What is a glass sculpture?
This 27th April unites the global art world through the medium of sculpture. International Sculpture Day builds awareness and education around sculpture and its integral impact on the global populace in capturing a moment in time and telling a narrative for decades – even centuries.
We'll be marking International Sculpture Day by blowing a glass sculpture across Friday 26th and Saturday 27th April – and you can come and watch from 10am.
Whether metal, wood, plastic, pottery or glass, sculpture is among the most expressive of physical, set art forms.
Sculpture plays a major part in our work. We push the boundaries of glass to create contemporary sculptures that incorporate metal work for both interior and exterior display. Sculptures showcase the beauty of glass and its ability to shift and change as it catches the natural light. These are statement pieces and convey emotions that are unique to glass. We look to colour and form for inspiration and use new and old techniques to create the final works.
We love working with others to bring creative thoughts and ideas to life. Here are some sculptures that have been sold, but we are able to recreate. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you would like us to create a sculpture.
Glass sculpture
Like most mediums, sculpture in glass is very individual and personal. Unlike most mediums, glass is alive, fluid and morphs rapidly.
As with all artforms, sculpture-making is very individual and personal. No two creators of sculpture will ever make the same art. And no artist will ever make the same sculpture twice. These are all original thoughts coming to life.
Curated against a backdrop of rolling hills, the sculpture garden at the front of the Gordon Studio Gallery and Workshop encapsulates and celebrates art, nature, culture and individual identities through glass, colour and light.
What is glass sculpture?
“Every time I got up to blow a sculpture, I just thought to myself “what the hell am I doing?!”,” remembers Grant Donaldson.
“I had worked on a farm all my life where everything has a purpose. Sculptures are non-functional. They are designed to be looked at, admired and interpreted; not used.
“The art of sculpture is that it’s a piece of communication; explaining and capturing a message or a moment in time – however explicit or implicit. Whether people feel beauty, ambivalence or repulsion – or something in between – is completely subjective.
“Unless it’s a commissioned piece, the creation of sculpture is a selfish journey. We’re creating something very personal – until somebody else falls in love with the colours, light and form. Then we get to share the magic.”
“Of course, we want to tell a story that is relatable, but the personal journeys we are all on mean that our narrative will be different to everybody else's. Such is the beauty of life. And such is the beauty of art, glass and sculpture.
“But when you are blowing, you can’t be scared of what other people might think. You have to commit your deepest expression to the art. Glass can talk in a language that no other medium can. In a natural setting, the colour and the reflections are always changing in the way the glass catches the light.”
What does a glass sculpture look like?
“On a practical level, a glass sculpture can be small or big; stay inside or out, match dimensions or warp perspectives,” explains Eileen Gordon.
“People forget that you can put glass outside. Neither hailstone, rot, natural heat or direct sunlight will damage the art. It’s a lot cheaper than a garden renovation to lift an area, and it won’t get eaten like fish or frogs! Glass will outlast steel, timber, concrete and even stone. It’s beautiful in a natural, visual environment – not just in functional spaces.”
“It’s something to break up a landscape and focus your eyes on,” adds Grant.
“It might be a little out of the square, it might offset another feature – natural or otherwise. People might question, why is it there? Sculpture can catch curiosity by its very existence.”
“The artform can add colour to bland spaces or relate and communicate to other colours and natural or human-made features,” says Eileen.
“Such as plants or ponds.
“When you get up to start creating a sculpture, you don’t know exactly what you’re going to end up with – sometimes even with a commissioned piece”
Read here about why commissioned pieces will always be beautiful, but never “perfect”
“You can end up down rabbit holes and exploring different styles and techniques to try and breathe life into a vision,” explains Grant.
“That takes a lot of focus and mental energy – you can’t let your mind wander to what you’re going to do when you get home or what you’ll have for tea that evening! You can’t really brief anyone else on your vision either; the vision continues to materialise as you get deeper into the project.
“All of our minds are busy and cluttered – especially in today’s world. You have to clear the noise and keep an open and clear mind to feel deeply and express those feelings through glass.
Why sculpture?
