Gabbert Cullet, Fenton Glass and Oglebay Glass

Our group of 21 left the Cabell Board of Education office at 8:30 and made our way up I-77 to Gabbert Cullet in Williamstown, WV.  Gabbert purchases scrap glass (cullet) from manufacturers, sorts it by color and sells it to small glass companies, mostly for art glass.  Using cullet as a source of glass requires far less energy than making glass from raw materials.  In addition, small art glass makers may not have the capability of heating silica, soda and lime to the temperatures required for making glass.  Cullet is the answer.  Gabbert has a wide range of glass colors from white milk glass to ruby glass (made with gold) to crystal clear glass.  They sell the cullet glass by the pound in large or small quantities.

Our next stop was to Fenton Art Glass nearby in Williamstown.  Fenton has been in business since the early 1900s and has made blown and mold formed glass in Williamstown until 2011 when competition from Asian glass forced them to cease production.  The glass sold in the Fenton gift shop today is mostly glass made prior to 2011 that is being decorated and sold today.  The only glass items being made today are glass beads.  Our group was impressed with the beauty of the painting on the glass.  The paint is infused with a glass powder that, when heated, fuses with the base glass to make a permanent finish.
Perhaps a lesson to be learned at Fenton was seen in the pricing of glass items.  As we scanned items in the gift shop we noticed prices in the range of of $40 - $60 for most items which we though to be fair considering the amount of work and the degree of craftsmanship required.  However, a table in the gift shop held items that were designed in Fenton's Williamstown facility but produced in China.  Those items were priced in the $12 - $20 range.  

From Fenton we made our way north to Wheeling and Oglebay Resort where we will be staying for a few days.  After cleaning up and getting a dinner at Bob Evans in Wheeling, we returned to the Oglebay Glass Museum.  The guides gave us a tour of the exhibits displaying glass made in Wheeling over the past 100 years.  The peachblow glass with the three layers of glass was especially beautiful.  Four of our group were selected to work with molten glass and make a ornamental paperweight.  The work was hot but the results were beautiful.

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