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Heart of Glass - Blenko Glass

Blenko Glass is a West Virginia treasure that spans generations. Nothing symbolizes the state of West Virginia better or more beautifully than Blenko Glass. We will discuss current and former craftsmen and designers and how important it is that Blenko and West Virginia glass be appreciated and valued by the younger generation.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Blenko Myers Honey designs

Hi Doc,
A am sending a nice grouping below to help folks with the color Honey. There can be some variance in the color from almost the wheat color that came in to Blenko's pallet later during Shepherd design period. Shelley is very fond of Honey and so I have been keeping my eye out for new pieces to add to the collection. I had a bit of luck lately and added the three pieces on the left over the past two months as mislist finds on Ebay. All of these are Joel Myers designs from the sixties. From the left you have a Blenko #658 S decanter, Blenko 669 optic decanter with ball stopper, Blenko #6711 S spiral wrapped decanter with ball stopper, Blenko #653 optic decanter with flame stopper, and Blenko 64E beehive vase.

Hope you enjoy,
Bruce Specht


Monday, August 25, 2014

Glass pitcher, and bowl.

Hello Hillary,

I made more things with color. Made another pitcher, and color bowl. The bowl is made by making the basic glass 'bullet'. Then red spiral was added and after that it was quoted with white. 

I ran out of space in lab, so started getting glass home. The way its going, I will run out of space in home soon too. 

Regards,
V









Sunday, August 24, 2014

Amethyst crackle blenko

HI Hillary,
A few new additions to the collection that I wanted to share with the blog. The crystal crackle and amethyst pieces came from a northern collection that included a matching canister with lid. The lid on the large jug is questionable but it goes well and should keep the dust out. My favorite of the three is the reed handled pitcher. From the left is a Pre-designer Blenko #442P pitcher, Blenko #443 jug, and Blenko #390 ruffled top vase.

Hope you enjoy,
Bruce Specht


Thursday, August 21, 2014

A Unique Bowl

Hello Hillary

I have a Blenko bowl purchased about 25 years age. I have not seen a bowl similar to this in recent years. It is part of our Blenko collection which we have collected over the years. This bowl is the centerpiece on our table and is filled with 8 Blenko glass apples of various colors. The apples are of solid glass. I have always wondered if you still have the mold for this bowl. Attached is a photo of this bowl.

William Galyean





Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Glass mistake. Made vase instead of pitcher. V

Hello Hillary,

If you recall I said there are 3 basic shapes; tumbler, bowl and bottle. And you modify them to make different pieces. What people dont realize is when you add color, you change properties of the glass. Glass can handle more or less heat, and behaves very differently. I was tying to make a pitcher with red which is a hard color. Hard meaning it cools much faster than clear glass. So first I didnt heat enough, and the second time, I heated too much and could not control glass. So made a vase instead of pitcher. I just stretched the glass, and cut it to make this. Its about 18 inches tall. Have included blenko angel for size reference. The forest you see is view form my apartment.

As you know, I keep the worst pieces I make each week with me. Am just glad that this week the mistake came out looking good. Although, must admit. It didnt look as pretty before. Another lady I work with cut the top, then I ground the top and base.

You can see how far off I was. I was making a pitcher, and ended up making this.

Regards,
V





Sunday, August 17, 2014

PM Estate Sales - Purple Moon Estate Sale

 



Kanawha City Estate Sale

5209 Noyes Avenue - Charleston, WV (Map)

Sunday, August 17, 2014 – Noon to 5pm - 25% OFF!
PREVIEW VIDEO #1* – Living Room, Dining, Kitchen, Sunroom, Vintage Telephone Collection, Art, Bar & More!

PREVIEW VIDEO #2* – Bed Room, Den, Office, Die-cast Police Car Collection, More Phones, Art & More!

This gorgeous home is packed with unique, artful and collectible items! With fine furnishings, antique and vintage Asian art, figurines and collectibles, china and crystal dinnerware, barware (and a bar!), massive collection of antique toy

Blenko Myers designed decanters

Hi Doc,

A trio of Myers designed decanters in Crystal, Turquoise, and Olive Green. These are Blenko #6947.

Enjoy,

Bruce Specht



Friday, August 15, 2014

colored pitcher - V

Hello Hillary,

Here are pictures of pitcher I made. Am still having difficulty with pontils, so you can see the cat-eye where I knocked it off. Thats the next thing I need to focus on.

Regards,
V






Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Blenko Husted Vineyard decanters



Hi Hillary,
Shelley and I made a trip to Denton, Texas yesterday and guess what we stumbled upon in the first antique shop we visited? I hadn't gone ten feet when I spotted this wonderful Husted designed Blenko #6037 Vineyard decanter in Sea Green. Had always wanted the large version but they can be a little pricey. This one came home for under forty dollars. Goes wonderful with the Charcoal version Blenko # 614 decanter.
Hope you enjoy,
Bruce Specht


Monday, August 11, 2014

Dr Vivek Celebrates August 11th Birthday

Frequently folks will ask me " Who is Dr V?"
Most often they ask " does he work for Blenko"?