So with all of this in mind, why do Grant, Eileen, Hamish and Calum work with studio glass to create sculpture? Why not stick to production pieces, platters, tumblers or vases?
“It’s the challenge,” says Grant.
“It’s so far removed from function that it’s very demanding, but incredibly rewarding. It’s almost like being able to express yourself in a different language. And it’s great for people who have run out of room in the house and want something significant. For people who are downsizing but will still have a garden, sculpture is an amazing way to enjoy art.
“There are no limits with sculpture. We’re not limited by material, kiln or imagination. Pieces can be created separated and adjoined – either with other materials (perhaps metals or other artforms) or using molten glass. It’s about opening our minds – we’re only limited by courage.
“We get to create far less than 1% of the millions of ideas and visions we have for sculptural glass – which is why each piece is so special.”
Glass vase inspired by a painting
Grant's painting-inspired vase completed a beautifully designed living room for a very happy home-owner. We were presented with the painting to match the glass to, and we're extremely proud of the result.
Good afternoon Grant, just letting you know we have now given your magnificent hand made vase a place in our new home.
We are so happy how it has turned out and that it is so in keeping with the painting. Thank you and we will enjoy this beautiful show piece every day
The living room, complete with painting on the right and vase on the left above the wood stock
The painting inspiration behind the glass.
Grant blew multiple vases to find the perfect fit.
Gordon Studio at 2024 Berlin Glass Art Society Conference
From May 15–18, 2024, the annual GAS conference will host glass enthusiasts from around the world to discover the vibrant energy of Berlin, Germany. From the sparkling glass panes of the Reichstag Dome to the iconic murals of Berlin’s East Side Gallery, conference attendees will be dazzled by the host city and GAS’s conference program in equal measure.
The conference theme is Berlin: Where Art + Design Meet, focusing on the space where art meets design, the synergy between the two, and the relationships between artists and designers. Exciting add-ons for conference registration will include a half-day trip for attendees wishing to experience the highlights of Berlin and excursions to other glassy locations in Germany.
Magic happens where art + design meet! This four-day conference will bring together over 75 presenters to connect, inspire, and empower all facets of our global glass community.
From lectures and demonstrations to special events and activities, here’s what will happen in Berlin:
Over 50 unique presentations across the glass spectrum
Special events including Firestarter!, a night of fundraising and fun
Favorite conference activities like the Goblet Grab and Portfolio Review
Four action-packed days of glass demonstrations, lectures, lecmos, panel discussions, networking opportunities, special events, and more hosted at our two conference hubs, Wilhelm Hallen and Provinzstraße
GAS Market with vendors and non-profit organisations, plus an all-new Trunk Show
Plus, exhibitions, meet-ups, and so much more!
How do you commission glassblown art?
We’ve all seen a piece of art – or imagined one – that would look spectacular in our homes, gardens or offices.
But how do you go about achieving the vision?
In short, with an open mind.
Working with glass is one of the most fluid art forms. Both figuratively and literally.
Gordon Studio Glassblowers hand-makes imperfect glass art. And we pride ourselves upon that. No two pieces we have made – or will make – will ever be the same. Investing in our art means you have something truly unique.
Therefore, we cannot create a piece of art that will ever look exactly the way someone – including ourselves – thinks it will. And we believe that is to be celebrated.
We love the challenge of commissions, whether the brief arrives in the form of a conversation, an email or a hand-drawn sketch, but we want people to understand that this is art, not manufacturing.
We physically cannot recreate a piece that has broken – or that somebody finds – to make it look exactly the same. And to be honest; we don’t really want to. Our entire love and energy on one particular day is put into blowing, and we’re all fortunate in this world that no two days are exactly the same.
A million different factors can influence the outcome of a piece; many within our control and many more not with our control. We’ve practised glassblowing for lifetimes, and inherited our love for the artform from parents who practised for lifetimes. But in art, practise does not make perfect. And we won’t apologise or make any excuses for that. Quite the opposite; we embrace the imperfect.
In the realm of art – and certainly glassblowing – ‘perfect’ is completely subjective. Even Grant and Eileen don’t agree on how they see a piece. Imagine if they did! Imagine if anyone saw something in exactly the same way someone else does. Doesn’t sound like much fun. And glassblowing is fun. It’s seeing the nuances and how they look different in every light.
