot and had made his own annotations. He took position next to the glassware and we awaited recording. However, there was a problem with the experiment, the cameraman said he couldn't get a good shot as the water was heating up a little too vigorously, steaming up the glassware and obscuring any view of the internal workings. 'I can rectify that' I said, 'I just need to tweak the settings on the heater mantle. It'll settle down in a few minutes'. This put me shoulder to shoulder with Sir David for a few moments. Being TV royalty I considered I shouldn't talk to him unless he talked first. Duly he asked if I was the man who had made the glassware, to which I answered in the affirmative. 'You're a clever man, aren't you?' he said. 'Not



B.S.S.G. JOURNAL - VOL 53/No. 4 145

nearly as clever as you Sir David' was my somewhat nervy reply. It drew a polite smile and an accepting nod of the head.

We were now ready to roll. Sir David lit up as soon as Miles called 'action', flying in the face of a man in his mid 80s. Ever the perfectionist further tweaks ensued until he was happy. Before I knew it, Miles was calling 'it's a wrap'. After a brief chat with the crew Sir David was on his way, and after lunch, we all set to dismantling our various bits of equipment.

The crew were all very welcoming, but it's quite a different world to what I'm accustomed to. I heard tales of assignments to exotic climes, to Borneo and Patagonia. To the poles, and a brush with a polar bear. The story about getting a dose of dengue fever in Brazil wasn't quite so appetising. The recording went on to be part of 'Attenborough: 60 Years in the Wild'. Originally screened on the BBC, it's now available on DVD.

And so my deed was done. I left with happy memories of an enlightening look behind the scenes of a TV recording, of a meeting with a Knight, and an obligatory autograph to boot.

Which leaves a question...? Just how, in one day, do you recreate an experiment to produce a primordial soup that originally took several weeks? Well, that's the magic of television!




Review by Ian Pearson

This exhibition took place at the Ruskin's Glass Centre, Stourbridge during

the International Festival of Glass in June and I hated it. It was far too

memorable and I have spent and continue to spend ages trying to work out

any logic in its content. Even the catalogue confused me as it only presented

one image of an entry where the artist may have displayed two. For example

Jacque Pavlosky piled a load of crystal glassware on a table under a bright

light which looked great. Trouble was when searching for this image in the

catalogue; I only found a photograph of a Bullseye casting attributed to the

same artist. The display of glass similar to a champagne fountain was

attractive but certainly not very original as Beth Lipman's work in the Corning

Museum of Glass will testify. It struck me as ironic that when the lights above

the glass failed the art “disappeared”.

Light is vital to glass, hence I was disappointed that Elin Isaksson's “Ice Lilly”

was not lit as intended. A couple more chandeliers were hanging nearby by

Emma Mackintosh and Emma Woffenden and Tord Boontje, both very

saleable indicated by the coveted red sticker. Confusion continued in me

when studying the work by Zoe Garner. It cried out to be touched but visitors

seemed discouraged by the many “do not touch” signs. I touched and felt

guilty so I touched again determined to free myself of such sin.

Salvation came by way of seeing imaginative work from various students. I

once joked about sealing glass to concrete but my goodness it can be done

as Harry Morgan showed in such a simple and direct manner. To add to his

point of mixing media he showed work involving joining glass to brass but of

course the catalogue chose to ignore this. Other students work I found

refreshing and this included Eddie Belvedere's “Litter tree” which was just

that.

One student's work, Faith Mercer, failed to make any impact on me other

than annoyance. The piece was an installation consisting of a table and

chairs with rubbish on. Well that's what it looked like. I daresay there is a skill


here and mainly focused on the Pate de Verre technique but it's nothing new.

In 2011 Stine Dines Mikkelsen created something similar for New Glass

Review. Making reference to the catalogue only added insult to my

misinterpretation as the photograph shows different chairs and the

installation situated in what looks like a shed. Probably the best place rather

than a gallery but if this shed was an integral part then why no shed in the

gallery?

