Don’t pumpkins just make you feel

A pumpkin just in time for the first day of Fall. Pumpkins are nostalgic. I can go all summer without thinking of a pumpkin but once September rolls around, it sets in.  I can just see the bright orange and that earthy yellow stem. That pumpkin soup and pumpkin pie and a spooky jack-o-lantern. Thats when you know its time to set the table with fall icons and the pumpkin is at the fore front. 

Pumpkins and that fall feeling when the harvest peaks and our eyes want bright earthy colors to feast on. As we go towards darkness the instinct to go inward gets closer.   

It is almost time to start getting out those recipe books for the Holidays. I can’t think of a better ingredient than pumpkin, so versatile. Of course pumpkins and their close relative the squash and all its variations. Let me say it one more time. Pumpkins.

Special Occasion

Special occasions are a great opportunity to give a custom gift. I was commissioned to make a Silver Anniversary vase to commemorate 25 years of marriage. The technique I employed is Incalmo a traditional Muranees technique from the island of Murano, in the Venetian lagoon. It is said that, the technique was developed in the Vennini factory.

The process goes like this; first a reddish amethyst bubble is prepared and a band of iris silver is wound onto the open end of the bubble and melted in.

Then a new bubble in hyacinth is prepared and opened into a cylindrical shape.

Measuring begins and the two separate bubbles are formed to exact diameters. Back and forth between the working bench and the fire; the two separate bubbles are dialed in before hot joining them with timing and the precision of a skilled assistant.

Once they are joined the punty is poped off of the hyacinth bubble. The objective at this point is to melt the connection line so that it smoothes out and can be blown up into its final cylindrical shape.

If you want to know…

If you want to know where you’re going you need to know where you are from Period. How many times have wise elders and scholars repeated this special sentence? I don’t know but the saying has stuck because of its power to make one look deep at their tracks left behind. Any maker/creator knows this well. The intimacy of our past follows us going forward. So occasionally I stop turn around and look. Here is a picture burst of a few creations i’ve left behind me in my journey. Thats where I have been in the past. An event in the past that happened in that moment and so now it is. The creation if it goes well sometimes sells. Sometimes If it went some other way will be gifted to friends and family. Sometimes I keep them on my shelves in my studio until the right person comes along at a good time. One thing for sure is, I will always find a way to make new glass creations. I know too much. The history is too strong. So I find a way to get in front of a glowing furnace to gather up a gob of molten glass. Its like I get back to my heart, i’de swim the Mississippi River and pick up a pipe on my knees to play with the fire. Let the glass sing, let me sing, and make art - glass. Thanks for reading and feel welcome to look around or contact me anytime with questions or comments. ~ Zach

Open Studio at Magic Sands

I had a great time assisting Peter Vazzusi for All County Open Studio. We had many visitors watching us blow art works and create new glass ware. This is my second or third time demonstrating and making work for Peter at Magic Sands Contemporary Glass in Aptos CA.

It was an enormous success as it usually is but the anticipation can be stressful. The Open Studios roll around once per year so there is a buzz around it. There has to be a period of production throughout the year to have enough inventory for the guests. Magic Sands had plenty of inventory to supply the demand.

Open Studio and the Arts Council promote the event County wide and it has a loyal following. I even saw my parents neighbors by surprise. All in all it was a fun time and someday we’ll do it again.

Thanks for reading!

Zach

Glass Birds

Imagine this, colorful glass birds chirping their way into the hearts and minds of my good people. There is a soothing quality to their simple and dexterous design. I like to place them near my house plants for an accent of shape and color. Though detail is left up to the imagination the shape is unmistakable and easily recognizable. A tiny cute colorful glass bird.

Tiny colorful glass garden birds.

Tiny colorful glass birds.

Close up of tiny colorful glass garden birds.