Art is fun. It’s so much fun to look at the same thing and share opinions. In the same way that no-one interprets a book, a painting, a building or a dance in exactly the same way others do, glass is to be enjoyed in a million different ways.
Unlike production glassblowers (that create glass for our friends at IKEA and alike), Gordon Studio Glassblowers don’t stick to four-hour shifts; we blow until the art is complete – or in the case of larger sculptures – until a section that will fit in the annealing kiln is complete, working in challenging conditions.
Once you’ve fired up the furnace and you’re investing thousands of dollars just to feed it for a day, you have a window to create art. We can't just walk away and come back when conditions are friendlier. We have to commit to tangible outcomes before we start.
Our colour palette is not the same as a painter, or a graphic designer; the colours come from Germany as solid glass bars which need preheating or we crush them up as chips or ground powder. We usually add the colour to our clear glass very early in the journey, but the hot glass always looks orange due to the heat. The true colour of a piece is not seen until the following morning when cool.
It’s a challenging concept to understand, and we invite everyone to watch and try glassblowing to try and understand what it feels like to have molten glass on the end of a punty.
We are transferring energy – heat and human movement – to a live medium. Molten glass has its own energy; cooling and moving to its own beat. When Grant creates a coolamon platter, it has its own forces; spreading to imperfect width, length and colour dynamic. We don’t want to constrain conditions; that would be boring. And the art would not dance in the way Gordon Studio glass does.
Peter Mac Glass Art Display Complete
The display is on the second floor at The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Parkville, Melbourne - next to a cafe, waiting room, pharmacy and outpatient pathology.
Andrea Comerford – whose hard work, fundraising and philanthropy brought her vision of this project to fruition – sadly passed away in September 2023 after a long and brave battle with Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells. Andrea, who was treated at the Peter MacCallum Centre for more than nine years, also worked at our Gallery where she fell further in love with the medium of glassblowing. The information board at The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre exhibition – a fitting legacy for Andrea – reads as such:
THE GLORY OF GLASS
There is an inherent beauty, timeless quality and enduring appeal in glass, whose traditions and techniques have changed little over the centuries - yet it remains one of the most exciting and dynamic art forms today.
Glass is a captivating medium capable of almost endless transformation - unique qualities embodied in the exquisite play of transmitted, reflected and refracted light. The art of glassblowing survives to this day and contemporary glass makers keep old traditions alive.
It is remarkable how a technique as ancient as manual glassblowing remains virtually unaltered today. Objects are created from molten glass made using simple ingredients such as sand, soda and limestone, heated in a furnace to 1300 degrees Celsius, to melt into clear glass. During production the furnace is kept running constant|y and in this regard, glassblowing is one or the most expensive forms of art to produce and one of the most difficult to master.
In the blowing room amidst the searing heat of the furnaces artists work with molten hot glass that emerges like a small glowing ball of fire shaping it with tools, adding colour in various twisting, coaxing, harnessing gravity and blowing to create beautiful art glass forms. To the observer, the sheer drama of this wondrous fiery blowing process is utterly compelling
This selection of hand blown vases, bottles, bowls and platters from the Peter Mac Art collection has been created by Gordon Studio Glassblowers in Red Hill, representing three generations of the acclaimed Gordon Donaldson family, highly skilled artists, practising this age old art. The works celebrate this luminous medium, its elegance of form and brilliance of colour.
The acquisition was made possible through a generous philanthropic initiative to give back to other Peter Mac patients by Andrea Comerford, who sold candles and organised other events to raise sufficient funds. As she has said, "The art at Peter Mac has provided so much solace and comfort to me throughout my time coming to the building and I wanted to attribute to that in some way.”
A glass collector since her teens, Andrea has a long-standing appreciation of the beauty and richness of colour embedded in this medium.
Eileen Gordon and Grant Donaldson with Andrea Comerford at the Gordon Studio Glassblowers in Red Hill
"The colours of glass are exciting… the sun coming in and reflecting off the glass is stunning. Such beauty has the power to bring happiness to people who are at Peter Mac and perhaps not feeling so good," Andrea added.