Looking at or through the work by Ayako Tani which consisted of metal

spectacle frames with intricate flameworked images from borosilicate I

thought, “nice frigger”. Nothing grandiose about this and most BSSG

members could make similar with their eyes closed. The work is not

innovative and Ayako has exhibiting very similar pieces at previous

Biennales. In fact if you took examples of her work spanning 10 years and

placed them next to each other it would appear to be all made in the same

day. In any case others have used such flameworked techniques to much

greater effects, notably Brent Kee Young, David Willis, Anne Claude Jeit and

Alain Callisk. The latter are featured in “Kunst aus der Flamme” which was

reviewed in BSSG Journal Vol 52 No 3 page106.

I like Max Jacquard's work even if I don't understand it but why oh why was it

displayed so close to Bruno Romanelli's sculpture such that the effect of

both was halved instead of doubled. Clearly or not for me the arrangements

of the majority of exhibitions was terrible. Plinths seemed to have been

ignored in favour of three long tables resembling a conveyor belt on which

glass items were thrown on. I expect it was some designer’s brief to be

different in much the same way as the person who came up with the bright

idea of using grey text with a font size of an atom on a white background for

CD covers.

There were huge areas of empty space in the gallery, wasted in my opinion

especially when this space was filled with chairs. I had wrongly assumed this

was part of a devious art installation but they disappeared when their

function ceased. Their function was of course supporting art and if one was

in any doubt then just climb up to the viewing platform to witness the

“Serengeti” of glass.



Matt Duran in his introduction to the catalogue mentions the “renewal of

connections and the friendship between the works”. So we are all one big

happy family are we? Yet each (or most) exhibits are photographed

singularly in the catalogue. Almost in isolation and remote from any such

connections. Incidentally, the favoured arrangement for catalogues in my

experience would be to include an explanatory note about the work and

artist on same page as the actual exhibit. This would help avoid repetitive

strain injury in flipping the pages back and forth to see what the artist looks

like (as if I care) and a little about their thoughts.

Price as ever has a part to play. Most expensive was work by Geoffrey Mann

at £33,000. For this you would get a few vases and a DVD. Impressive eh?

For that money I would want a cinema complete with someone selling ice-

cream during the interval!

Technology was prominent by evidence of its use for many artist creations,

yet I find technology on its own uncreative. I think someone left their soul at

the furnace.




What no plinths?

Installation art with a crystal glass sculpture and engraved work by Alison Kinnaird


Fifty years of fingers fiddling! A personal story and reflections on a glassblower's career

by Graham Reed

Episode Three: – A 'Pom' burning in Blighty?!!

So at the end of my second missive (1970) I had reached the stage where I was about to flip upside-down for few years as a 'not-so-convict' in Aussie! This meant flying for 30+ hours in a BOAC VC10 from London via Basle, Tehran, Bombay, Hong Kong, Darwin and finally Sydney to find its size, something of a shock to my tired eyes. Whilst Australia still has a low population because it is huge desert with greenish bits around the coast, the five major cities in each State [Australia is a Confederation from 1901 like the UK should have been – pity Lloyd George and the 'Irish Problem'] are sprawling conurbations with Sydney's land coverage close to that of London!

The Assisted-Migrant scheme not only charged the 'outrageous £10' fee to fly 12,000miles but set up a careers meeting where my trade was a TOTAL mystery to them. They did discover that Bibby-Quickfit® had opened a factory a half-hour train ride north. They had almost no glassblowers and yet wanted me to make six to ten C1/12's an hour without a proper production line. Apart from that foray, the careers people left me to fend for my own opportunities. A swift rebuff from the two glassblowers at the prestigious University of Sydney Chemistry Dept. was followed by a kind and helpful pom – Alex Bell, a 'blower in a government research lab (CSRIO) on the same campus. He pointed me [thanks Alex!] towards a commercial lab supply firm called!! “Laboratory Supply Pty. Ltd.” based in the less-than-salubrious suburb of Marrickville, conveniently sited directly under the flight-path into Sydney International Airport.

