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celebrates its art with first-ever glass festival</a><br>
<font size="-1"><font color="#666666">Huntington Herald Dispatch -
Huntington,WV,USA</font><br>
This will be an interactive celebration of Blenko that features a full
slate of glass-making workshops, demonstrations of everything from <b>glass-blowing</b>
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<h1>Blenko celebrates its art with first-ever glass festival</h1>
<h3 class="timestamp">Aug 17, 2008 @ 12:00 AM</h3>
<h3>By DAVE LAVENDER</h3>
<h3>The Herald-Dispatch</h3>
<a
href="javascript:newWindow('http://www.herald-dispatch.com/homepage_feat2/x809654418/Milton-factory-celebrates-its-art-with-first-glass-festival?mode=photo&im=0', 'photo_gallery', '950','750','resizable=yes, scrollbars=yes')"
title="Randy Rider, finisher from Milton, forms the top of the collector's vase Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008. This is the creation of Blenko Glass' First Annual Collector's Piece.">
<img src="cid:part1.05090002.04020202@glassblower.info"
alt="0817_blenko_09" title="0817_blenko_09" class="photo_feature"
height="187" width="280"> </a>
<div style="font-weight: bold;">Jeremy McKnight/For The Herald-Dispatch</div>
<div>Randy
Rider, finisher from Milton, forms the top of the collector's vase
Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008. This is the creation of Blenko Glass' First
Annual Collector's Piece.<br>
[Editor's note by Tony Patti: I like the large fan behind the gaffer!
(and clearly angled away from the glass piece being worked on)]<br>
</div>
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<p>MILTON
-- When you're one of the last glass factories in West Virginia,
surviving and thriving in a shrinking economy and in an increasingly
hostile business climate -- every day is a celebration of hand-blown
glass.</p>
<p>But this coming weekend, Blenko Glass Company is going to have a
festivus for the rest of us, to borrow a saying from "Seinfeld."</p>
<p>The first Blenko Glass Festival runs Friday and Saturday, Aug. 22
and 23, at the family-owned factory in Milton. This will be an
interactive celebration of Blenko that features a full slate of
glass-making workshops, demonstrations of everything from glass-blowing
to jewelry fusings, as well as a special vintage sale and a limited
edition piece sale.</p>
<p>The festival will be held in conjunction with the sixth annual
gathering of the Blenko Collectors Society.</p>
<p>More than 100 of those hard-core collectors from around the country
are expected to come to Milton to take part in the festivities on site
at Blenko's Visitor Center, museum, garden and factory.</p>
<p>For the fourth straight year, Karin Alonzo and her husband Tim will
be making the 17-hour drive to Milton from Dallas.</p>
<p>Alonzo, who is president of the Collectors Society, said she loves
to come to Milton and add to her 1,435-piece Blenko collection.</p>
<p>"One of the main reasons my husband and I drive to West Virginia is
for the ability to shop from Texas all the way there," said Alonzo, who
began collecting Blenko glass seven years ago. "It's great that we all
come from different areas of the country: Texas, Oregon, Michigan,
Florida and California just to name a few, but we are all unified by
our love for Blenko Glass."</p>
<p>Christy Gibson, a spokeswoman for Blenko, said the festival will be
a great chance to welcome in collectors from around the country and to
extend an invitation to everyone in the Tri-State to come out to Blenko
and see first-hand -- and even hands-on -- the ancient, amazing art
form of glassblowing.</p>
<p>"There are so many people from here who have never been over and
don't really know what we do," Gibson said. "We'd like to really open
the doors and get more people interested."</p>
<p>While in years past the collectors have met at the nearby West
Virginia Pumpkin Park, this year, all of the events will be on site,
except for a giant antique sale at the adjacent VFW Post.</p>
<p>Bringing everything on site, including a food vendor, gives Blenko a
chance for folks to really get up-close to the process at one of West
Virginia's last hand-blown glass factories.</p>
<p>Friday, there will be glass-blowing demonstrations, classes, jewelry
fusing and beading demonstrations.</p>
<p>As an added bonus, there will be a visit by a distinguished fellow
West Virginia glass artisan, Ron Hinkle of Dying Art Glassworks in
Buckhannon, W.Va.</p>
<p>Hinkle, whose works are sold at the Blenko Visitor Center, as well
as around the world, will be demonstrating from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Friday.</p>
<p>Hinkle's piece, "Jewels of the Nile," just won "Best of Show," this
spring at the juried exhibition, "Modern Interpretations Contemporary
West Virginia," at Tamarack in Beckley, W.Va.</p>
<p>While Blenko's expansive gift shop used to be Blenko exclusive, in
the past year there's been a complete makeover of the shop. It has
expanded to become a full-blown mini Tamarack of sorts, selling a
number of other West Virginia glass artists other hand-crafted items.</p>
<p>"We sell his stuff like hotcakes," Gibson said of Hinkle. "So this
is a chance for people to come and see what he is doing. That will be a
neat thing for people because he is up in Buckhannon and a little bit
out of the way."</p>
<p>In addition to hosting Hinkle, the new Glass Fest will also have
four different classes allowing folks to make everything from carved
glass sun catchers and mobiles to learning how to cast and chip Dalle
-- the famous, inch-thick slab glass used in cathedrals around the
world.</p>
<p>"It kind of gives people more chances to get hands-on with us in
different ways," Gibson said. "We've always done the Dalle class
before, but this is the first time we've done the other classes."</p>
<p>Those classes will be conducted with master craftspeople such as
Charlie Harshbarger, who is doing the mobile class and Mendy Miller, a
Blenko worker who is the daughter of veteran Milton-based glass-maker,
Charlie Gibson.</p>
<p>Saturday, there will be more classes, but really it's all going to
be about the sales.</p>
<p>At 9 a.m., the Visitor Center will put on sale the first "Blenko
Celebration Vase," a 20-inch high piece called "Mistral" in Seabreeze,
a new color being introduced with this piece with a swirled optic and
inspired by the '60s color called peacock blue.</p>
<p>Like Blenko's famous West Virginia Day pieces, these celebration
pieces will be part of a limited run to build buyer buzz and increase
the value.</p>
<p>Each piece will be hand-numbered and signed by company president,
Richard Blenko. There will be a total of 300 of these vases created
with #1-150 available at the Blenko Gift Shop on Saturday while the
remaining vases will be available to order online and by phone starting
Monday, Aug. 25. The mold will be struck after all 300 have been made.