Peter Mac and Gordon Studio Glassblowers also want to acknowledge the funding support provided by the Victorian Government through the Community Support Fund to purchase the display cases.
Blowing gold for JamFactory 50
Established in 1973 as a visionary government initiative to promote contemporary art and design, JamFactory celebrates its 50th year in 2023.
Starting out life as a craft training workshop in an old jam factory on Payneham Road, St Peters in Adelaide, the contemporary design and craft hub and was home to a gallery, shop and artist studios for glass, ceramics, leather, textiles and jewellery design. JamFactory moved to its current West End location in 1992 and opened a second location at Seppeltsfield Winery in 2013. To recognise a selection of the most influential achievements of the organisation’s Associate Program, the exhibition Gold: 50 years 50 JamFactory Alumni is on display at JamFactory from July 21 to September 17.
Through its training programs, studios, galleries, and shops, JamFactory has nurtured and supported the careers of hundreds – if not thousands – of artists, craftspeople and designers, and to celebrate 50 years, organisers invited 50 “outstanding and highly acclaimed” alumni to create a golden piece.
Eileen was selected and chose to blow a gold lotus, celebrating intricate detail and light in a delicate, golden flower, using a gold leaf finish.
“I love flowers,” says Eileen.
“I love nature. And to work on flowers for a signature piece allows me to immerse myself in nature for longer periods of time. I loved creating The Lotus.”
The Lotus, by Eileen Gordon. If you can imagine a night with the full moon shining, reflecting its golden light off the glossy petals of a Lotus Flower that is still open. This handblown vase with its flower stopper, where each petal is made one by one and assembled hot. The intricate flower in black, highlighted by gold leaf gives this piece a luxurious feel. The elegant vase is the vessel to display the Lotus.
The Gordon Family has a long-lasting affinity with the JamFactory glass studio; Eileen, Hamish and Calum (pictured below) are all alumni of the Associate Program.
Grant and Eileen’s son Calum at the JamFactory in 2023
At the core of JamFactory are the four studios in Ceramics, Glass, Furniture, and Jewellery/Metal that provide a skills and business Associate Program for artists and designers. As well as developing local talent, the studios attract outstanding artists and designers from around Australia and across the globe.
The organisation provides an important public interface between professional art, craft, and design practitioners and the wider public. Visitors have the opportunity to learn about and be inspired by the curated exhibition program and can watch artists in action in the on-site studios.
Gold: 50 years 50 JamFactory Alumni
21 July – 17 September
JamFactory Tarntanya / Adelaide
King’s Cup 2023
Another new glass art installation at The Peter MacCallum Cancer Hospital in Melbourne will bring fresh light and colour to patients, visitors and staff, thanks to the collaborative efforts of glassblowers from across Australia.
Another new glass art installation at The Peter MacCallum Cancer Hospital in Melbourne will bring fresh light and colour to patients, visitors and staff.
Some of the very best glassblowers from all over Australia descended upon Red Hill this weekend to blow fun-filled goblets for donation to the Level two ward.
The Gordon-Donaldson family worked with former employee and friend Andrea Comerford to make the original installation possible last year – in addition to donating goblets from the 2022 collaborative blow-in.
And after a two-week exhibition at Gordon Studio’s gallery in Red Hill – starting at 10am on Monday 12th June – the 2023 goblets will be on display in cases next to last year’s incredible pieces.
“This is the first time that patients, staff and visitors at The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre have had the opportunity to enjoy glass art on display,” said Andrea Comerford, who made and sold candles for more than five years to make the collection possible.
Andrea suffers from Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells and has been treated at the Peter MacCallum Centre for the past eight years. While working at the Gordon Studio Gallery, Eileen and Grant’s work increased her love for glass and glassblowing.
“Glass is so different to every other art medium,” Comerford explained.
“And Peter Mac Art Curator Svetlana Karovich was so happy to be able to add Grant and Eileen’s beautiful work to the collection. The colours and shapes just take art to a new dimension.”
The Centre won a grant from the Victorian Government through the Community Support Fund to purchase specialist cabinets to protect the glass from dust and damage.