I also thank Malcolm Grant, the sales manager, for offering me a job as a technical salesman, based upon my glass background, with the remit to increase the work load for their own Glass Shop managed by Barry Walker. Malcolm was very astute, from him I learnt a few keys tricks; he guided me into the outdoor role of “avoid Barry being discomforted by a new-boy in the shop.” The sheer distance and slow communications (urgent orders went via telex) to Europe & Britain meant that Australia and NZ had well-developed and comprehensive industry which gave Sydney almost every


business: brewing, chemicals, motor manufacture, paper, pharma, refineries, sheet glass, you name it! I was allotted a third of the total city territory and went into my colleague's patches for glass-specific enquiries. Obviously! I was given the oldest, most decrepit car in the fleet. The MD had the only air-con car (a big thing in the summer) but AA (Alan Aggett) spent most of his day in the only air-con room in the sales office. My average day was visiting customers whilst being obsessed with parking in the shade, leaving the car open only to find, on my return, that the seat was so hot that it burnt my thighs (short trousers are de-rigour). My favourite, Friday afternoon customer was visiting the laboratory manager at the city centre Tooheys' Brewery, where we would spend an hour testing the 'product' in the tap room whilst talking about books etc. followed by five minutes jotting down his order for routine lab needs. My wife, Susan, often waited some time for me to collect her from her Circular Quay office.

The range of laboratory glass on offer in the marketplace was adequate but my firm's local, unique facilities gave us a good edge in gaining and retaining business. When the home-brew craze reached Australia, Barry was inundated with demand, so I earnt extra and kept my fingers supple by making air locks by the dozen. The other universities in the area mostly did not have an embedded glassblower so I liaised with a fair few academics on profitable work. Outside of work, I enjoyed exploring the hinterland and longer journeys north to the Barrier Reef (a world 'must-do' – wm-d) south to Tasmania and up into the blue Mountains of NSW.

After two years itchy feet led me, in 1972, to apply for and gain a similar role working for Townson & Mercer's HQ in Auckland, New Zealand. We covered our options by booking a journey from Australia to UK on the Greek SS. Ellinis of the Chandris shipping line, with a stop-off / back-on break when we disembarked in Wellington. I found NZ a wonderful country (another wm-d) as I was able to drive over much of the North Island, visiting rural businesses. There was a vacant glass-workshop in the University of Auckland that I wanted to fill as I missed working at the bench. Susan was homesick so we resigned our jobs and caught the next ship home across the date-line (celebrating her father's birthday for two 21st Novembers in a row). We went via Tahiti (wm-d++) through the Panama Canal (wm-d) bunkering in the Dutch West Indies and into New York for some Christmas shopping before arriving back in Southampton on the 21st December 1972.

My next years for all of the '70s were a mirror-repeat of my career in the '60s. I returned to work at Mullard, where unionism was introduced into the

Fifty years of fingers fiddling!



SS Ellinis – Sydney, Australia (1970s)

workshop. Bill Blake w a s w o r k s h o p manager; Dennis was there along with most of my fellow glassblowers. This was the era of growth in electronics a n d i n f r a - r e d ( I R ) technology. The factory no longer had lines of women doing repetitive work but clean-rooms covered the floors with 75mm diameter quartz furnace tubes made in our shop. It was a great period to learn and develop areas of glass manipulation and specialised production techniques that included: profiled tube-drawing, eddy-current sealing of sapphire and silicon windows for IR detectors, silica jigs and tubes, building and repair of

-8high vacuum (1 x 10 torr.) pumping systems, re-shaping of multi-wire (up to 100 strands) tubes to form military IR detectors, glass to metal seals, checking encapsulated factory product with helium leak-detection consuls, electroplating of components etc. The use of so many highly specific methods and their equipment in such a small workshop of ten staff is unlikely to be seen elsewhere in Britain.

At T. W. Wingent, initially in Portswood then St. Marys in Southampton and finally in Dukes Road, Fred Morse was managing an expanding business. I was offered the role of foreman with the new task of helping with training other apprentices. The size of work that we tackled grew from the '60s; no longer was a 100 dia 3mm wall tube a big deal, we were cutting up 210dia tube. One job using such tube required flat bottoms to create large tanks. We placed the tube onto rollers sitting on the floor, one person slowly spun the tube, the scratch had a sharp flame applied and the 'boy' held a broom handle inside the end to catch the cut-off section. We raided local shops to buy Pyrex flan cases that we sealed to an end of the cylinder, holding it with a vacuum chuck. Remember, very few firms including us, had a 6” bore or larger, Heathway lathe – this was all done on an aging 4” model. One of the largest tasks was to attach 50mm ports onto the midpoint of a 450 dia QVF® column cylinder. The use of an angle-iron tee-shaped holder was the novel solution to 'tumbling' the cylinder to affect a simple seal by pulling a hole using a lathe-mounted burner.



