Tag Archives: hot glass show at sea

Corning Museum Glassblower Megan Mathie Named Honorary Godmother of Celebrity Cruises’ New Ship

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Corning Museum Glassblower Megan Mathie Named Honorary Godmother of Celebrity Cruises’ New ShipCelebrity Cruises has announced that they will honor four employees – including Museum gaffer/narrator, Megan Mathie, as Godmothers of their newest ship, Celebrity Reflection.

Megan is a demonstrator aboard Celebrity Solstice, and previously blew glass on Celebrity Eclipse. When she was informed earlier this year that both her sister and mother were diagnosed with breast cancer, Megan became determined to support the cause. On each cruise, she and the Hot Glass Show team host a “Hot Pink Glass Show” where they make one-of-a-kind pink glass creations to be sold at an auction at the end of the cruise. The funds from these auctions go to Celebrity’s charitable partner, The Breast Cancer Research Foundation®.

“These impressive women personify the qualities we admire among our Solstice Class Godmothers: remarkable strength and courage, along with optimism, warmth and genuine care for others,” said Michael Bayley Celebrity’s President & CEO. “They beautifully represent countless other women within our company and around the world who have battled the disease or supported the cause in honor of friends or family who have done so.”

Megan learned to blow glass at the Columbus College of Art and Design, where she earned her BFA in 2006. Megan loves the immediacy of creating art from molten glass, as well as the cooperation between artists working together in the studio. In addition to blowing glass, she is also an avid painter and textile artist.

Being selected to be a Godmother of a new ship is one of the highest honors in the maritime tradition. This recognition is usually given to celebrities, industry leaders and heads of state. Like the Godmothers of every prior Solstice Class ship, the cause of breast cancer research and awareness is of great personal interest to these women.

Megan and her fellow Godmothers Jovanka Goronjic, Helen O'Connell and Rosey Rodriguez will officially launch the ship at a gala naming ceremony in Miami on December 1. 

Hot Glass Show on the Baltic Sea

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G Brian cuts glass off Taryn's pipe for create the foot of his platter.

The Museum collaborates with Celebrity Cruises to tell the world about glass. Celebrity Solstice, Celebrity Equinox, and Celebrity Eclipse each include a hotshop on the top deck of the ship where Corning Museum of Glass gaffers present live, narrated Hot Glass Show glassblowing demonstrations.

Are you a hardworking, articulate, friendly, expert glassblower? The Museum will be auditioning for the Blow Glass at Sea program at SOFA Chicago on Wednesday, October 31 and Thursday, November 1. For information and to apply, visit http://www.cmog.org/glassmaking/demos/hot-glass-show/sea/glassblowers-needed or call 607.438.5267.

Check out gaffers G. Brian Juk, Ryan Mellinger, and Taryn Bertolino onboard the Eclipse on the Baltic Sea.

G Brian prepares to trim the lip while Taryn Bertolino talks to the crowd.

G Brian works with hot glass while Taryn narrates the process for the crowd.

A crab comes to life on Deck 15 aboard the Celebrity Eclipse on the Baltic Sea.

A crab comes to life on Deck 15 aboard the Celebrity Eclipse on the Baltic Sea.

Special thanks to the Hurst family for photos of the Hot Glass Show on the Eclipse.

Hot Glass and Africa?

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Hello again!

As I’m sitting in the Warsaw airport, waiting for my flight back to the States after 6 months of being on another cruise ship, I am almost overwhelmed with everything I have seen and experienced in 18 different countries and islands on 3 different continents. I have taken approximately 4,000 photos that have captured beautiful vistas and many amazing historical sites with out of this world architecture. Now that I have several contracts under my belt it is fun to return to these places that we visit over and over and go right to my favorite spots just like a local.

Beautiful Santorini cliff view

Yet again I was lucky to have fantastic glassblowers to work and explore the ports with. The audience’s response to our shows goes over the moon when the team chemistry has the right ratio of skill, quirky humor, factual knowledge, sarcastic wit, and genuine friendship.

The Dream Team of Gabe Bloodworth, Ryan Doolittle, and Everett Hirche!

For the last show of my very last cruise we had the most amazing response from the audience thus far. Several of our glass groupie fans made each of us personalized signs with our names on them, a funny illustration, and a witty slogan that was geared to each of us. For example, Everett’s sign had a chain goblet drawing and a bearded face with a caption reading “Fear the Beard!”

Our enthusiastic and amazing Super Fans/Judges

To cap it all off, at the end of each of our pieces when we receive our final applause, these same audience members held up numbers to score each of us! It was a total surprise and made us laugh a lot. Once I realized we were being scored, I added extra flair so that I could get style points.

Everett reheating his glass with Africa behind him!