“We’re extremely proud to have our work on display,” said Grant Donaldson and Eileen Gordon.
“It was a wonderful idea of Andrea’s, and she worked so hard to raise funds and make it happen.”
Among Andrea’s fundraising campaigns, she made and sold candles and organised movie nights so that her dream collaboration could materialise.
“Grant and Eileen work so hard,” said Andrea.
“They deserve all the recognition they get for their amazing talent and dedication. I worked at Gordon Studio Glassblowers two days a week for 12 years in addition to my job as a nurse – it’s my happy place. I always left with a smile after a day talking to customers about the ancient craft and polishing the glass. It’s so tactile; it rejuvenates energy.”
“I was blown away by the donations – everybody was so generous.”
Grant and Eileen, who blow glass with their sons Hamish and Calum, and influenced by Eileen’s parents Alasdair and Rish, donated the work created at a convention they hosted – in addition to the art Andrea raised funds for. The theme of the International Year of Glass convention hosted by the Gordon Studio Glassblowers was ‘goblets’ with some of the most talented glassblowers across Australia getting together to collaborate.
“We originally planned to auction the goblets off,” said Eileen.
“But we felt the humour and energy of the goblets will generate great entertainment, smiles and laughter at The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.”
The collection is on display on level two at Peter MacCallum’s Parkville headquarters – next to outpatient pathology.
“It’s close to the waiting room, café, pharmacy and pathology – so thousands of people will be able to enjoy the magic,” said Andrea.
“When we were there installing the glass, people were really excited as they were walking past. It’s so special.”
Gordon Studio Glassblowers: A Short Film
A short film by Charlie McGowan.
Grant Donaldson “This is our studio in Red Hill in Victoria, Australia. We've been here for 20 years. Initially we were in Numurkah where we had our dairy farm, and we built the studio originally in a shed. In 1994, we moved down to the morning to Peninsula, sold the farm, and built a studio in Rosebud, which we had for six or seven years, and then came to Red Hill here.”
“After finishing school, I knew there was more to the world than being in Melbourne, so I went jackarooing and really enjoyed the freedom, I guess, the challenge of working out on farms on your own and learning about nature and animals and plants. I went to agricultural college and got a job in Tasmania, and that's where I bumped into Eileen. And so, the first time I saw Glassblowing was in Tasmania, in a shed at Clarendon. I was amazed by how the glass was manipulated and made. It was fascinating.”
Eileen Gordon “My mum and dad, Alasdair and Rish Gordon were both glass engravers. They started in Edinburgh, and when they graduated, ended up working for a glass factory in Norway where they stayed for 16 years. Then when we all hit high school years, teenage years, they moved back to Scotland and my father got a job for one of the glass factories.”
“That point I was finishing high school, and I decided that I would like to follow in their footsteps and applied for a few courses or colleges that did glass and ended up down in England in the West Midlands, which is where all the glass factories are in the UK. There was a specialised course for a year that started off, it was a trade school for all the apprentices in the factories, but they did a full-time course for studio glass. Once I found the hot shop, the Glassblowing Studio, that was me hooked. I was not going to be engraving anymore, I was making glass. Soon after my dad actually was invited to come to Perth WA and he was one of six artists from Perth, Scotland to come out to demonstrate their craft. And while he was here, he was asked if he would like to come out here and set up a studio, and they would sponsor him. So, that's how we ended up in Australia.”
“It's a humbling experience in the way that if you don't keep control of the glass, it'll very quickly take control itself. And before you know it, it's a disaster.”
“It is a very challenging medium to work with, and it is quite a long learning process, and you never stop learning. You can see a lot of work out there, or even in the history books, you can see pieces and you sit there and try and work out how the hell they made that, what technique did they use and how did they get to that point?”
Grant Donaldson “You can walk into the studio in the morning and wherever your head's at, you can sit at your bench with a big gatherer of glass on your pipe, and you'll have to get in the zone with the glass. You don't sort of do it halfheartedly. It'll turn around and bite you. It'll burn your hand off or if you're not paying attention that it'll burn somebody else off. You are totally focused on the glass as soon as you've got a pipe in your hand.”
