Christmas in July!!!!

Christmas came early for a tired bunch of Cabell County teachers today as they made one last attempt to find out as much as they could about the manufacturing of glass and bring it back to their classrooms. The teachers visited the Pittsburgh Glass Center and made blown glass Christmas ornaments. 

Christmas Ornaments from Wendy Chapman on Vimeo.

The Pittsburgh Glass Center was unlike many of the glass making facilities that we have visited in that it was in a busy section of town in a two story building.  The glass center was composed of 4 separate glass working studios.  The "hot shop" where glass is blown was located on the second floor of the building.  The "flame studio" where torches are used to create smaller glass pieces like beads and marbles is used by those interested in being "lamp workers".  The "warm shop" involved the making of stained glass objects while the "cold shop" was where glass engraving and/or the finishing of a piece by grinding and polishing was done.  Classes were offered in all of the studios at many different levels of difficulty.

The Glass Center was like the other facilities that we visited in that it was filled with talented artisans who were passionate about their craft and eager to share their creations, their skills, and their joy in doing their work.

The Pittsburgh Glass Center has been open for 13 years and has managed to turn tradition on its ear and not rely on glass production for its business profit but on creating opportunities for others to learn how to work glass.  This unique approach seems to be very successful for the company. 

One of the tools that the company is using to promote itself to the masses is t-shirts.  I bought one myself when I was there and absolutely love the design which shows sketches of glass tools and describes their uses in the glass making process.  Your assignment is to come up with a t-shirt design that would promote Blenko Glass. Some things to consider may be
1. Who will buy the shirt? How can you appeal to the most people?
2. How will it portray Blenko?
3. How will color play a role in your shirt design?
4. What have we learned in class that can be conveyed in the shirt?
You will be asked to present your t-shirt idea to the class.