February Glassblowing Classes Still Available

The STARworks glass lab has spaces available for the February Glassblowing Classes. January classes were a great success with potters, jewelry makers, and others using their creative energy to make beautiful glass pieces.

February classes are being offered Feb. 6-8 and Feb. 13-15.

February 6-8 - Glass II

This class is the follow up to Glass I, building on fundamentals from the intro course. The majority of time in the class will be time at the bench with demos in between to familiarize students with proper technique for the process. Students will also get to learn basic cold-working techniques to complete the glass blowing process from start to finish.

For more information on Glass II: GlassII.doc.

February 13-15 - Glass I

STARworks Glass Lab will be offering an accelerated, introductory course in glassblowing (Glass I) that touches on the fundamentals of glass, including basic hot shop techniques, tools and equipment.

Classes would be intensive 3-day classes meeting Friday evening, all day Saturday and all day Sunday for about 20 hours of instruction.

For more information on Glass I: GlassI.doc.

For more information about the classes, please contact Mike Linzy, glass coordinator at Mike@starworksnc.org or at 910-428-9001.

Glass Class A Success!

On January 9-11, 2009, STARworks glass lab held its first accelerated, introductory class of the year. Eight students, ranging from potters to jewelry makers, were able to learn the basic hot shop techniques, tools, and equipment. The students had a great time and were able to make between 5 and 10 pieces in the 20 hours of the class.

If you are interested in taking a glassblowing class, contact Mike Linzy at 910-428-9001.

Intro to Glass classes Jan. 16th,17th and 18th

Glass classes

The new STARworks Glass Lab is offering an introductory glass class (glass I) that touches on the fundamentals of glass, including basic hotshop techniques, tools and equipment.

Classes would be intensive 3-day classes meeting Friday evening, all day Saturday and Sunday for about 20 hours of instruction.

FRIDAY: Shop orientation, safety, history, demo, equipment operation.

SATURDAY: Gathering, bench operation, use of tools. Starter bubbles, 2nd gathers, and punties.

SUNDAY: making vessels, rolling in color, bits.

PRICE: $295 including lunch on Saturday and Sunday

Class size is limited to 8 students.

For more info, contact Mike Linzy@  mike@starworksnc.org or call 910.428.9001

Delivery Truck Bounces Off Objects In STARworks Parking Lot

On Monday Afternoon, a delivery truck hit a couple of items in the parking lot of STARworks Ceramics.  After bumping into the propane tank and knocking it off of its footing the driver proceeded to pull away from the loading dock.  Much to his and everyone else's surprise he drove away with the support cable for the power line.  Two power line polls came crashing to the ground and started a chain of events which resulted in the guard station on the corner of the back lot burning to the ground.

Star Fire Department could not do anything until the power company shut off the power to the line.  Imagine 12,000 volts getting sprayed with water.

WOW!

We're Done!

Temple University - Tyler School of Art

Philadelphia, PA

www.temple.edu/tyler/newtyler/index.html

On December 7th, the Assembly Dogs (Mac, Nick Phil & Steveo and Eddie stopped in last Saturday) hit the road for Philadelphia, PA to install the equipment we have been fabricating for the past six months.  As of this morning Mac and I packed the truck and said good bye to the beautiful new 4,000 square ft Wet Dog Glass studio at the Tyler School of art.  Temple relocated the Tyler School of Art from Elkins Park (North Philly) to its main campus just off of Old Town and has constructed an amazing 160,000 sq. ft building to house all Tyler art departments.  We worked everyday for twelve days straight to meet our deadline so the studio can open to the students & faculty on January 20th of 2009.  It was a long tough couple of days but it does not compare to the effort of everyone involved in the past six months.  We did it, but not without Mac, Evan, Daniel, Megan, Phil, Nick, Jaz, Steveo and we cannot forget the two people that make it happen all the time, Eddie and Angela.  Thanks guys!

