Christmas events coming up..

Morning.. again it's been a while..

But we're all still here at The Ruskin Glass Centre

in Stourbridge..

We need to shout it from the rooftops,  we're still here!

If you've not been to the Glass Centre, then this blog will give you a good idea of what goes on in this beautifully renovated old glassworks building..

This is whats going on this weekend.

So, If you've been before, Things have changed a little. This is a very special Christmas event.

And if you've not been before, you wont be disappointed

Nine out of ten people that come to the Ruskin Glass Centre are amazed by what we have, all around one building.. and that other one, just didn't look deep enough.

(all views and statistics are my own and sometimes made up)

We look forward to seeing you over the coming weeks.

All the best

Jamie

Open Studios pictures from the weekend..

How time flies..

Here are the rest of the photos from the weekend..In the order that they came off the camera..


Enjoy..

This is me, carving a chopping board..

Phil who took the photos, went up onto the mezzanine and took these two pics.

Vic Bamforth, showing a visitor own of his wonderful pieces

More visitors in Paul Floyds Transparent Glass studio..

Kevin Townsend working on a glass bead in their studio.

Martin Andrews, with one of his pieces.

Ian Dury showing visitor around the 'Caves' in the visitor centre..

Some of the old tools used to engrave the Webb Corbett glass

This is the front of the building, as seen from the road by the traffic lights..

The car park entrance is another 50 metres further up the road..

This beautiful feature is in the centre of the old buildings.

The front of the Ruskin Glass Centre building, 

Stairs to the right and slope to the left of the building

Vic Bamforth, taking it easy..

Vic, surrounded by his glass

Paul Floyd

Transparent Glass

So there we have it, 

All the best

Jamie

Open studios update from May

A great weekend for me and the other tenants at the Ruskin Glass Centre, lots of visitors, plenty of demonstrations be myself and other makers.

I've just received some pictures taken by professional photographer Phil Riley on behalf of Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council.

In the order that Phil took them in..

Take a look..

Some of the visitors enjoying coffee in the Cafe

Terri-Louise Colledge showing some of her Cameo Glass work

Terri at work

The view through Terris' window

Paul at The Soapworks, making some of their wonderful soap,

I can say this now, as I've just started using their soap for shaving, and it was the best shave in years,

go and try some.. they have a sink set up so you can try before you buy, brilliant.

Helpers I think, but definitely more soap..

Ian Bamforth, a regular at the bench in the Stourbridge Glass Blowing Studio

Ian showing how it's done..

People love to watch the glass being blown

And this is what they were looking at..

Georgia Redpath in front of some of her work..

George F Jackson with his his mixture of clay and glass..

Phil Potter showing a visitor how he creates his works of art

Here you can see what's going on..

The Wynstone Press, plenty of books and cards..

Simon Bruntnell had plenty of glass on show at his 'pop up' exhibition in his studio

Su Parry in front of some of her wonderful work

Su had got this mobile installed for the event, it sounds great, every now and then you can hear the occasional clink of the glass..

Kevin Barry checking one of his pieces

Jo Newman showing a visitor some of her Glass artwork

Thats all for now,

I'll put the other half onto here in a few days time.

Hope you like what you see.. and don't forget most of the workshops are open up to six days a week.

Thanks for looking

All the best

Jamie

Georgia Redpath & George F Jackson

After the Easter break I was beginning to wonder who to go and see next..

It only seems like a couple of weeks since the last posting, but with Easter and a new student for me, it looks like it's been a month. So I'll, (we'll) be trying to get some more on here in the run up to...

our Open Studio event

18th - 19th May 2013 10 am - 4:30 pm

This was an easy one for me, I had commented on some of the Facebook and Twitter postings about the Open Studio event. and seen what Georgia was up to, within a few minutes of conversation on Twitter it was decided that the very next day, a student and I were going to see what was going on in this

 'ever so slightly, out of the way workshop'.

So, Tuesday morning, Dom and I did some work in my shop, then off to see what's happening..

Georgia Redpath & George F Jackson, share a workshop just outside the Ruskin Glass Center, and while we were taking photos and questioning Georgia I spotted this map..

Click on image to view..

Workshop 8 is where we are today, and you can see it can be accessed either through the Center or from outside.

Just inside the door is a Gallery area, where both have their work on show..

Georgia is just behind this wall and when we went in she was just making some moulds for some more of her wonderful pieces.

The working part of the studio, Georgia is half way through just one

 of the many stages in the process of making one of her pieces.

Here Georgia is adding clay around the outside of the cardboard tube to stop any of the plaster escaping, the blue sheet is sticky back plastic, this holds the silicon mould inside, down onto the base. Otherwise it would float when the plaster is added..

With a little water added to the surfaces of the blue silicon moulds,

they are ready to have the plaster poured over.

While the plaster was being mixed I took some photos of other parts of the process. This is where it starts, the card pieces are assembled, then Georgia makes the silicon mould from this..

Here are some previous silicon moulds..

And here are the finished pieces, beautiful..

Another previous mould that created the Blue one above...

So the plaster goes in, and some gentle tapping to get the air bubbles to come to the surface,

then just wait a while to set.. then onto the next stage..

***********************

While all this is going on, on the other side of the workshop is George F Jackson

George is making some lovely pieces at the moment, and I really like these..

This is a piece of glass that George has made from a mould, similar process to Georgia's work but more natural, using bamboo, bark and other 'finds' to give texture to the piece..

Here's a good example of the lengths that George goes to to produce a piece. Snail shells are used to make moulds, four each in the two moulds above. Then wax 'shells' are made from the moulds, then they are added to a piece, that then a mould is made around....

I know...that's a lot of work.. and some are shells, and others are the slug body with the shell on top..

Tea Bowls..  these are wonderful, and I can say that I had a small part in this bit..

Ask George.. and they will be in a Raku glazed finish..

I love it, and hopefully will get one of Georges pieces soon..hopefully.

This one is 'in process'

I hope you've enjoyed going through this, it's good for everyone to see just what goes into a piece of work that George and Georgia make, and I hope you can make it to our event.

If you have any comments, get in touch. We would love to know what you think.

All the best

Jamie