[PA-NJ Glassblowers] Glassblowers show their skill at Kutztown Folk Festival (Jeff Vanaman and Frank Stubbins)

Tony Patti gaffer at glassblower.info
Fri Jul 7 23:26:30 EDT 2017


http://www.readingeagle.com/news/article/glassblowers-show-their-skill-at-ku
tztown-folk-festival

 

Jeff Vanaman and Frank Stubbins are featured in an article, which was a
Google Alert for me.

 

Enjoy,

Tony Patti

gaffer at glassblower.info 

 


 

 

 
<http://www.readingeagle.com/storyimage/RE/20170706/NEWS/307079987/AR/0/AR-3
07079987.jpg&exactW=700&Q=80&exactFit=crop&RCRadius=20>
http://www.readingeagle.com/storyimage/RE/20170706/NEWS/307079987/AR/0/AR-30
7079987.jpg&q=80&MaxW=550&MaxH=400&RCRadius=5

Reading Eagle: Carl Fonticella | Jeff Vanaman of Clayton, New Jersey goes
through during a glassblowing demonstration at the Kutztown Folk Festival on
Wednesday.

 

 
<http://www.readingeagle.com/storyimage/RE/20170706/NEWS/307079987/EP/1/1/EP
-307079987.jpg&exactW=700&Q=80&exactFit=crop&RCRadius=20>
http://www.readingeagle.com/storyimage/RE/20170706/NEWS/307079987/EP/1/1/EP-
307079987.jpg&q=80&MaxW=550&MaxH=400&RCRadius=5

Reading Eagle: Carl Fonticella | Frank Stubbins of Woodstown, New Jersey
drips melted glass what will become a vase during a glassblowing
demonstration at the Kutztown Folk Festival Wednesday.

 

 
<http://www.readingeagle.com/storyimage/RE/20170706/NEWS/307079987/EP/1/2/EP
-307079987.jpg&exactW=700&Q=80&exactFit=crop&RCRadius=20>
http://www.readingeagle.com/storyimage/RE/20170706/NEWS/307079987/EP/1/2/EP-
307079987.jpg&q=80&MaxW=550&MaxH=400&RCRadius=5

Reading Eagle: Carl Fonticella | Jeff Vanaman of Clayton, New Jersey shapes
the handle of his vase during a glassblowing demonstration at the Kutztown
Folk Festival on Wednesday.

 

 
<http://www.readingeagle.com/storyimage/RE/20170706/NEWS/307079987/EP/1/3/EP
-307079987.jpg&exactW=700&Q=80&exactFit=crop&RCRadius=20>
http://www.readingeagle.com/storyimage/RE/20170706/NEWS/307079987/EP/1/3/EP-
307079987.jpg&q=80&MaxW=550&MaxH=400&RCRadius=5

Reading Eagle: Carl Fonticella | Frank Stubbins of Woodstown, New Jersey
drips melted glass what will become a vase during a glassblowing
demonstration at the Kutztown Folk Festival on Wednesday.

 

 
<http://www.readingeagle.com/storyimage/RE/20170706/NEWS/307079987/EP/1/4/EP
-307079987.jpg&exactW=700&Q=80&exactFit=crop&RCRadius=20>
http://www.readingeagle.com/storyimage/RE/20170706/NEWS/307079987/EP/1/4/EP-
307079987.jpg&q=80&MaxW=550&MaxH=400&RCRadius=5

Reading Eagle: Carl Fonticella | Frank Stubbins of Woodstown, New Jersey
applies melted glass which will become the handle will of a vase that Jeff
Vanaman of Clayton, New Jersey made during a glassblowing demonstration at
the Kutztown Folk Festival on July 5. Photo by Carl Fonticella 7/5/2017





Glassblowers show their skill at Kutztown Folk Festival

Thursday July 6, 2017 12:01 AM

By Ellen Bardash

KUTZTOWN, PA

 

Under a tent at the Kutztown Folk Festival is a table covered with pumpkins.

Unlike other pumpkins, these are ready to be sold in July. They come in a
variety of patterns and colors, and they'll never rot. That's because
they're made of glass, blown by hand by volunteer glassblowers from
WheatonArts in Millville, N.J.

The traveling group has been selling glass and doing demonstrations for 30
years. This is their 18th year at the Kutztown Folk Festival, according to
Frank Stubbins, who has been a volunteer glassblower with Wheaton's since
February 1984.

"I am a glass collector," Stubbins said. "I was carving decoys and this
opportunity came along and I took advantage of it. I would travel after work
to Millville, where Wheaton's is, to practice for two hours one night a
week. The factory manager was our instructor. So we had a group of four back
then, and we were formed to blow bottles in a mold and narrate the programs
at Wheaton's."

Of that original group of four, only two remain: Stubbins and Jeff Vanaman,
both of New Jersey. More recently, Stubbins' son, Wes, has stepped in. Frank
and Wes' wives both travel with the glassblowers, handling the retail side.
The whole family sees these trips as mini-vacations, according to Frank
Stubbins.

This year, the volunteer glassblowers have five presentations scheduled in
the region. Their first trip ever was in 1986, when organizers of a
symposium of chemical engineers at Stockton State College (now Stockton
University) in Galloway, N.J., called Wheaton's and asked if anyone would be
able to demonstrate glassblowing at the symposium. A few months later,
someone from Rutgers University heard about the glassblowers and asked them
to do a demonstration on campus.

"From there it just mushroomed out, and even Wheaton's told us this became
more than they had ever anticipated," Frank Stubbins said. "They said the
volunteers will last many times four or five years, and then they peter out,
and obviously this is still continuing after 30 years on the road."

During a demonstration at the Kutztown Folk Festival, Vanaman served as the
gaffer, or the person doing the glassblowing, while Frank Stubbins assisted
him. Wes Stubbins narrated the demonstration, which involved making a light
green glass mug with a curved handle and multicolored stripes. The men
showed that what sets glassblowing apart from other art forms is how quickly
a masterpiece can be completed.

"On an average piece, you're probably looking at about 20 minutes," Frank
Stubbins said. "My most involved piece takes me about 35 minutes to make.
That would be what is called a gemel bottle, and that is a double bottle
formed from a single bubble of glass."

For all the glassblowers, this is a passion, not a career: Frank Stubbins is
a retired lineman for a phone company who now drives a small school bus.
Vanaman is a retired schoolteacher, and Wes Stubbins takes time off from his
job as a fiber optic splicer for Verizon to attend glassblowing
presentations.

To pay for expenses not covered by the sale of their glass items, the
WheatonArts Traveling Volunteer Glassblowers are sponsored by local
companies. While in Kutztown, the group's propane is being paid for by
Service Electric Cablevision and their lodging by the Allentown Park Hotel.

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://glassblower.info/pipermail/pa-nj/attachments/20170707/796600ba/attachment.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 32821 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://glassblower.info/pipermail/pa-nj/attachments/20170707/796600ba/attachment.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 43276 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://glassblower.info/pipermail/pa-nj/attachments/20170707/796600ba/attachment-0001.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 35127 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://glassblower.info/pipermail/pa-nj/attachments/20170707/796600ba/attachment-0002.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 31184 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://glassblower.info/pipermail/pa-nj/attachments/20170707/796600ba/attachment-0003.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 29196 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://glassblower.info/pipermail/pa-nj/attachments/20170707/796600ba/attachment-0004.jpe 


More information about the PA-NJ mailing list