A special thanks to the STARworks crew for all of your help.

Many Thanks,

Steveo

Wet Dog Glass

The First Bucket of Clay

The First bucket of clay was going to process!
We had a test run for our Shredder, Mixer and Filter Press last week, and the photo is first bucket of clay into the shredder.

Glassblown Ornaments for Sale

STARworks is selling beautiful glass ornaments for this holiday season.

These ornaments would make excellent additions to your Christmas tree or great gifts for ones you love.

The cost of one is $13. To purchase a handmade glass or clay ornament, please call STARworks at 910-428-9007 or Central Park NC at 910-428-9001.

VIDEO- Glassblowing Demonstration

The STARworks glass studio hosted Randleman High School for a glassblowing demonstration on December 5, 2008.

Part 1-




Part 2-

Clay Factory

Now, STARworks Ceramics are setting up our own clay factory. And it is going to be ready to mix clay soon. I have been testing local clays and we are going to process those NC local wild clay through our equipment and make our ready-to-use pottery clays.

Upcoming Glass Classes for Potters

Glassblowing for Potters

The new STARworks Glass Lab will be offering potters an accelerated, introductory course in glassblowing (Glass I for Potters) that touches on the fundamentals of glass, including basic hot shop techniques, tools and equipment.

Classes would be intensive 3-day classes meeting Friday evening, all day Saturday and all day Sunday for about 20 hours of instruction.

Class Schedule:

Friday: Shop orientation, safety training, history, demo, equipment operation. (4 hours)

Saturday: (8 hours)

* Ergonomics: rod and pipe procedure, posture and stance, bench orientation, marvering, hot shop communication

* Gathering: safety, where, how far up punty rod, how much

* Bench operation: positioning, how to turn, tooling.

* Use of jacks, make marbles other simple shapes

* Starter bubble, jackline

* Second gather, blocking, marvering second gather

* Paddles

* Transfer to punty, open up bubble, making cups


Sunday: (8 hours)

* Recap Saturday, continue making cups

* Rolling in color, demo an overlay

* Handles, bits

* Add all elements into cylinder shape and we'll see how far you get!


Price: $295 including lunch on Saturday and Sunday.
Instructors: Mike Linzy, Eddie Bernard, and Evan Morgan
Class size: Maximum 8

We are interested in offering a first class before Christmas on December 19-21 if there is sufficient interest. A more advanced class (Glass II for Potters) will be offered after the New Year as well as a repeat of Glass I. Other plans are to teach a glass casting class in the spring as well.

For more info, contact Mike Linzy @mike@starworksnc.org or call 910-428-9001.

December 13, 2008-- Central Park NC Open House

Join Central Park NC as we host an open house on December 13th. Come out and learn about the great things going on at Central Park NC and STARworks.

Enjoy glass blowing demonstrations by our experts and take home one of the beautiful clay and glass ornaments that will be for sale.

Everyone will get a chance to learn about our exciting new classes that will be starting in January 2009! You can register to be a part of the glass blowing and clay experience classes. Spaces are filling up, so don't miss your opportunity to learn from some of the best clay and glass artists in the region.


DATE: December 13, 2008
TIME: 10am to 1pm
LOCATION: Central Park NC, 100 Russell Drive Star, NC 27356

new equipment

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Carolina Collegiate and Agricultural Institute gets a new roof

Thanks to a generous grant from The Marion Stedman Covington Foundation the "old school building" is wearing a new roof.  Lee Hudson and his guys from Montgomery Contractors Inc., stripped, repaired and replaced the roof in about 3 days.  This video covers one morning up to lunch and then we went to Martha's.  After lunch the crew finished the other side.  It looks great.  It still drips in some other parts of the building, but under the new hat, it's dry as a bone.

Our hotshop and some work

STARworks hotshop. nice!                                    

Pillows

         

STARworks Glass Lab blog now up and running.