“I've seen in books that it's been going for about 5,000 years. They used to wind glass around ceramic sticks to make little vessels. We certainly appreciate the history the skills of people in the past that have brought us to this point.”
“There's all kinds of inspirations all the time. It's a blend of a lot of things. I think it's the environment, things that you see. It can be colours of whatever, anything – colour of a car or a sunset or a flower that you think, oh yeah, those colours really go nicely together. An idea can spark into your mind at any old time, and you've got to try and hold onto that thought. I have lots of books with little sketches in it that seem meaningless, but sometimes they lead to something and sometimes they don't. But their inspiration comes from all sorts of different places, for me anyway.”
“So I guess how I came into glass was obviously through Eileen, but also a need to make money. We had to feed kids and pay the rent, and I thought glassblowing was a lot easier than farming, believe it or not. So, yeah, I say to people, I fell into a burning ring of fire and the flames went higher, and once I was in the burning room fire, I've stayed.”
Eileen Gordon “It's such an exciting material and it's hot. It's fire. It's moving. Once you have a go at glassblowing, you kind of get addicted; it's no going back, I think. It's a beautiful material to work with. I think once you're in that, the art world, you train yourself, it's part of the job to become aware of inspirations around you. The more you work in the field, the more you are aware of everything around you, and you are always looking for ideas. You're always looking for a little thing that's beautiful. You can pick up a shell on the beach and just look at that pattern, that'd be lovely to put into glass. These days when people are building these very bland homes with very bland colours. I think glass has come into its full glory for these homes. So, we often get asked to make beautiful feature pieces just to put a piece of colour in their home.
“I'm getting to the stage of my life where my body's getting a bit tired, it's wear and tear, and I'd like to just concentrate on just doing what I want to make, and that's much more than everybody else wants me to make.”
A Story: Eileen and Rish Gordon
Drawing upon nature together to paint the most beautiful stories on glass and canvas, mother and daughter Rish and Eileen are united in their love for art and wildlife.
Born in the north of England in 1935, Patricia ‘Rish’ Roddan was educated at Kenya High School in Nairobi before enrolling in the Edinburgh College of Art, where she met her future husband and glass engraver Alasdair Gordon in 1954 – after making a cheeky remark in Swahili about a rooster he designed for a French restaurant menu.
After graduating, Rish worked as a freelance engraver with Whitefriars Glass in London before joining Alasdair at Hadelands Glassworks in Norway in 1958. While raising four children – Susan, Eileen, Cameron and Kevin – Rish produced freelance watercolour paintings of the Norwegian flora and fauna.
During her early years in Kenya, Rish developed a keen interest in African wildlife and considerable abilities in watercolour and eventually she chose to go back to the medium of glass engraving as a vehicle for these visions.
Over the years she refined a sandblasting etching technique which is very much her own. Rish has exhibited nationally and abroad, and has been commissioned for engraved presentation pieces for HRH Prince Philip, Bill Clinton and for Prime Minister Bob Hawke. She is also represented in the National Gallery, Canberra.
Born in Norway in 1961, Eileen completed a broad glassmaking education in the UK before joining Rish, Alasdair, and her siblings, who had emigrated to Australia.
Eileen went on to help establish the Tasmanian Glassblowers where she met Grant, who was managing a farm nearby. After gaining more experience overseas, she returned to Australia and opened Gordon Studio Glassblowers with Grant in Numurkah, Victoria.
Today, Rish has gone back to mostly painting and she is loving working on commissioned animal portraits. Eileen shares her mother’s love for nature, which inspires every piece of art she works on.
"Mum taught me to draw which equipped me with the fundamentals to do what I love doing every day," says Eileen.
Why do glassblowers have to rebuild the furnace?
Did you know we have to decommission and recommission the furnace every few years?
When in commission, our furnace runs every hour of every day, staying between 1125ºC and 1280ºC. It is built out of high temp ceramic castable cement and takes around six days to reach optimal temperature.
The raw materials of glass (called batch) is sand mixed with soda ash and calcium carbonate, amongst other ingredients. The night before blowing the batch is loaded 3 – 4 times into the furnace and melted down. The temp then goes up to 1280ºC to melt and refine the glass, then dropped back to 1120ºC working temp.