By the late '70s, I was keen to do my 'own thing'. To this end my parents and my family moved into a large, rural house west of Romsey where I set up my own workshop to make a direct sell to both craft and scientific customers. There was a touch of the 'Good Life' without Felicity Kendall about our setup; chickens, two cows; rabbits and pigs. The cows were a total pain and the pigs were just great and to eat too! My main glassware market was via Craft shows with some scientific work on top – my best ever job came by – I made a part-batch of HW 400 ml flat-bottomed flasks, plain neck. I sweated over a week of very hot weather blowing them from 75 dia HW tube. It is the only job where I sold the full batch three times over! (details on request + a Fiver!). However, an unplanned life-changing event compelled me to seek another job and my ex-boss and friend Alex Stuart coincidently mentioned a vacancy at the University of Stirling for the role of Chief Technician.

I knew zero about Stirling University and the town (now city) and being the furthest travelled applicant, I was interviewed and trade-tested first. Bill Blake at Mullard always used an oil trap as the test piece and I was taught to make them without the benefit of packing to hold the inner tube and that is how I made it, mostly so that I had plenty of time to return to the station for my train back to Southampton. A latter applicant and I fell into discussing the test-piece whilst we awaited the return train south: quote- “I wonder who picked that piece, doing it without any packing?!!” I was offered and accepted the job starting in January 1984.

The University wanted a glassblower who could run the workshop on a business-basis and to earn outside income that would protect its viability. I was offered and accepted the job. Venturing into the hinterland made me realise that I knew nothing of the marketplace, most Scottish towns were just 'football-score names' so finding a large GSK factory in Montrose that used lots of QVF was a double revelation. Within the year, on behalf of the University, I was grossing more than my own annual salary of ~£8,000. After a couple of years, the external work was keeping me very busy but the academic demand was drying up so it became clear that my university career had no future. I used income from every outside job to build up stock, with a great windfall from Willie McCormack's spare stock in Glasgow University. Early in 1988, I was asked to retrench the workshop from its big-enough-for-three facilities into a hole-in-a-corner operation or go 'off-shore'. I completed negotiations by leaving with ALL the workshop contents and a one year contract with a minimum two days a week paid sub-contract regardless of workload.



Thus, on June 17th 1988, rather than rent an industrial unit, I bought Kaimes Farm Stirling, with its two workshops and storage adjacent to a beautiful 1908 farmhouse. This was my home and base for Scotia Glass Technology Ltd (SGT) from then to 2002 when I sold the business but not the property to Bob Marshall of Quartz-Tech Ltd, but that's jumping forward to quickly!

The early days were the proverbial blur; moving all the equipment and stock into the workshops, installing electric and gas services, inviting people from the small base of customers to an opening event, interviewing school leavers to take on two trainees, making goods for those customers, oh! and setting up home and finding schooling for two step-sons! The first two SGT trainees were David Marshall and Matt Myles, followed within a few years by Brian Godsman, Craig Martin, Jack O'Donnell, John Liddell and an 'improver' Julia Malle who already had some training from another person. I am proud and pleased to say that they all have won many a BSSG prize and gone onto excellent careers in academia (worldwide) and industry. During this era, we acquired a 12” lathe that was a great boon as my firm had been appointed Scottish agent for QVF repairs.

The early '90's were very d i f f i c u l t f o r m o s t b u s i n e s s e s . T h e recessions of '91 and '97 were survived mostly through the repair work as Research investment a l w a y s i s t h e f i r s t casualty – I do not know why economists and governments have such a hard time spotting the obvious! Another boast was that after the first two months of trading, I never had an overdraft o r f a i l e d t o p a y

Brian Godsman of Scott Glass & Graham Reed 2010at the Kaimes Farm workshop.

employee salaries. The only new equipment that I ever bought was a 'walk-in' oven made by a firm in Cumbernauld. It had a floor 1 x 1.2 metres with a headspace of 1.6 m. the whole unit cost £6,000 (mid 1990s) and proved that wise investment pays handsome dividends. The oven business owner, Colin, through tragedy led me to consider my own lifestyle. I 'phoned Colin



on boxing Day to wish him and his family the festive greetings. His wife answered the call to tell me that he had died on Christmas Eve!