Reds

Red glass is a difficult color to use for many different reasons. I am no scientist but from what I understand the chemical composition of red is temper mental at best. I have experienced opaque red glass cause cracking due to incompatibility making the glass crack after annealing. Transparent Cherry red will turn brown if it is over heated. A chemical reaction will occur if white and red are in direct contact turning the red brown. The metal Selenium is added to the batch then melted. The melted compounds are cooled down in the manufacturing process at least once before I even start working with it. Once I add it to my glass it is heated over 2000 degrees then cooled in my annealing process. So the red color is going through several redundant phases increasing exposure to a rich flame making it oxidize and turn brownish.

Bright orangish-red glass with translucency. It is likely made with Selenium.

Here is an example of opaque red. Antique red has generally good workability. If it is spread too thin it looks dull. I have not had any compatibility issues with this red.

Sunset inspiration

Twisting a starter bubble on the marver as preparation for another gather of glass.

Have you ever been on a hike in the late afternoon when it reached that time of day where you can feel a noticeable shift in the surrounding light. At that point you can either turn back and ignore something very special is taking place or lean into the 24 hour time cycle of our planetary system. I admit that sometimes I am too caught up in my own tangle of thoughts to take a moment to enjoy a sunset. However there are times when the gravitational pull is just too strong to ignore another day coming to an end. In that moment a spectacular feeling is alive and all eyes are diverted to the horizon. There are many varieties of sunsets from different vantage points all around the globe. The weather dictates a lot of how we experience the sunset. The type of sunset I’m imagining here is the one in where the atmosphere gently begins to glow with full spectrum colors and becomes intense with fiery oranges, the few clouds in the sky become electric lavenders, bright golden yellows, and chromatic blue grays. Slowly the upper skies become a night blue and the heavens reach downward to welcome in night. Stars begin to twinkle and some of the planets will appear as the moon discloses its phase. The sunset in this way is inspiring to be part of because inner animal can feel what it’s like to be alive. Once the sun is completely down the senses change and night is upon us.

Home Made Pozole

Home made Pozole is a warming soup in the cold winter months. The bowl it’s in was a commission for a private collection.

Pozole is a wonderful soup stew from Central Mexico. I remember the first time I had Pozole. It was at a Holiday Party I crashed by accident. It was Margarita Ville in the Capitola Village and I unexpectedly descended on their holiday party. A friend of mine was their chef and had cooked up an enormous pot of pork stew with a beautifully rich red hue with stunning fluffy grain balls and meat. It looked so filling. My friend insisted I take a big bowl and he ladled me up some stew. It looked like magic coming out of the pot and cascading into my bowl. He then garnished it with thinly sliced cabbage, diced onions, lime, and a corona on the side and handed it to me. It was so good! The sensations were tangy, spicy, crunchy, sour, and chewy. That was the best bowl of Pozole I ever had. But since then every bowl of Pozole is good with its own time and place in a different context.

I’m happy when two or three worlds collide and create what is art. Life is art. And how we all have a choice to make these moments sacred in our lives. It culminates from a place of doing what we must do. Our expressions come out when we do the most essential tasks in life, like in cooking it becomes a display of beauty and grace. It is my honor to be the glassmaker that holds such amazing gustatory delights.

Pot Cracked

Here is an image of molten hot glass oozing out onto the ground from a 2200 degree furnace. The crucible inside the furnace holds 300 pounds of clear molten glass and gets a lot of use from students when its in service. It’s totally out of service now. There was a power outage several months ago and the furnace dropped to a lower than comfortable temperature for the crucible filled with glass, and caused it to crack. It didn’t start as a big crack - but once its there it propagates with each charge of batch. The furnace goes up above working temperature to melt the cold raw glass batch and then is cooled by the batch making the crack worse over time. We had been charging the furnace and the glass level wasn’t getting any higher. We saw the crack but were in denial. It just didn’t ring a bell that all that batch we were charging was leaking into the main furnace chamber and filling up with molten glass. The problem was only going to get worse. So it was time to investigate the issue by opening the “dog house” and thats when the cold shock of reality bared its teeth.