Vivek is a PhD  Mechanical Engineer.  He is currently housed at Penn State University where he  as a post doctoral scholar does work with stroke patients. He works in the field of neurology and biomechanics, where he develops math models to identify mechanisms involves in movement control, and the corresponding brain regions related to these mechanisms. Vivek obtained a grant from American Heart Association (AHA) in 2010 for this work.

Vivek has many hobbies including cooking,  hiking, mountain climbing, writing, photography and of course glass. He has collected Blenko and other American Glass  for over three years.   He now is a glass blower,  we often feature his work on the blog.  We've heard from readers that it inspired you to take the glasses offered at Blenko.  Vivek does not work for Blenko,  although he spends many hours each week monitoring blog comments and assisting readers with glass Identification.  Vivek has yet to visit Blenko Glass.

Dr V  also maintains the www.blenkoproject.org  webpages.  He is solely responsible for making available  the entire Blenko Glass catalog collection a part of the Blenko Project website.

Dr V is a frequent contributor to the Heart of Glass Blog


Happy Birthday Dr Vivek Yadav
From :  Heart of Glass



Saturday, August 09, 2014

Blenko Husted designed vases

HI Hillary,

 A pair of Husted designed vases. On the left is a Blenko #5824-L in Amethyst with it's smaller version a Blenko # 5824-S in Turquoise. Both of these arrived pretty dirty from their previous owners but cleaned up nicely. Simple forms that Blenko colors just make outstanding and a pleasure to enjoy in a sunny spot.

Hope you enjoy too,

Bruce Specht



Friday, August 08, 2014

SKIP COPLEY . Happy Birthday 60th. Blenko Glass Collector. Myrtle Beach SC

  Someone once gave me a card with this quote:

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
while loving deeply gives you courage.

Skip has been a very generous contributor, sponsor and supporter  to Blenko Project as well as to his family and many friends.

Skip Copley ,  Blenko Collector lives in the Myrtle Beach Area of South Carolina.

He frequently lends us photos of his art glass for use on the blog.

Today he turns 60!   If you happen to see Skip Copley today -  say HAPPY BIRTHDAY!


Skip Copley -  Myrtle Beach SC

Thursday, August 07, 2014

Glass pitcher - V

Hello Hillary,

I  made a pitcher this week. There are 3 basic forms that we learn. Tumbler, Bowl and bottle form. These forms can be modified to make different glass pieces. I either give away or recycle most of the glass, but save some good ones. Here is picture of evolution of my glass making. It started with paper weights, then we did tumblers, then bowls and now bottles. I still have difficulty with pontils and shaping the bottom. So you can see the cat-eye and grinding work to fix it. Also, every week I burn my something, this week it was fingers. Hence, the tape.

I will start adding colors next week onwards. Will start to make a colored pitcher.

Regards
V






Tuesday, August 05, 2014

Blenko Myers spiral wrapped decanter and vase

HI Hillary,

This has been a week for finding missing pieces to fill out different series of designs I have in the collection. On the left is a Myers designed Blenko #6816-CT decanter with a Blenko #6817-CT vase. I have been looking for the decanter for years and was lucky enough to find one recently.  Hard to photograph but a joy to see in person.

Hope you and the blog enjoy as well,

Bruce Specht


Sunday, August 03, 2014

Husted flame stoppered decanters

HI Doc,

Husted designs and Blenko Tangerine just go hand in hand. Two examples are these two flame stoppered decanters, the Blenko #6122-S crackled decanter and Blenko #6215 decanter.

Hope you enjoy,

Bruce Specht


Friday, August 01, 2014

Blenko Limited edition pieces

Blenko Festival of Glass--August 1-2, 2014

Limited Edition Pieces
Available for purchase Saturday, Aug 2 at 8:00am
No advance orders, no phone orders
Each piece is numbered and sandblasted FOG on bottom
Each piece limited to 25 numbered pieces available in the gift shop.

Online special
For our customers who can't visit us in person, we will be offering
a limited quantity of our two Limited Edition items for sale on Monday, August 4 at noon Eastern time, 9am Pacific time at shop.blenko.com. Shipping charges apply. No number requests.
There will be a quantity of 25 of each vase available to order.

Hoopy Loopy---10" high approx. $60.00 each
Designed by Arlon Bayliss. This fun vase was made especially
for the Festival of Glass. It combines a thick seabreeze twice-
hooked trail with blending crystal neck and body. The result is a
optical treat. The whole shape shimmies and shakes as our
eyes explore its lively form.

Midnight Illusion Vase---12" high---$60.00 each
Midnight blue blends into a crystal optic base to create a
beautiful classic vase that is a must-have for every Blenko
collector.