I had grown used to working 60-70hr. weeks with the business just one of many activities. Thanks to being in the local Rotary club, I was encouraged by a visiting speaker, as an evening student, to enter and complete a BA degree at Stirling University. It only took eight years to graduate with a major in politics plus economics, British history from 1825 and a foundation in Philosophy (why are we here?)!

I succeeded Howard Bancroft as Chair of the Society during which time we revised the Constitution and examinations and competition rules for the Board of Examiners. I had resigned from the Board so that I could take the Master Glassblower Exam, being the first to be awarded it by examination. I entered one of my test pieces into the Norman Collins Memorial Trophy, winning it with a pass mark of >85%. The sudden death of Colin shocked me into realising that much of the time I was stressed-out with all the classic signs including poor sleeping patterns. So time for a change. After a great New Millennium party on the 31st December 2000 with BSSG friends at Kaimes Farm to share in midnight fireworks in the garden and from the nearby Stirling Castle plus a decent snowfall and an enormous bonfire that cleared the snow in a 10 m radius; I spent the start of 'Twenty-oh-One' contemplating what to do and where to do it.

The conclusion of my glassblowing career (to date) will form part of my final missive in the January 20.16 Journal as a celebration of Fifty Shades of 'Blowing!

The Conclusion - episode [4]: – Going Grey? – gone South!


AVCF 1st InternationalFlameworking Symposium

by Lee Mulholland

When my friend Guillaume Thoraval, the scientific glassblower at the University of Paris, asked me if I would do a glassblowing demo at the first symposium of his newly formed french flameworking society I was very happy to accept, but also a little nervous about my first foray into the world of public glassblowing demonstrations!

The AVCF is a brand-new society that looks to encompass all forms of glass flameworking, which to be honest, I see as something that the UK flameworking community could learn a lot from! The event was to be held at “Le Spot” which is a centre for local arts and crafts, comprising several small work spaces that are rented by local artists and a large central space for weekly workshops.

Myself & Shamack (Przemyslaw Tryc) arrived at the venue at lunchtime on the day before things were due to kick off. Our journey had been un-eventful until our arrival in Trilport, a small town about 30 minutes train journey from central Paris. I had neglected to bring the address for the venue & there were no taxis at the train station! After several strained conversations with locals who spoke no English & ourselves who speak no French, we knew we were walking in the correct general direction, when I spotted a small group of odd looking fellows & said to Shamack that they “looked like glassblowers”.

When we met they asked us if we were glassblowers & so we met our first French colleagues & they directed us to the venue ! When we arrived there was a small group of people waiting for Guillaume to arrive with all the equipment to set up for the weekend. After some delay due to broken down cars, equipment started arriving & we helped where we could with the set up. More people started arriving & after a trip to the local shop “some” beer was consumed & by about 8pm everything was set up & ready to go.

There was an eclectic mix of glassblowers booked to do demonstrations. The published schedule was soon dispensed with & it was a case of whoever felt like it did their demo next ! There was quite an impressive list of demonstrators & to be honest I forget in what order we “performed” ! I think first off was Massimiliano Coldarone, an Italian sculptural artist from Murano


who works with soda glass. He gave a particularly flamboyant performance showing how much of his technique is “out of the flame” as the glass stays soft for such a long time! There were two wonderful bead making demonstrations from the UK's Amanda Muddimer & France's Floriane Lataille, whose beautiful work, I must admit left me with a new-found respect for the skills involved in producing their beads & jewellery! Then we have Ben Evers, a Canadian marble & pipe artist who gave a fascinating demonstration of his “lacework & fuming” technique for marble making. Roger “the human lathe” Paramore then gave his demo of goblet making, giving some great technical advice on the concept of “counter weighting” when benchworking, to help balance heavy pieces. I think I was next, making an electrochemistry cell, doing the entire piece with a hand torch. Then it was Adam Villarreal, who is a sculptural artist from the USA who is passionately against the rise of “GM” & the fast food industry & makes art to reflect this & he produced a large “flower” piece that then had “McDonalds” logo decals put on the petals.