Autumn

That feeling you get when the days are long and warm but a wind whispers a change is coming. That’s what I’m talking about. As each day progresses days get shorter and the plants and trees know it. They smile and begin to blush before resting for the winter. I especially enjoy cool mornings and rain followed by the clearing of the grey, blue Skys - sunshine and steam rise off the asphalt taking its place. Harvesting the late summer bounty from the fields and carrying it to the kitchen for fall feasts is what I’m talking about. Family traditions come again and the holidays unfold like a fresh pair of pajamas.

Seconds Sale

After more than a year off from the Pottery & Glass Seconds Sale at Cabrillo College - last weekend the time honored tradition still had a strong turnout. I had seconds to sell along with experiments I had tried in the shop but didn’t turn out as amazing as I imagined or hoped. Instead I bring the seconds to Cabrillo once a year and liquidate. This makes space for creating new glass with a whole new look and fresh perspective. Hand blown glass is hand crafted in the studio by a living artisan craftsman so things can go wrong. Celebrate this because seconds can be a unique gift idea from something that went wrong. The glass is perfectly functional but the price brings surprise into the shopping experience. Making the event a success.

Looking on in the heat as shoppers pick out bargains.

House Number Ideas

Here is a short but creative thing I just participated in with Redfin. It’s a short poppy read about house numbers.

https://www.redfin.com/blog/display-house-numbers/

Cowabunga

Torching the punty before bonking it off and I put it away into the Annealer.

Glass Furnace

The furnace is the most important equipment in the glass makers studio. The furnace is usually a large and ominous looking machine that emits a lot of heat and runs 24/7/365. The furnace is a chamber where alchemy happens. Raw materials are carefully shoveled into a fiery pit, creating a heap of outer-space looking sand. Over the course of time intense heat melts the towering heap into a flat bizzare and bubbly mass of elements. Giving more time and heat a transformation occurs and the raw elements turn into clear molten glass. In the early hours of the morning the new melt drops in temperature and the last phase begins. The heat goes back up and now is ready for gathering.

Studio capture

Not too much to say about feeling inspired or driven right now. I am still planning to make some new Murrini next chance I get. I’m having some feelings and processes to work out in the studio. This must be why it is called art glass and not everyday is perfect glass. However I don’t have a day scheduled for that yet. Soon hopefully. Anyway I hope you enjoy this short video of me. I was fortunate to link up with an expert editor and film maker to capture promotional content for the Internet. Here I am making a set of bowls for a really great customer. There is another blog post on here about Pozole, this footage is the making of that bowl.

Back Story

I’ve been quiet

Hi all of you out there reading this blog post! I’ve been quiet for awhile. Mainly because I’ve been very busy resting. Usually this time of year i’m experiencing many forks in the trail of life. Covid has increased all of it. There are many things to do just to maintain a happy simple way of life. To start I have gotten my vaccine & focusing on gut health. While managing that, I have been experimenting in the studio. For years I was very focused on making a sellable product at the right price point. Which I am still motivated by. Yet I have taken more time to dig deeper into processes I have not explored. Trying new things that I know the failure rate is much higher (but doing these techniques) I enjoy the yield with real excitement when the outcome is a success. And misery when it fails. The murrine work I have been trying is something I’ve always been drawn to but never took the time to actually try it. Now I’ve made 12 murrine pieces in total. Early on when I was learning fundamentals in glassblowing I learned about rolling up canes. Murrine is closely related to the cane work. It requires a few changes in the process pulling the cane and a few critical shop tools. I’m an itinerant glassblower and mostly at the limitations of any given shop I am grateful to be using. So it can been a deciding factor on what I make. Over Covid I have had access to a well equipped shop and utilized this access. Also the arts & crafts festivals I had scheduled were put on hold. This opened up a new trail to follow.

Today, right here - right now - what new direction will I go when I reach the fork in the trail? I plan to balance the glass work between a few key production items and truly inspired work. That my friends in and of its’ self is the glass path. As for the rest of it all - due diligence as I continue on the life path.