On our way across the Atlantic going from the Caribbean to the Mediterranean we passed through the Straight of Gibraltor right during one of our Hot Glass Shows. It was incredible to see Africa on one side of the ship and Spain on the other. Even though I was narrating the show at the time I couldn’t stop myself from taking a picture of Everett blowing glass with Africa behind him! The audience kindly understood and then many of them proceeded to do the exact same thing. It was yet another day for the epic glassblowing on the high seas record books.

My final Equinox Fish!

I’m greatly looking forward to my next contract which will be in the Southern Caribbean and sharing some sunshine and more glassy fish with you.

Until next time,

Ryan

Local glassblower Dane Jack receives Celebrity Cruise Scholarship

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As a Corning native and the younger brother of a glassblower, Dane Jack was exposed to glass from a young age. He has worked diligently for many years to develop his glassmaking skills.

Training on the Hot Glass Show stage under master glassblowers, Dane learned through repetition and gained muscle memory to make objects for demonstrations. “I wanted to learn the foundation of manipulating the material,” he says. By taking classes at The Studio, assisting other artists in the hot shop, and renting the Studio facilities to practice on his own, Dane quickly gained proficiency in the basics.

Over time, his work has become “technique-based rather than conceptual,” and, these days, he focuses on mastering advanced techniques. This dedication and perseverance has paid off, as he now travels for part of the year with the Hot Glass Show aboard Celebrity Cruises, demonstrating glassblowing in exciting places such as the Caribbean and the Mediterranean.

Inspired by the colors at sea and the architecture of the cities where the ship docked, Dane experiments on stage. “The opportunity to make whatever you want in a glassblowing job is priceless,” he recognizes, and, because the Hot Glass Shows at sea can last a couple of hours, the team has the freedom to create more elaborate pieces.

At the end of each cruise, three to six pieces of glass art are sold at an auction, with proceeds benefiting a scholarship fund for Studio glassmaking classes.

Dane himself was a recent recipient of a Celebrity Scholarship. Receiving a scholarship for the Winter 2012 session allowed Dane to take Dan Mirer’s Glassblowing, Design, Production class, which emphasized mold making for faster and more efficient production work. The class spent much of the week-long session in the coldworking shop shaping molds, a process which intrigues Dane as he hopes to incorporate mold blowing techniques to create a production line in the future.

Dane Jack making a mold at The Studio of The Corning Museum of Glass

Making a mold at The Studio

The community at The Studio has always been a supportive one.  There’s always some one around who can collaborate, bringing a quick bit of glass while he’s working on a piece or offering advice when he’s stuck on a process. Dane has rented time at The Studio to work on his own art, has taken classes, and has even worked in The Studio’s Make Your Own Glass area.

Dane’s story is not unique. The Studio and the Museum work hard to support and develop glass artists, by employing talented artists like Dane, providing scholarships, offering classes and providing a community that encourages exploration of glass.

Learn more about the Celebrity Cruise Scholarship fund, and others.

Girlie glass on the high seas

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The CMOG Celebrity Solstice lady glassblowers. Laurie Kain, Ryan Doolittle, and Helen Tegeler.

The CMOG Celebrity Solstice lady glassblowers. Laurie Kain, Ryan Doolittle, and Helen Tegeler.

A fond hello to everyone as I have happily returned to my ship home away from home on the Celebrity Solstice! After several trips on the ship it has become a seamless transition getting used to living and blowing glass on a floating city that takes you to beautiful locales around the world.

Helen pulling a winning ticket during one of our spontaneous raffles with her flower vase in the foreground.

Helen pulling a winning ticket during one of our spontaneous raffles with her flower vase in the foreground.

In the past my glassblowing team of three has always consisted of one or two boys and me. I know that when there is a team of all males they often get asked if females blow glass at all. For the very first time I find myself paired with two other female glassblowers and it has been absolute girl power dynamite. By sheer coincidence my first cruise began a couple days before Valentine’s Day and we embraced it with an explosion of girlie glass the likes of which I’ve never seen or experienced before. We created hearts with arrows, a cupcake goblet, flower vases, and to top it off a unicorn/pegasus sitting on a pink cotton candy cloud with a rainbow behind it.

Helen putting the finishing touches on her Unicorn of Unity

Helen putting the finishing touches on her Unicorn of Unity

Let me take you back and explain the creative inspiration for this gallantly gaudy unicorn piece that brings back fond memories of my delightfully tacky trapper-keepers from long ago. Every cruise we have an entertainment meeting with our Cruise Director, musicians, production cast, singers, AV operators, and activities staff. On the Celebrity Equinox the Hot Glass Show team made a very special piece of glass sculpture called the “Starfeesh” that would be handed off each cruise to a new person to recognize their exemplary performance or random act of kindness. The Starfeesh winner then gets to enjoy the glass sculpture for a cruise until they award it to the next deserving individual. Our wonderful Cruise Director, Stuart, thought it would be amazing to start this somewhat cheesy but beloved tradition on the Solstice, but with a new glass sculpture that he titled the Unicorn of Unity. This reminds me of our Captain who tells the passengers that our 1300 crewmembers come from 70 different countries and through all of our cultural differences manage to unite and work together in harmony. He then recommends that the UN should come and see how it’s done.

