Trip-Day 1 - Gabbert Cullet, Fenton Glass and Oglebay Glass Museum

 Gabbert Cullet            

 Our first stop was Gabbert Cullet in Williamson, WV. Here the hand sort Cullet, sent to them from local glass companies, by color. Once it is sorted by color the cullet is then sold by the pound for various uses such as landscaping, fire pit glass, marble manufacturers and to other glass blowing artists.  About 50 years ago they dealt with as many as 28 glass factories from which they received cullet from now they are down to about two or so, because China is taking over the glass industry.

From this the cullet is sorted by hand by like color and then can be sorted using the shaker method for similar sizing.



Fenton Glass

Our next visit was just around the corner at Fenton glass.  Fenton is a very popular name in glass production that I would group with Blenko as far as common names for collectible and decorative glass made in West Virginia.  Fenton has halted production since July 2011, and today are currently only making glass beads and exclusively is the only to hand paint their beads.

hand painting glass beads

Showing the ions added to create some colors of the glass

Oglebay Glass Museum     

Our last stop for the day was Oglebay Glass Museum which was the most insightful I thought of the day.  We browsed the gift shop which displayed glass made in the USA, Canada and other parts of the world.  Here is where I really noticed the different styles indigenous to areas of the world.  For example glass made at Blenko and Fenton are sturdy, durable and bold in color where as glass made in Egypt is dainty, and faint in color.  All of which were stunning. It was interesting to price the pieces as well, Blenko and Fenton were more on the expensive side, while Glass made outside of the US were half the price. Some pieces were hand painted in the US but the glass was made in China which then reflected a price between the high domestic pieces and less expensive imports.

Egyptian glass

Blenko Glass made in WV

AMIA hand painted in Denver, glass made in China

Kira's made in Canada

We then were able to watch a glass blowing demonstration, and tour the Glass Museum but I am going to have to leave you hanging because its been a whirlwind of a 16 hour day and my eyes are crossing at the computer screen.