Beach Glass

Have you ever heard of Beach Glass? It’s a real thing. Now I’m not going to go into a history of beach glass or go into the origins of beach glass but I can speak on what I know.

Beach glass has different forms and manifestations. In Santa Cruz, Beach Glass comes from the old Lundberg Studio mishap. Its been said amongst Santa Cruz locals that you can find beach glass at the Davenport river mouth. Up stream from the river mouth is the old Lundberg Studio and they use to shovel their glass scraps into barrels and store them along the backside of their studio close to the Davenport creek that leads to the mouth of Davenport Beach. One year a great rain eroded the embankment and washed away the barrels containing the scrap glass. That is what many locals became to know as Santa Cruz beach glass.

Over time the tides and sand tumble the glass refinishing the glossy surface and ‘blasting’ it - instead to a matte finish. The matte finish, along with random shapes and sizes, is your quint essential beach glass artifact..

Lincoln City, Oregon has a Sea Glass or Float Festival in where festival goers search for Floats on the beach. I was hired as a glassblower for the very first year of the Festival in 2000. This festival is reminiscent of a time when glass fishing nets would break loose from fishing boats out at sea and embark on a journey back to shore. Its a celebration of the beautiful glass that washes up on shore, having with stood the harsh pounding of the elements and ocean currents.

It doesn’t stop at Beach Glass and Floats as far as the Ocean theme goes. Many glass artists have embraced an Ocean Aquatic theme from Jelly Fish, Sea Shells to Star Fish to Waves, to Reef scenes & i’ve seen an Anchor from an artist in New England. The many tones of blue and green also define the beach theme.

If you search Etsy for Beach Glass I’m sure the category will surprise you at how broad it is from jewelry to sculpture to diorama’s…

Beach Glass Floats by, Zach Rudolph Blown Glass. 2013

Faith in the process

Glassblowing is a sequential process. It starts with raw ingredients mined from the depths of our earth. The raw materials are mixed by specialized chemists who in turn deliver the ‘batch’ to our studios for melting in high temperature furnaces. A gather of glass is taken on the end of a metal pipe that was crafted by experienced tool makers. So the process is in depth and begins far far away from anything that looks like a beautiful work of art.

I gather glass in faith and go through the motions to complete my vision of creating a beautiful work of art. I know that this vision is not an easy task to accomplish but I give it my best effort anyway. I’ll tell ya, blowing glass can be very frustrating because sometimes the glass does what it wants to do. It will flow like water causing excitement and accelerate my heart rate making it difficult to control the glass, and loose focus. On the other hand, when I remember to focus I calm myself and slow the flow - then I can mold the material into wonderful objects.

I learned about the murrini process from the great Lino Tagliapietra of Murano, Italy. His demonstrations in this process informed me of the possibility to make mosaics in glass. The combinations are limitless and the results are awesome. Like Lino, I too have designs i’m working on perfecting. Recently I tried using a new type of murrini with ‘bundled cane’ for the center. Here is the murrini before getting heated up to roll up.

White vail around red center.

The finished piece after hours of preparation. Check the Shop for details and pricing.

A Source of Inspiration

When I was learning to blow glass in the beginning of my glass career I would always hear from my teachers about the Venetian Glass of Murano. Once I saw it for myself in person I realized what the admiration for Italian glass was all about for so many in the glass world. The style and feel is from another time. A time when I wasn’t alive and technology meant something different than it does today.

I draw inspiration from nature and the seasons and cycles of the moon telling me what time it is. I see rare Venetian glass and i’m always in awe because the glass artists designing that work really exemplify nature. It reminds me why I have a passion for glass art. Here is an Ercole Barovier vase from 1968 entitled, Diamantati - meaning many diamonds.

Ercole Barovier glass work from 1968 (Diamantati)

This is my recent source of inspiration for new pieces i’m working on.