Cost is $150.</p>
<p>Alonzo said the collectors are ready to see in person the new piece
designed by Arlon Bayliss, who created the 2007-2008 lines of Bravo!
Strata and Victoria, as well as the basketball trophies for the
Chesapeake Energy Capital Classic between WVU and Marshall.</p>
<p>"Some collectors are talking about camping out and spending the
night," Alonzo said. "We don't have a chance to be there for the
anniversary sale so this will be the first in a series and we're
interested to see the piece and to see what the next piece will be."</p>
<p>From 9 a.m. until noon Saturday, Blenko will also host a vintage
glass sale next door at the VFW.</p>
<p>Alonzo said they're happy to see all of the new changes including
the increased involvement with Blenko, the fact that festivities are
going to be on-site, the addition of the hands-on classes, and the
special celebration pieces.</p>
<p>"Blenko is really doing a lot to help us organize and to promote the
festivities," Alonzo said. "I think it's great opportunity for people
to learn things behind the scenes and see how things can be done, and
who knows maybe even think of it as a career."</p>
<div class="story_breakout">
<h3>If you go</h3>
<p>Here's a closer look at the schedule for the Blenko Glass Company's
"Festival of Glass."</p>
<p>Thursday</p>
<p>6 to 8 p.m. -- Tour of Blenko Glass Garden in Edgewood in
Charleston. Visit a home with more than 5,000 pieces of Blenko in the
yard at this home of Master Gardeners and Koi Pond hobbyist. The yard
has eight different unique beds each surrounded by Blenko Glass-colored
architectural brick, the stepping stones are Blenko Glass ashtrays from
the 1960s and '70s, the birdbath is a '70s Blenko bowl, many items of
glass have been in the yard for more than 25 years.</p>
<p>Friday</p>
<p>8 a.m. to 3 p.m. -- Observation Deck Open Glassware Demonstrations</p>
<p>8 to 9 a.m. -- Casting Class (10 per class) $40 Production</p>
<p>9 a.m. -- Guided Factory Tour (Open to the public)</p>
<p>9 to 10 a.m. -- Collector's Meeting in the Design Building (Members
Only)</p>
<p>10 to 11 a.m. -- Glass Mobile Class (15 per class) $40</p>
<p>11 a.m. -- Guided Factory Tour (Open to the public)</p>
<p>10:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. -- Dalle Chipping Class (20 per class) $100
Antique</p>
<p>11 a.m. to 12 p.m. -- Carved Glass Suncatcher Class $50 (10 per
class)</p>
<p>12 p.m. -- Food Vender on Site</p>
<p>1 p.m. -- Guided Factory Tour (Open to the public)</p>
<p>1 to 2:30 p.m. -- Ron Hinkle of Dying Art Glass, Buckhannon, W.Va.
Demonstrations at the Visitors Center Observation Deck</p>
<p>1 to 2 p.m. -- Carved Glass Suncatcher class ($50, 10 per class)</p>
<p>2 to 3 p.m. -- Glass Mobile Class (15 per class) $40</p>
<p>2 to 3 p.m. -- Casting Class (10 per class) $40 Production</p>
<p>All Day -- Jewelry Fusing demonstration and glass beading and lamp
work demonstrations</p>
<p>5 to 8 p.m. -- Tour of the Blenko Glass Garden in Charleston</p>
<p>Saturday</p>
<p>9 a.m. to 12 p.m. -- Observation Deck open featuring current and
retired master craftsman demonstrations</p>
<p>9 a.m. -- 1-1:50 p.m. Blenko Celebration Pieces available for
purchase</p>
<p>9 to 11 a.m. -- Live radio remote by WDGG-FM, 93.7-The Dawg</p>
<p>10 a.m. to noon -- Vintage Glass Sale at the VFW Building (beside
Blenko Glass Factory)</p>
<p>10 to 11 a.m. -- Casting Class (10 per class) $40 Production</p>
<p>10 a.m. -- BCS Member Tour/ Guided Factory Tour (open to the public)</p>
<p>11 a.m. to 12 p.m. -- BCS Members Chance to Blow Glass- $25 (keep
the piece you blow)</p>
<p>11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. -- Carved Glass Suncatcher Class (pick up
final product at the Visitor Center)</p>
<p>12 p.m. -- Lunch with a food vendor on site (Good Stuff Good Times)</p>
<p>10 a.m. to 11 a.m. -- Glass Mobile Class (15 per class) $40</p>
<p>All Day -- Jewelry Fusing demonstration, glass beading and lamp work
demonstration and James Woodson Jewelry Demonstration</p>
<p>2 to 4 p.m. -- Collectors Party (everyone welcome)</p>
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