Jacob Stout Fine art glass and the Winter Sun

The winter sun and Jacob's American made hand blown vessels are a wonderful combination.

Using techniques perfected in Venice 500 years ago,  he enjoys applying these skills to modern glass design. All of his work begins  from the raw ingredients, silica, soda and lime, melted at 2500 degrees  into a hot, gooey liquid we know as glass. With a steel blowpipe he is  able to gather the hot glass on the tip and blow a bubble into it. As his assistant blows into the pipe, Jacob sits at a bench and uses steel hand tools to manipulate the bubble of glass into a desired shape. A punty  (solid steel rod) with a small gather of glass on the tip is then stuck on  the bottom of the vessel, and the piece is cracked off the blowpipe.  Once transferred, the top of the piece is finished and tapped off into  an annealing oven to be cooled slowly.

His uses watermelon colors when creating the pair of opposite colored pitchers.  The match of size and color saturation is near perfect. 

Now add his matching bowl.  The variety of textures and color bend the light to dance on the table.

This process of glassblowing is very quick and requires much concentration, practiced technique, and good assistant communication. The study of these techniques inspires his forms and design choices. Smooth curves and transition of lines combine to create the figure of these vessels. Because no molds are used in his work, each piece displays a one-of-a-kind, hand-made appearance.

These are on display at the Harvest Gold Gallery in beautiful downtown Center Lovell, Maine on Kezar Lake overlooking the White Mountains of New Hampshire and Mount Washington.

Cereal Made Interesting

On a recent trip to Florida to do some shopping for Harvest Gold Gallery I had a chance to visit my Dad.  

He likes his cereal every day but wants it to be interesting.

So he has started mixing and matching all sorts of brands to create his own special kind.

Thanks Dad for a fun way to start the day!!

Museum Quality Master Hot Glass Artists At Harvest Gold Gallery

 Stephen Lundberg was one of the first Hot glass artists we began to collect.  This was years before we ever thought we'd have a Gallery.  Of course, his work looks lovely in the natural light with so many layers of color and clear the vase becomes almost 3-dimensional.

 Charles Lotton.  Yes, that's right The Charles Lotton was one of our first Hot glass artists.  We had such good taste!  His work paved the way for the American Hot glass artists of today.  Shattering the myth that the Europeans were the best glass artists.  Now we carry the next generation in Charles' family.  Several of his family members have become involved in the business Scott Bayless perfumes are beautiful and Jim Heer has the Caliliy perfect in the vase and perfume.

 Orient and Flume's artists use amazing detail in their work.  Each is signed and numbered, highly collectable.  This company is based out of Southern California and has been producing fine quality work for over 20 years.

Watch for more on our Hot Glass Masters.  We have only just begun!

Good Morning moon over Center Lovell Maine setting over Kezar Lake and the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  Mount Washington is a sliver of reflected sunrise light.

 

Some Favorite Custom Pieces

This was a great season for custom pieces.  These Tree of Life rings are made in white gold with the sapphire gems from the girls Great-grandmother's ring which was broken beyond repair, by their mother for Christmas.  Such a cool way to remember our ancestors. 

These sapphire earrings were custom designed for comfortable everyday wear that looks amazing.  He started the process and she picked it up and together we came up with these.

This heavy sterling silver Tree of Life dog tag style pendant with heavy cable chain was perfect for the young man turning 18 on his high school graduation day.  Congrats Chase:) 

The crinkle cuff has been Bill's new idea.  So far he has been very successful with this new narrow version in yellow gold with the matching earrings.

And of course there has to be one picture of Kezar Lake in Center Lovell Maine overlooking the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  So pretty.