Soul Glass: Michael Hopko Glass Fish

It's a fishy day and raining too, at the Nourot Glass Studio for Michael Hopko's demonstration at Arts Benicia Open Studios. Michael and wife, Darcy have come to Nourot to show off their glass making talent for all kinds of hand blown realistic fish sculptures. Demonstrating the fish making techniques will be Michael Hopko and his assistant Ron . This time Hopko is unveiling some new techniques. The octopos he brought with tiny glass canes is really amazing. Hopko is also showing wall mounted glass fish sculptures that are new. Prices range from $400--$900USD.

Nourot Spring Open House and Sale is located at 675 East H St in Benicia, CA USA. For more information see: http://www.benicianglass.com/

The Nourot Studio site: http://www.nourot.com/ has portfolio pictures of works by Micheal Nourot and family. Sale days are today May 2nd and tomorrow May 3rd.

Call the studio for more information: 707-745-1463.

Getting Descriptive: the SLS Hotel vibe

Here's a description of the Oscar Gift Suite venue: "Envision a wild mash-up of furniture and decorative pieces from the
creative mind of fabled designer Philippe Starck and the hotel’s owner
and .... Japanese soaking tubs and a shiatsu massage room also contribute
to the Zen ambience. The surrounding neighborhood is as vibrant and
fashionable as they come."
Dear friends, we from Nourot Glass Studio in Benicia, will be staying in the conference room on the floor under our table. No, just kidding. We are in a regular double room at the convention rate. We'll also be working our butts off to present the best of Nourot's red glass to attendees of the GBK Productions Oscar Gift "Lounge".
There will be morning updates as to which of the celebrities have confirmed to attend. Then the giggling will begin at our table as await each fabled legendary figure and match them up with the right favor of art glass which we'll already have packaged and stashed beneath the table. In addition, we will offer them "the envelope", a gift certificate to be used in Benicia at our gallery at a later date.

Poolside at the SLS Hotel

Thank you for all your support. Nourot Glass is going off to the 81st Annual Academy Awards. We'll be gifting celebrities a small piece of Nourot Glass: either a mini or small ovid in "Scarlet Nova" or "Red Satin" as well as "the envelope" ( a gift certificate for use at the studio gallery.
Not much is known by us about the la-la lifestyle, but we are pleased to learn the hotel has a sense of humor.See the above link and locate the goofy pig that is part of the pool decor.
That'll make you think twice about getting wings delivered poolside!

Making a Rivergate at the bench lately

Pictures here are courtesy of Joe Spillman of Novato, California. Micheal Nourot is making a "Rivergate" piece in these shots. His assistants are Nicholas Nourot (white shirt) and Reeven Rosen (blue shirt). The furnaces are up and running at this time, so come on down to the shop to see some exciting glass making.

The use of the large rosebud tipped torch is a common site when making large scale works. There used to not be much you could do really over 20 inches without it. The emergence of the new American glass masters in Seattle with their fondness for huge wonky works has brought this technology down the coast to us. The largest "glory hole" at the Nourot Studio is about 26 inches in diameter but the back side of the piece on the finishing rod is actually blocked from the heat by the girth of the piece. The torch adds the necessary heat on the side nearest to the glass maker to keep the whole thing right. There are other uses of the torch, too, depending on the process necessary to create a certain piece or with certain additions of hot glass to the original form that take time out of the 'Hole" and so the piece needs to be reheated in a piecemeal way; each part getting the added heat it requires.
Notice the bench and the 'glory hole" have both been lowered to make the working of these heavy large works more ergonomic. Every little innovation that we adopt is for a reason. Here you see the marvering table has had it's legs shorn shorter also.