Pittsburgh Glass Center

Our last stop on our trip was at the Pittsburgh Glass Center.  This facility functions as a place that teaches, creates, supports, and promotes the production of glass as an art form. There are various methods they teach and utilize such as glassblowing, beadmaking/flameworking, fusing, slumping, furnace casting, and more.

Currently, there is a glass show titled "Lifeforms" that is on exhibit in their gallery; which has been organized by Flordia-based glass artist Robert Mickelsen.  The criteria for entries in the show is based/inspired on the work of glass artists Rudolf and Leopold Blaschka, who are well known for the biological glass models they produced for the Harvard University Museum.



Watch the following slideshow of the exhibit "Lifeforms" and complete the listed assignment.


Pittsburgh Glass Center from Mike Krenzel on Vimeo.

Assignment
Think about the concept of biological forms (living organisms) in regards to their structure, function, growth, evolution, etc.  This could include anything from the particular living organism, down to the basic, cellular building blocks of life.

• What biological forms can be found outside of the school?
• Choose a biological form found in our immediate environment? Will you choose the actual organism/lifeform or an element of the form on a molecular level? Or a model of growth, etc?
• Illustrate your plan for creating a model of your chosen biological form/subject.
• Use value/shading to create the illusion of 3 dimensional space/form.

Glass In The Gardens

                    
                           View Larger Map

Today, we visited Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh, PA where we were able to see the unusual installation of sculptural art glass integrated with variety of plants and natural elements.  The summer flower show is titled  "Glass in the Gardens".  The glass work spread throughout the conservatory was created by artists Dale Chihuly, Daviea Davis (interview), Gary Guydosh, Nikolaj Christensen, Jason Forck, Hans Godo Frabel, and others.  

You generally wouldn't think of using glass to decorate a garden, but if used properly it can enhance any arrangement - turning it into an aesthetic masterpiece.  The artist must take into consideration the location, natural elements, color, size of the piece, arrangement, and what the piece will look like.  As you watch the slideshow of the installation at Phipps, take notice of these considerations.  

         
         Phipps Conservatory - Glass in the Garden from Mike Krenzel on Vimeo.

Assignment

After seeing how glass can help enhance a natural environment, ask yourself how we can create a more inviting atmosphere at our school.  Think about the following considering our school grounds:

• What do you like about our school grounds in regards to aesthetics? What don't you like?
• What are some things you would like to change? Is there anything you would remove? Anything you would add?
• If you were to incorporate glass into our landscaping, how would you do it?  Please consider the following questions in answering: What would it look like?  Would it be easily broken - remember, children may be running/playing in the vicinity.  Would it be easily stolen or vandalized?    
• How much would these changes cost? How could we obtain materials or extra funds?  Could we get donations? Who would you call to inquire?    

Mosser Glass

Today, we visited Mosser Glass in Cambridge, OH. Mosser has been in operation since 1972 and produces a wide array of handmade pressed glassware.

Their selection ranges from dinner/tableware, novelty, antique automotive headlamps, pharmaceutical glassware (mortar and pestle, bell jars), dental glassware(lamp covers, spitbowls), etc.  Mosser uses cullet to add color to their pieces.  They have 15 available colors and produce over 200 different pieces.

Raw materials are brought in by truck. Mosser's basic recipe for glass differs from that of previously visited sites in that it also contains aragonite and borax. These possibly help strengthen and aide in keeping the glass from sticking to the molds.

Here you can see a production line producing the headlight of a '27 Ford for an antique car company out in California. As you can see, with many people working together - much can be produced in a short amount of time.

                 
Mosser Glass from Amy Maynard on Vimeo.

Annealing (cooling) takes approximately 3 hours. The pieces slowly roll out to the inspection/packing area.

Last Inspection Before Packing

Child Labor In Glass Factories

An interesting concept that came up during my visit to the Oglebay Glass Museum was the subject of the use of child labor in glass factories.  Before any federal guidelines had been set, children (at the age of 9) were allowed to work in many places along side adults.  In many cases, children were hired in addition with other family members who were employed at the same factory.  It is believed that in many instances, the children worked to help provide for the necessities of the entire family.  

Generally, boys performed a variety of jobs down on the main floor of the factory.  These jobs could range from any of the following (as found from Corning Museum of Glass):

• A crack-off boy would remove a finished piece of hot glassware from the end of the gaffer's blow iron by cracking it off.
• A lehr boy would carry the hot glassware to the annealing lehr. 
• A mold boy would sit at the feet of the gaffer opening and closing the hinged blow-mold as required, (sometimes, a boy would actually be allowed to blow the piece).

However, girls were not allowed down on the main floor of the factory where all the glass was made.  They were usually given jobs in inspection and packing.  Part of the reasoning behind this was safety and/or the belief that girls had a better eye for finding flaws in the products produced.  Once glass passed inspection, the girls then packed the pieces in either boxes, crates, or barrels.

