Refurbishing and reopening...

We've got lots going on over the next couple of months or so. Please retweet us as often as possible to spread the word around...(we remember and reward our Twitter and Facebook friends!)

We are exhibiting at this year's Art Erotica exhibition in London at the Cork Street Gallery where Ruth's Glass Sculpture "Sexual Baggage" has been shortlisted for the prize list. Details here http://www.arteroticaexhibition.com/

The sculpture and other similar works in Glass are our current exhibition on display in our Gallery. It will be re-exhibited from Feb 1st for one month.

Details can be found on our website 'glass' page

We will be having a glass jewellery sale starting on Feb 1st featuring hand-crafted and bespoke jewellery from local artists and designers at some amazing prices(many items under a tenner!)...perfect for St Valentine's Day.

We will be making glass hearts for Valentine's day. They make the perfect gift for that special other and are available in a variety of designs, including the rainbow colours and pink, as well as the usual red. They come complete with a sterling silver chain and sell at £9.99.

Our Bottle clocks will be on sale again from February 1st again at amazing prices. All your favourite drinks brands, as well as kitchen clocks ( Heinz, Marmite, HP, Olive Oil, etc) will be buy two get one free whilst stocks last, whilst single purchases will be discounted by 20%

We are currently undertaking Stained glass window commissions and restoration/repair work and are booking up to June 2012 so far. Please get in touch for any stained glass work you require.

Our Cafe will be reopening for customers from Feb 1st for Hot drinks, breakfast, cakes, and afternoon teas. *Free hot drinks for all customers spending £15 or more in our glass gallery*

Please feature these offers on your website, and Facebook as well as twitter. We are always very greatful for all the fan publicity we get from you guys :-)

We are about to start selling glass craft supplies, including all types of glass in a wide range of colours and designs, materials and sundries fro cold glass work and stained glass. We will also be selling glass working kits and tools, books, designs, DVD's and software for glass artists, craft folks and jewellery makers. Workshops and teaching sessions will also be restarting very soon. We will update you as and when these happen.

More erotica..

More items for the forthcoming Whips and Chains exhibition came out of the kiln this morning... here's a sneek preview of the work involved. The pieces are set on a clear glass with white swirl effect, and sepia olden day style images of various BDSM and LGBT symbols, poses and activity.
Register your interest on the website contact form, and if you'd like an invite to the opening event, let us know as well

Whips and Chains...

Is the title of our forthcoming exhibition. To give it its full moniker, Whips and Chains - a Journey in Glass through the world of BDSM Erotica...

Now this might not be to everyone's taste, but some of the planned pieces are going to be really beautiful and certainly thought provoking. And to give you a wee taster, have a look at some photographs of the first pieces. All the pieces will be on sale following the exhibition, some individually and some as collections....Please get in touch using our website contact form if you are interested in an invite to the exhibition opening night, or wish to express a purchase interest..

Education in Glass - a paradox.

To be perfectly honest, I have lost faith in formal crafts education. 1st year students learn in one semester at University what takes two years at Further education colleges, possibly more. I know. I've seen both and been in both environments. I will however add that the practical aspect of glass education at college prepares students well for advancement at University, but at the colleges the creative nature of craft and applied arts is stifled in order to achieve the practical outcomes that are perceived as necessary to achieve in the craft once qualified.

University Arts education provides for a much wider creative space for growth and when in the context of applied arts we still see new ideas and concepts developing.

I regularly receive enquiries about short courses, particulalry from people who have had some sort of exposure but need to develop a new area, because they are devloping their creative ideas further. I personally think that the idea of modular qualifications in certain areas of education is ideal and by allowing the student to pick and choose modules, some essential for further development and others for perfecting a particular skill will open doors for mature students and enable them to gain qualifications at a speed that is comfortable and affordable to them. I believe in tasting whats out there, so a lot of what I teach falls in line with what I was taught, and tweaked here and there with what I found made the experience easier.

So here goes - I shall be offering very small modules in glass craft education that will enable crafters to move in new directions or even possibly develop a current skill or indeed overcome problems or shortcomings in the skills they have already developed.

If youre looking for a short course, evenings, weekends or day courses, please let me know or visit our main website and craft blog here

Buckfast in time...and a sneaky peek through the glory hole.

At last, our Buckfast bottles have been put to good use ! We are now proud to be the Saltmarket's only purveyors of unique hand-crafted Buckfast timepieces..

The Buckfast Clocks are now on sale.

The bottles are lovingly collected from the more salubrious parts of Glasgow's fair city and delivered to our workshop by many of the local 'characters' who inhabit these environs.

They are stored in our drinks cabinet (you can see the picture to the left ) where the glass is aged and allowed to stand. the bottles are then ready to go through the arduous and time-consuming journey to clockhood...

Washed thoroughly, with their labels carefully removed, the bottles are then placed in one of our kilns on the specially prepared and balanced kiln shelves, and heated to only the highest temperatures. Indeed, the programme takes the heat up to over 800 degrees ! The bottles slowly collapse, or 'slump' as the process is known in the trade, and cool down. A sneeky peek through the glory hole during this process reveals an incredibly shiny bright orange knob of glass. the bottles are then removed from the kiln, cleaned again, drilled and the clock face fitted. After the labels have been reglued, the clock is then ready for sale....and you can find them in our showroom or on the website for mail order