Celebration of Seagrove potters

November 21-23, 2008

Celebration of Seagrove Potters
www.celebrationofseagrovepotters.com

Held at the former Lucks Bean Cannery
Located on NC Pottery Highway 705, half a mile south of the traffic light in Seagrove

Friday, November 21
6:30 PM TO 9:00 PM Gala Preview $35
Meet the artists and enjoy the opening night festivities of this fabulous new festival as you and your friends have the first opportunity to browse and purchase from the thousands of pieces, sip a favorite beverage and enjoy hors d’oeuvres. In addition, attendees will have the opportunity to preview a select collection of one of a kind collaborative pieces. This is a first time venture, teaming Seagrove artists, to produce highly collectable one of a kind pieces. These pieces will be auctioned at 8: PM on Friday evening! Dress is casual.

Saturday, November 22
9:00 AM to 6:00 PM
$5 admission at the door
Fundraising auction will be held at 4:00 PM

Sunday, November 23
10:00 AM to 4:00 PM
$5 admission at the door

Glass Shop: We Have Lift Off!

It's taken nearly 3 years, but last Thursday, Eddie Bernard lit the first glass furnace at the new STARworks Glass Studio!  The studio was funded by a grant from the Department of Commerce's Community Development block grant program and was designed and built by Eddie's Wet Dog Glass team.  A big shout out to the Doggies who spent many, many long nights and long weekends, and lots of beer and pizza making it happen.  Thanks to Steve-o, Mac-adoo, Nick Dog, Phil Dog, Evan Dog, Megan Girl Dog, Eddie Dog and Angela Boss Dog for lighting our fire! 

The furnace and all the equipment is designed for maximum energy efficiency, right down to the fancy heat recuperator above the furnace. The equipment is also designed to be run on various fuels, including biodiesel or waste glycerin (a byproduct of biodiesel production.)  Here's Eddie pointing out the fancy-schmancy heat recuperator:

We also have a new instructor for the studio!  Mike Linzy comes to Star from the University of Louisville Kentucky where he was a student of Che Rhodes. Mike is going to be designing and teaching programs for high school students, as well as adults interested in glassblowing. Make sure you get a chance to stop by and welcome him to the area. 

To celebrate the firing up of the furnace, we popped a couple of bottles of champagne and in the spirit of things, decided to give Miss Louise ("Weezy the Wet Dog") a bath in the glass shop 

sink. 

just a picture of the fall garden

STARworks Glass In The Final Stages!

Hello Everyone,

We have gas and electric!  A big thanks to Nancy, Adam & Beth of the STARworks staff for getting everything rolling with the install of our services for the studio.  A special thanks to VanDerveer Gas, Larry & Ray for hooking up all these services.

Soon we (Wet Dog Glass) will finish the groundwork for the studio equipment at STARworks. 

We are over 60% finished with the hot glass studio and will be moving faster with the completion after the last final parts arrive.

Steveo

Sprinkler Leak!!

Always an adventure, our old building cried out for some attention earlier this month.  Kenneth from Comfort South noticed water coming out of the ground near the loading dock at Wet Dog Glass and together with Santiago found the general direction of the flow.  It was coming from a pipe under the building and they turned it off at the valve.  It was hard to tell exactly where the leak was until we busted up the concrete and dug down about fifteen feet to find the poor old pipe, exhausted and fractured.  Luckily the split was around the circumference and not lengthwise so we were able to patch it.  Wesley Brown, the "do everything" guy in Star helped us out by supplying the clamp we needed to get the leak stopped.  (It is the shining bit of blue amidst the red clay)  Thanks Wesley!! 

After that I ordered some perfectly mixed concrete from the guys at Chandler in Biscoe and we sealed it off as good as new...well as close as we could get.  In addition to growing one hell of a yummy tomato, our resident gardener Anne Pärtna, can float concrete like a seasoned professional.  The whole ordeal was a bit of a mess, but thanks to our awesome staff and our local help, we got 'er done.