An interesting story I heard regarding child labor took place at Northwood Glass Factory, which was located in Wheeling, WV and produced glass from 1902-1925. One of the most popular lines of glassware was Carnival Glass.  This glass could basically be characterized by decorative pressed pieces that were treated with an iridized spray before it is annealed. The iridized spray consists of some type of liquid metallic oxides/salts - depending on the particular desired effect.  This particular type of glass is thought to have gotten its name from stories about people receiving such pieces as prizes at carnivals.

As the story goes, there was a particular piece of Carnival glass that was especially hard for children workers to make.  This was mainly because of its large size (see picture below).  The young workers found it extremely difficult to hold up the freshly, pressed piece with one hand and spray it with the iridized solution, which they held in their other hand.  This eventually led to the children workers striking and demanding a pay raise of 5 cents for their increasingly hard work.  During the strike, the children did not work and at one point, threw rocks and bottles at the owners of the factory.  The owners eventually agreed to give them their raise and production continued.

Yay or Nay?

What are your thoughts regarding child labor?

• Are you for or against children being able to work in the workforce along-side of adults? Explain why you believe that.
• If you think children should be able to work, what stipulations should be made in regards to this?  (examples: length of shifts, time of day, rate of pay, types of jobs, working conditions, etc)

Paul Wissmach Glass Company

Today, our class visited the Paul Wissmach Glass factory located in Paden City, West Virginia.  Wissmach is known world-wide for their variety of colorful, rolled sheet glass; which is commonly used in stained glass applications.  The glass produced in this factory is available in many colors, patterns, and transparent qualities. Over 5000 colors and tints have been produced by this company.

The complex process of making sheet glass requires a great deal of knowledge, skill, patience, and ability to collaboratively work with others.  As they work together, they need to perform their tasks in a timely manner - always keeping in mind the safety of themselves as well as others around them.

In order to make their glass, they must first create the correct mixture of glass using the basic raw materials as mentioned in earlier blogs.  All raw materials are shipped in via railroad - which runs right behind the factory.

Once mixed,  the raw ingredients are placed in a box called a hopper, which is numbered to indicate color and the appropriate furnace it will be placed in. One batch will make approximately 1500 sqft of sheet glass.

When they are ready to create a new load, the hopper is lifted by crane over to the area where the furnaces are and loaded into a wagon.  From their they are shoveled by hand into the appropriate furnace and heated until used.

Glass is scooped out of the furnace with a large ladle on wheels.  In the process I observed, 2 different colors were used.

The molten glass is then wheeled over to the top of the machine and poured on a metal surface where 2 other workers begin mix the glass together with metal tools. It is then shoved down into the machine where it is rolled into a flat sheet of glass.

Once it has been completely rolled into a sheet, another worker slides a special tool under the sheet to make sure it does not stick to the metal table.  He then pushes it forward into the annealing oven where it slowly passes through to cool

In the annealing process, water is used to help cool the glass through a special ventilation technique.  The steam from the water acts as a barrier between the glass and the mesh bedding to ensure it does not stick to the conveyor belt. (In some instances, water can be used to help give glass a specific texture - as in the mystic #45 line)

At the end of the line, glass is carefully slid onto a metal table by 2 workers and cut into appropriate sizes and shapes.  Broken pieces are either salvaged, sold for $1/lbs, or sold as cullet to local glass company Marble King.

Glass is then either stored or packaged with poplar tree shavings and labeled for shipping.

A majority of the glass is shipped out by railroad, although some may travel by road. Wissmach distributes to customers all around the world.

Gabbert Cullet Company - Williamstown, WV

The Gabbert Cullet Company specializes in the recycling of  glass we call cullet.  Cullet is broken, unused, or waste pieces of glass that are collected to be reused.  One would think broken glass would have no use, but actually, there are many ways we can reuse it to save money and resources.

Gabbert generally buys silica cullet from glass manufacturing companies by the truck load - usually by the ton.  

 

Once the cullet is brought to the facility by truck, it is then sorted by color; and sometimes size. (Special orders that require a certain size of cullet can be sorted in a machine called a "Shaker") 

Once the glass has been sorted by color, it is then placed in the appropriate bay for storage as seen below:

When cullet if finally bought, it is either boxed or packaged in barrel (as pictured below) and shipped. 

 Gabbert currently charges $ .85 per pound of cullet.

How Can It Be Used?

Gabbert Cullet usually sells its cullet either as a landscaping component or to practicing glass

artists/artisans who will remelt it and use it again. Watch this!!

Although these were the only applications

Gabbert sells for, cullet has a variety of uses.

Assignment

After reviewing the video above and other uses cullet can play in our lives, consider the following and respond to each:

• Which uses of cullet surprise you the most? Why?
• What ways would you most likely use cullet considering what you've learned it can be used for?
• Are there any uses that stand out as being the most important application? 
• What are some other ways cullet could possibly be used - besides what has been discussed above?  Would the cullet have to be altered in any way to be able to use it?  If so, how and why?