Each day was split between demonstrations & “open torch” sessions where everybody was encouraged to get on the torch & make something ! As you can see from the pictures, there was no shortage of people who wanted to get their hands warm & all sorts of great stuff was going on, with scientific things being made, goblets & marbles, Shamack doing his ever popular glass spiders & collaborations between the disciplines. There was even an unannounced appearance by Cesare Toffolo who is widely regarded as one of the finest flameworkers in history!

This was an extremely vibrant atmosphere & quite an eye opener for me, to see so many people from every area of lampworking all having a great time indulging their passion for glass!

I would urge everyone to attend next year's event if they can. Myself & Shamack will be there for sure as we met a huge number of exceptionally friendly & generous people & can count a number of them to be new friends who we look forward to meeting again.

I can't help but think that this type of society, that encompasses all disciplines of flameworking is a promising blueprint for the future & something we should all think about. This symposium proved that it can work!!

AVFC 1st Int. Flameworking Symposium



The gathering

Lee Mulholland



Open torch sessions



Cesare Toffolo

Massimiliano Caldarone



Roger Paramore

Shamack


1st Annual BGAS Gathering

by Lee Mulholland

The “British Glass Art Society” is a totally informal, Facebook based group of UK glassblowers that has formed over the last 12-18 months. It is made up of young, enthusiastic glassworkers who have all invested a large amount of time & money to set up home workshops to indulge their passion for glass working.

I was first made aware of them by our scientific glassblowing colleague from Paris, Guillaume Thoraval, who makes beautiful marbles by encasing all sorts of weird & wonderful substances in Boro. Whilst a lot of the original active members are focused on making glass pipes, mirroring the type of work as seen in the “Degenerate Art” film that was shown at the last symposium in Edinburgh, they all also spend a lot of time making marbles, pendants, and sculptural work with many not being involved in pipes at all. It is an extremely friendly & supportive group that encourages anyone with a desire to work with glass in any way possible!

I headed up to Birmingham in a car full of young people from the south coast the day before the event, where we met up with others at one of the organiser's house. More people arrived through the day & we spent the evening talking about all things glassy. I then left all the youngsters to sleep on the floor while I swanned off to a hotel!!

The event was held in a friendly local engineering firm who were able to make enough space for 2 tables to be set up with one being for members to do demonstrations & collaborations & the other for members of the public who had paid for a supervised session to make a marble.

This was a well-attended event with all the glassblowers being highly supportive of each other & all hungry for knowledge & to see other glassblowers at work. It was great to see so many young people with such enthusiasm for flameworking borosilicate glass! This is a rapidly growing community of glassworkers & I for one will be doing all I can to encourage them & share my knowledge. This could be where most of the future scientific glassblowers come from!



FUN

FLAMES

FRIENDS

&



More action from BGAS

Board of ExaminersNEWS

Elijah Aller, a USA born glassblower at the University of Oslo recently sat and passed the BSSG Certificate of Competence exam. The exam was held on 10th June at the University of Southampton. The examiners were Brian Moore and Matthew Myles.


Aquacultural Encounter

New work by Fanny Lam Christie

Originally from Hong Kong, Fanny Lam Christie has lived in Scotland since 1998. This exhibition of new work is the culmination of a year-long artist residency undertaken at the University of Stirling's Institute of Aquaculture in 2014/2015. She says 'my project aims to offer viewers a new perspective on scientific innovation through a personal creative language. Inspired by scientific experiments, I have ventured into new experimental work, learning and developing unconventional processes with materials for sculpture, combining different materials which I do not normally use together. The project has paved a new way of looking and working for me.'

The photographs show some of the work carried out at Northlands Creative Glass Studios in Caithness as a joint effort between Fanny and Ian Pearson. More details on www.fannychristie.com


Aquacultural Encounter

Approx sizes200 x 100mm

british society of scientific glassblowers

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