When the raw material melts in the furnace, it takes on an acidic quality. The acidity eats away at the furnace, so every few years, we have to rebuild it.
Take a look at our month-long Autumn 2023 rebuild, in 20 seconds:
How do you blow glass?
We’re often asked similar questions about the intricacies of this ancient craft. Here is Eileen’s take on some of the straight-forward and complicated nuances!
Where does glassblowing inspiration come from?
Nature is our inspiration. Every flower, seed, shell, leaf, rock, sunset and sunrise all have inspiring colours, shapes and patterns. It's all around us.
Do you know what you're making before you start?
Yes, we always do. We need to be prepared. Get colours ready by pre heating. Having the right tools, and assistants need to know what they have to do.
Do you ever inhale hot glass?
No! Even if somebody accidentally sucks rather than blows, the pipe is long enough for the glass to cool and block so that there is no chance of inhalation.
When glassblowing, do you have to blow hard?
It depends on the temperature of the glass. When it’s at its hottest, you only have to blow gently, but as the glass cools you have to blow harder. You have to use controlled breathing, especially when the glass is thinner. If you blow too hard, you can blow straight through the bottom.
Do the glassblowing pipes get hot?
The pipes are made of steel, which is a poor conductor so the heat does not travel far. It’s cool on your lips and as long as you keep hands to about half-way down, you won’t get burnt. When glass is low in the furnace we run water over the pipe to cool it.
Is the Annealing Kiln like a fridge?
No – the Annealing Kiln sits at 515ºC all day while we work and fill it. When the last piece is in we start a slow down cycle over 15-16 hours until it is under 100ºC. Annealing means slowly cooling the glass evenly. If it cools the glass too fast, it will cool the outside at a faster rate than the inside, causing it to stress and crack.
How many pieces can you blow in a day?
How many we blow depends entirely on what we are making. We rarely blow the same thing all day. We are often fulfilling orders. Small things are much faster to make than large things. Kiln space is another factor. If we make a few large things, the space in the kiln may run out quickly. A large complicated piece may take up to 3 hours to make. It also depends on how much glass we have left in the furnace.
What are the raw materials for glassblowing?
The main ingredient for glass is sand (about 65%) It is a very pure fine sand that is mined, sieved and gone over a magnet to get rid of any metals. Flux, like potash, soda ash, calcium carbonate and other ingredients are added to lower the melting temp, de - colour and eliminate bubbles. The raw materials are all sourced and mixed in Australia to a specific recipe especially made for hand blown glass. It is very different to bottles, jars and window glass.
We cannot mix our glass with other types of glass as they have a different COE (coefficiency of expansion) which is the rate the glass cools at. The raw material is loaded into the furnace 3 to 4 times over the evening until full. Then heated up to 1280c for a few hours before coming back to 1125c which is our working temp. The furnace runs 24/7 as it takes 5 days to heat up or cool down.
Do you ever burn yourselves?
All the time! It’s like being a chef! But burns usually come from tools or the kiln; rarely from the glass itself.
How do you add colour when glassblowing?
All our colours come from Germany. It comes as solid glass bars which need pre-heating or crushed up chips or ground powder. We add the colour to our clear glass usually very early in the blowing process. There are very many ways to add colour depending on what effect or patterns you want. The hot glass always looks orange due to the heat. The true colour of a piece is not seen until the following morning when cool.
Are there different pipes for different techniques?
Yes. We use hollow and solid pipes; small, medium and large. The hollow pipes are for blowing and the solid pipes (or punties) are used to add colour or finish an effect. We knock the glass off a punty before placing it in the kiln.
How do you blow bubbles into the glass?
If you want a ‘perfect’ bubble, we’d poke a hole in the molten glass using a metal spike. For a more organic feel, or millions of bubbles we use bicarbonate of soda mixed with water, or sprinkle bicarbonate of soda and dip the hot glass, leaving trapped air bubbles for that effect.
Why rebuild the furnace?
When in commission, our furnace runs every hour of every day, staying between 1125ºC and 1280ºC. It is built out of high temp ceramic castable cement and takes around six days to reach optimal temperature.
