CORNWALL MACMILLAN CHRISTMAS FAIR

9 November 2011 6 - 9pm
&
10 November 2011 10 - 4.30pm

Malcolm is taking part in this Christmas event and will be donating 15% of all sales made to Macmillan Cancer Support in Cornwall.

The Hotel Bristol
Newquay
TR7 2PQ
01637 875181

info@hotelbristol.co.uk

Tickets can be purchased either in advance by contacting

Mollie Mathieson on 01637 860580

or by email cornwallfair@macmillan.org.uk or on the day at the fair.
Morning tickets are £10.00 in advance (£12.00 on the day) to include smoked salmon sandwich and a glass of wine. 

Afternoon tickets £5.00 in advance or on the day to include a traditional cream tea.

Glass Blowing Lessons Available

Malcolm will be putting the furnace on again in the beginning of September so we have just updated the days we are offering glass blowing lessons for the rest of this year and early 2012.  

Do take a look at the lessons page on our website for all the details.

Arts Alive Window Display

We are delighted to have the work of Sophie Fordham in our window.  She is a printer from Launceston and has produced a vibrant selection of work to display in our window. 

Sophie makes mixed media prints, using etching, photo etching, dry-point, collograph, chine colle`, lino, woodcut and screen printing.  

 Most of of her prints are Mono prints which is a unique print or a ‘one off’.

Sophie's prints won't be in the gallery long though as the exhibition is just for one week, but we may be able to persuade her to let us keep them for a bit longer.  We also have a selection of her cards.  To see more of Sophie Fordhams work take a look at her website.

The town is full of windows of art so well worth a visit this coming week.

A Glassblowing Lesson

Kate and Richard attended one of our full day glassblowing lessons recently, they both said they had a really good time learning with Malcolm.

Malcolm is with his students every step of the way to begin with, guiding and helping where necessary.

As the day progresses after lunch Kate and Richard gain more confidence and they are able to do more on their own, although Malcolm keeps a close eye on them (he doesn't want anyone to get burnt!).

These are the pieces they made.......not bad for a first day!

 

To find out more information see the lessons page on our website.

Station Glass

We had a rare day out on Monday and went to see Station Glass which is Richard Goldings studio in Leicestershire. Richard was a founder of Okra Glass back in 1976 and he opened Station Glass last year.

Malcolm and Richard in the hot area

He uses an electric furnace which we were very keen to see, it’s all very compact and quiet to run too, do take a look at his website to read how he set the studio up in just 11 weeks and to see the stunning glass he produces.  

The electric furnace, lehr and glory hole combo.

Richards gallery area.

Provedor

I just have to tell you about Provedore in Falmouth , we had the most delicious meal last night.  It is a tapas restaurant situated in a very tucked away situation off the beaten track in Trelawney Road, we ordered about 6 different tapas and they were so yummy.  Finished off with a naughty pudding and the coffee was probably the nicest we have tasted.  A lovely evening out I can't recommend it enough!

Open Day Pics

Wow!
We were so delighted that so many of you lovely peeps came to watch Malcolm blowing, it took us quite by surprise.  The studio got so full at one point that we had to stop people going in until some had come out! Malcolm ended up blowing glass without stopping for 5 hours and all he had to eat were 2 bananas and a couple of tiny shortbread biscuits, next time I will make sure he has a big filling breakfast.

Finished it!

Blocking the glass

 

Adding a foot to a bowl

Our thanks go to our son Ben who happened to be visiting that weekend, he got roped into helping us.  We treated ourselves to the day off on Tuesday after our open day and spent a great time visiting some of the other studios that are open in Cornwall this week.
Our next "Open Day" will be Friday evening on November 25th when Malcolm will be blowing baubles for Christmas - no no don't mention Christmas yet!

Open Day at the Studio

Malcolm will be blowing all day and is happy to chat about his work and answer any questions, bring your camera and your friends too.

Do hope we will see lots of you on Monday!

New pieces on the website

Just spent this afternoon putting some new pieces onto the website, here are a couple of them.  The first is a large Stormy Sea vase.

Large Stormy Sea Vase

This unusual "Trees in the Mist Bowl"  bowl has been made by Malcolm and our daughter Rosie created the design and did all the sandblasting.

Trees in the Mist Bowl

Preparing to make Coast Path Pieces

Malcolm is making coast path pieces today so I thought you might like to see how he prepares all the colour, it takes him ages fiddling about to get it ready before he actually starts blowing.

Pulling the cane.....................

................out of the door!

Once he has finished pulling the cane he arranges it on the marver and chooses all the other colours that he is going to use.

Thin green cane and lines of granulated colours.

Cake tins of colours.

Right it's all ready and prepared now so he can start blowing.  Depending on how things go, and how large the pieces are, he makes maybe 3 to 5 pieces in a day.  After they are taken out the annealer the next day they are sandblasted and put back into the annealer to be fire polished, then out they come again, they are sandblasted again and finally hand polished.  

Phew.....takes ages doesn't it. Here is Coast Path vase that is finished.

Coast Path vase

The furnace is on again

Malcolm has lit up the furnace again today, this means a long day for him as he has to watch it carefully and bring it up very slowly and evenly until it reaches 600 degrees, then it is safe to leave it and go to bed at about 11pm.

A day of tidying and sorting out the studio, making it ready to blow glass again.  It's good having a day of cleaning and clearing up, makes you feel fresh and eager to work.  Also it's raining (again) today so no temptation to skip work and go out on the canoe!

Here we go!

This blog is something we have been meaning to do for quite a while now and as it is now raining cats and dogs, today is a good day to start.  It also happens to be the 1st of May......new month......new blog.


The furnace is not on but Malcolm will soon be lighting it up again, just for May, then it will be off again for the summer.  We have 2 days of glass blowing lessons planned, the first on the 21 May is fully booked and the next day of lessons on the 28 May has only one space left in the morning.  All the details are on the Lessons page on our website.


We are also taking part in the Fal River Festival by having an Open Day on the Bank Holiday Monday 30 May 11am to 4pm.

Wavy Sea Bowl