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Welcome
to Glassblowingart.com!
The name should say it all!
Everyone has most likely heard the term glassblowing
used before and think they know it's definition. Most
people generally assume “glassblowing” is used to describe
the art of crafting vessels and sculptures from a furnace
filled with molten glass. You might picture a glassblower
using long metal blowpipes and special tools; made from
wood, brass and iron, to form the infinite shapes we’re
all familiar with when we think of blown glass. Yes this
is a typical definition, but now it has evolved to include
much more.
Around the 15th century; there was a strong rising
interest in the sciences of chemistry. Over time
laboratory apparatus's were invented with the help of
glassblowing. This is the era when the definition of
glassblowing expanded to describe the term “Lampworking”.
In order to make the precise instruments needed for
science, the glassblower would need to find a way to form
the hot glass into the many test tubes, beakers, and other
specifically shaped items a laboratory would use. A
glassblower began by making glass tubes and rods from a
furnace. They would then use an specially designed oil
lamp to manipulate the glass, hence the name “Lampworker”.
It is truly amazing that a simple oil lamp would
continue to create enough heat to melt glass once it had
been out of the furnace! This was found possible by
blowing a concentrated stream of air across the oil lamp's
flame. By adding oxygen it made the flame much hotter. To
add oxygen efficiently, glassblowers would use an air
bellow; powered by a foot peddle or sometimes just a tube
from their mouth, to make this air stream for the flame.
These blowing techniques were perfected over time and used
to craft the laboratory apparatus's and later novelty
items such as buttons, small figurines, and menageries all
from the tubing and rod produced by the furnace
glassblowers.
The term “lampworking” has since been antiquated and
replaced by more modern term of “Flameworking”. It's
definition lends to the techniques of forming objects by
the means of melting rods, tubing, and sheet-glass using a
torch. Creating glass sculptures has evolved into an ever
changing art/science! Every day, with a newly created
color of glass, or it's new techniques and new high tech
equipment, it lends the way to infinite possibilities!
Classic Glass was established in 1979 by Zachary
and Toni Rowan. Our start was in Central City, Colorado.
It is a famous gold mining town from the Victorian era of
the 1860’s, transformed in modern times to a robust
vacation destination filled with tourist shops, museums
and saloons with live music and festivals. In 1976 we both
got jobs at the local glassblowing shop as associates for
sales and production. After many years of faithful
service, we left to create our own special glassblowing
business.
With just a limited number of artwork
designs, we still felt we were on our way to a successful
blooming glass art business. With a lot of confidence in
our art we left for the open road of crafts and art shows.
When we started our business, we had our first son who was
three years old when a second son was due in 1981. The
road turned out to be a little too rocky to start a new
business and a family. There was the reality of bad shows,
car trouble, and little money to inspire and allow us to
create more glass art. We went back to Missouri, got a
regular job, a new home in the city, and had our second
healthy son. Yet for some reason our minds screamed “NOT
ENOUGH”! Glass, fire, ideas yet accomplished, the passion
of the flame consumed our life. We had to keep trying.
Every spare moment from our mundane life was put back into
glass. We kept practicing what we had learned working in
Central City. We kept making roses and flowers over and
over again until they looked better than ever. When I
started blowing glass, the horses looked like dogs, so I
spent a month blowing glass horses until they looked just
right. Even the hummingbirds looked like mosquitoes until
we got it right. We tried every sort of animal we could
think of. We kept practicing everything until we got it
right. Finally we had perfected enough sculptures to be
proud of and tried doing more art shows.
We rented a cart at the Crown Center mall
in downtown Kansas City. It finally started to work for
us. We sold every thing we could make. People stopped
saying “Is that suppose to be a horse, or a unicorn, or an
eagle...etc?” like out earlier shows Finally we could
produce good realistic forms to be recognized as art. Our
journey into the glass art world, had resumed! Arts and
craft shows were good to us. We started to make a living.
With every show we did our work became better. Then we met
another crafts person who told us about the RENAISSANCE.
Renaissance Festivals? A recreation of a
15th century English village? What kind of place was it?
It was a place where an artist could make whatever they
wish. It was an inspiring mixture of artists from every
media. With everything from entertainers and comedians, to
Shakespeare and jousters on horseback, there was medieval
structures surrounded by exciting passionate people. These
folk devoted their lives to the festivals, we decided to
devote our live to this wonderful new world. Where else
could we make things like dragons, unicorns, fairies, and
fantastic creatures of our own ideas. The sky was the
limit. Anything goes and it did. That was 1981, the
beginning of our long and wonderful world of renaissance
festivals. Since that beginning we prospered well enough
to raise our two sons to adult age. We still work the
renaissance festivals after all these years to this day.
They are forever ingrained in our inspiration, love and
passion in our artwork.
Our home (since 1984) is in the Beautiful
“Lake of the Ozarks” in central Missouri. Our artwork is
done in our studio, then taken on the road to various
Renaissance Fairs, state fairs, craft shows and anywhere
that will have us. Our website opens the entire world to
our world of glass art. We love to talk to anyone about
our art, glass in any form, art in any media for all that
goes. We welcome all new friends. Feel free to contact us
for anything, especially glass art. We love custom orders,
let us try to create your visions wants and desires. No
job is to small or too large. You are the most important
people to us. Sincerely,
Zachary and Toni Rowan
Classic Glass
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