The raw materials of glass (called batch) is sand mixed with soda ash and calcium carbonate, amongst other ingredients. The night before blowing the batch is loaded 3 – 4 times into the furnace and melted down. The temp then goes up to 1280ºC to melt and refine the glass, then dropped back to 1120ºC working temp.
When the raw material melts in the furnace, it takes on an acidic quality. The acidity eats away at the furnace, so every few years, we have to rebuild it. Read more and view a timelapse here.
Glassblown for Hollywood…
Front and centre in George Miller's new blockbuster Three Thousand Years of Longing (playing only in movie theatres), glass crafted by Eileen in 2019 was picked by Miller's Art Director and Prop Team to play the Genie's bottle in a modern-day adaptation of The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye – starring Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton.
'Mad genius' Australian director Miller shot the movie in Sydney and Istanbul, where Swinton's character Alithea finds the 'antique' bottle in a bazaar. We also see a series of Eileen's bottles, paperweights and vases, including a large flower vase, as the film moves through Alithea's apartment – well worth a watch!
Gordon Studio Glass lights up Peter Mac Centre
A new glass art installation at The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne is bringing fresh light and colour to patients, visitors and staff. With three generations of glass artists practising the ancient craft in Red Hill on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, the Gordon-Donaldson family has worked with former employee and friend Andrea Comerford to make the installation possible – in addition to donating work from a recent glassblowing convention.
A new glass art installation at The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne is bringing fresh light and colour to patients, visitors and staff.
With three generations of glass artists practising the ancient craft of glassblowing in Red Hill on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, the Gordon-Donaldson family has worked with former employee and friend Andrea Comerford to bring the installation to life – in addition to donating work from a recent glassblowing convention.
“This is the first time that patients, staff and visitors at The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre have had the opportunity to enjoy glass art on display,” said Andrea Comerford, who organised fundraising campaigns for more than five years to make the collection possible.
Andrea suffers from Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells and has been treated at the Peter MacCallum Centre for the past eight years. While working at the Gordon Studio Gallery, Eileen and Grant’s work increased her love for glass and glassblowing.
“Glass is so different to every other art medium,” Comerford explained.
“And Peter Mac Art Curator Svetlana Karovich was so happy to be able to add Grant and Eileen’s beautiful work to the collection. The colours and shapes just take art to a new dimension.”
The Centre won a grant from the Victorian Government through the Community Support Fund to purchase specialist cabinets to protect the glass from dust and damage.
“We’re extremely proud to have our work on display,” said Grant Donaldson and Eileen Gordon.
“It was a wonderful idea of Andrea’s, and she worked so hard to raise funds and make it happen.”
Among Andrea’s fundraising campaigns – in addition to generous donations from Friends of Gordon Studio Glassblowers – she sold candles made by a friend and organised movie nights to ensure this dream collaboration could materialise.
“Grant and Eileen work so hard,” said Andrea.
“They deserve all the recognition they get for their amazing talent and dedication. I worked at Gordon Studio Glassblowers two days a week for 12 years in addition to my job as a nurse – it’s my happy place. I always left with a smile after a day talking to customers about the ancient craft and polishing the glass. It’s so tactile; it rejuvenates energy.”
“I was blown away by the donations – everybody was so generous.”
Grant and Eileen, who blow glass with their sons Hamish and Calum and were influenced by Eileen’s parents Alasdair and Rish, also donated the work created at a convention they recently hosted. The theme of the International Year of Glass convention hosted by the Gordon Studio Glassblowers was ‘goblets’, with some of the most talented glassblowers across Australia getting together to collaborate.
“We originally planned to auction the goblets off,” said Eileen.
“But we felt the humour and energy of the goblets will generate great entertainment, smiles and laughter at The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.”
The whole collection is on display on level two at Peter MacCallum’s Parkville headquarters – next to outpatient pathology.
“It’s close to the waiting room, café, pharmacy and pathology – so thousands of people will be able to enjoy the magic,” said Andrea.
“When we were there installing the glass, people were really excited as they were walking past. It’s so special.”
