Pittsburgh Glass Center

While everyone was anxious to return to home and family, we were also sad to see the trip ending.  We learned and saw so much that can have an immediate impact on Cabell County classrooms.

We left the Holiday Inn Express after breakfast and made our way through Pittsburgh to the Pittsburgh Glass Center where we were met by our capable instructors who demonstrated their techniques for blowing glass in preparation for our group getting additional experience with glass blowing.

Everyone selected the style (swirled, speckeled or solid) and the colors to be included in their ornament from the frit samples available.  

We worked in teams so someone could blow the glass while the other partner shaped the molten glass with the metal tools.  After repeated heating, blowing and shaping, the ornaments were removed from the blowpipe and a clear glass hook was added so it could be hung.  After the ornaments were finished they were placed in an annealing oven to cool gradually over a period of 12 hours. 

After making the ornaments, we had a tour of the facility to see the lampwork area where torches using propane and oxygen gas are used to produce glass objects from glass rods and tubing.  We saw the area where fusion and stained glass work are done and where grinding and finishing can be done on glass as needed.  We walked through the current display in the gallery which was a competition to produce glass representations of living things.  

We were fascinated with glass insects, flowers and fish that were very realistic.  There were even glass microbes like plankton, algae and even viruses.  It was very impressive.  I know we can’t wait to see how our ornaments turned out.  We made a stop at the gift shop to buy shirts and glass objects made as a fund raiser for teen art projects before leaving for the vans.

This studio has many things in common with other glass manufacturers that we have seen.  However, this is not a production facility in any way.  Objects produced here are one of a kind art glass with one or two artists working at each of the stations available.  We were impressed with the cleanliness and organization of the studio.  This seems to be important since the area is used by so many artists in the course of a week.

Most of the trip south from Pittsburgh was uneventful.  However, a couple of downpours along I-79 slowed traffic to a near stop.  As we neared Charleston we learned that a truck was burning on I-64 near Teays Valley and had the westbound lanes closed.  We rerouted to US 60 from South Charleston to Milton where we were able to reenter I-64 to Huntington.  With the group’s teamwork, we were able to empty the vans and replace the rear seats quickly.  We returned the vans to Enterprise and came home.

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