I will assist you in any glassblowing (primarily in the Flameworking/Lampworking style) endeavours, works or ideas that you may need guidance or assistance in.

I should probably note, here, that there are two main "schools" of glassblowing. I should also note that if you already know the differences between the two main methods of glassblowing, OR simply want to read what service I can provide to you, then you can probably skip the next three paragraphs which will mostly speak of the differences between LAMPWORK and FURNACE WORK.

Lampworking, also commonly known as flameworking or torchworking, uses an oxygen & propane (or natural gas, if preferred) torch to manipulate already cooled rods and tubes of both colored and clear glass in order to form whatever piece of glasswork the artist comes up with. This kind of glassblowing is what I specialize in and is MUCH more financially feasible for your average person than the next method of glassblowing that I will touch on.

Off hand glassblowing, or "furnace work", is another method of glassblowing that requires a lot more physical space, money, tools and is something where you will almost always need at least one partner and sometimes more. This is the kind of glassblowing that you've most likely seen, at some point, on television, or something of that nature. Furnace work requires a large "furnace" to be constantly running and keeping large amounts of glass hot enough to be molten throughout. Instead of the glass tubes and rods that flame workers use, furnace workers use large metal rods and tubes (or "pipes", as furnace workers would call them) to then "gather" molten glass at the end of. From there, the artist can begin manipulating the glass and either adding more clear glass from the furnace, keeping it hot in another kind of large furnace, or sorts, called a glory hole, and eventually cooling it down slowly in an annealer or kiln.

While I have built AND worked in both hot shops (a common term for a furnace work studio) and cold shops (a common term for Lampworking studios), lampwork / flamework is the method of glasswork in which I specialize. I like to be able to work on a piece of glass the moment I feel inspiration (since a lot of us know how fleeting those moments can be) which is relatively easy to do with flamework, but much MUCH harder to do with furnace work, especially considering the fact that you almost always need a partner there and working with you if you plan on doing furnace work style glassblowing. That plus the much lower cost of Lampworking, the physical restrictions on furnace work, and the ability to get very detailed with lampwork are all just small bits of what gives it so much more "freedom" to peruse than furnace work (at least in my personal opinion).

Now on to the good stuff!

If you have thought for years about how cool it would be to play with molten glass and wished that you knew where to start, well...... Now you do.

Whether you want to build your own Lampworking studio (which I have done many times), just get an idea of how to start learning the basics of working with glass, learn advanced techniques or anything in between, I can help.

If you want to build your own studio, we can go over the requirements, both in terms of space needed as well as tools and equipment needed.
When it comes time to get to work actually putting a studio together, I can be there to make sure it gets done the right way.
If you are looking to try glassblowing out but not ready to invest in equipment, I can help you there.
If you already have a place to work, but you want your own torch, I can assist you both in picking where to buy the torch and, more importantly, help you pick out the torch that is right for you and the kind of work you want to do (Lampworking torches vary a LOT.)
If you already have your own studio or place to work but would like to get some better glassblowing tools, some "raw" color, want to know which colors are easy to work with and which colors are hell to work with..... If you need to know what kind of flame to use for which colors, why your reds are boiling over or why your cobalt is turning hazy..... I can help!

I could go on like that forever, but 1) that would probably be pretty annoying and 2) I think you get the picture..... I have enough experience building glass studios, making glass art, teaching glassblowing to students, and researching/experimenting/learning about/working with glass that I can help you with just about anything you could need or want help with, when it comes to glass and glassblowing.

Bonus: I have an overall general passion for glassblowing and helping others get as excited about it as I get!

P.S. If we end up working together relatively frequently, my compensation can be somewhat flexible.