Laurie and her cupcake goblet

Laurie and her cupcake goblet

My team leader, the wonderful Helen Tegeler who I dub the glass sculptor extraordinaire, took this idea and ran a glass circle around it. During the last Hot Glass Show of the cruise we crafted this hilarious piece and the audience was coaxed into sharing our contagious giggles and high spirits. Of course us girls simply had to come up to our stage on a formal night and have an impromptu photo shoot with our beloved Unicorn of Unity before gifting it to our fellow entertainers. We promised everyone that to counteract the extreme girlie glass fest we would make a manly monster truck next cruise.

Decked out glassy ladies showcasing our Unicorn

Decked out glassy ladies showcasing our Unicorn

Until next time,

Ryan

Cruising with the Hot Glass Show Glassblowers

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Carole and her sister Georgia took a cruise earlier this year on board the Celebrity Solstice, where her nephew Zac is a glassblower in the Hot Glass Show live glassblowing demonstrations. The two attended every show, and were inspired to share the following limericks.

Visiting the Corning Museum of Glass glassblowers on the celebrity solstice

Carole and Georgia with the glassblowing team

There is a glassblower named Zac
Who joined with another, Dane Jack.
With Laurie Kain on the team,
They earned great esteem
Blowing glass art all the way out and back.

One glass artist is named Zac Gorell,
Who demonstrates and explains it so well.
His “Dream Pitcher” came true
From a dream he did view;
Creativity, night and day, one can tell.

Another glass artist is Dane Jack,
Raised in Corning and now going back;
Cruises done for a while;
He’ll demonstrate his great style
At the Museum–now, how cool is that!

Zac with a dragon stemmed goblet

Zac with a dragon stem goblet

Laurie Kain comes from Washington State;
Her Sunset Series of gold did create.
The shapes were pure molten;
When cooled, she would hold them
And viewers exclaimed, “Beyond great!”

Sparkling dragons, seahorses and swan-o’s
Support goblets more beautiful than Murano’s;
Laurie’s Lego Man was so cute,
Dane’s hatching turtle, to boot,
And Zac’s fish on its fins balanced just so.

They gather glass, blow it and wacky wrap it;
They explain how they form it and adapt it,
Then on charity’s behest
They auction the best,
Raising thousands, having fun while they’re at it.

Georgia on board the Celebrity Solstice

To anneal this glass tale edition,
Send Dane, Laurie and Zac on their mission:
Give it up for the three
Who create art at sea,
And continue the CMoG tradition.

You can see for yourself on a cruise ship,
Celebrity Solstice, Equinox and the Eclipse;
Or on land it’s a snap:
Find New York on a map
And visit Corning Museum of Glass.

– Carole P. Smith

Carole added, “The Solstice is a beautiful ship.  The crew and staff were friendly and helpful; the entertainment was spectacular, especially the show on the first night.  Food was everywhere and delicious and available at any hour of day or night. We went to every one of the glass shows and Dane gave Georgia the title “President of the Glass Blower Groupies“.  People recognized her in different places on the ship and even one time during a shore excursion.”

Georgia agreed that the live glassblowing demonstrations were the highlight of the cruise. “We went to every show, and stayed for the whole show, we just had to keep watching!” She also added, “I didn’t know anything about CMoG before. I was fascinated to learn that the Corning Museum’s research developed the all-electric furnace and glory hole, when other companies who were approached didn’t think it could be done.  I loved the CMoG shop and the way it was set up with bios of each artist, to actually touch the tools, and the glassblown work displayed was incredible.”

John Miller in the Celebrity Solstice house!

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Hello again my darling country! After cruising around the Mediterranean for four months it did my heart some good to skip down the ship’s gangway and plant both my feet on some good old Florida asphalt. I may have raised both my arms in the air and shouted “Ha!!” Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adored traveling around Europe for the first time and getting to see many phenomenal sights that I had only seen in my history books in school.  Being able to do what I love, blowing and sculpting glass, with a fabulous team was icing on the baklava cake for sure. The cherry on top was that we had an audience who truly gained an appreciation for the glassblowing craft and in many cases we passed on the glass bug that encourages one to be a glass addict (yay!).

John flattening his first piece

The last cruise of my contract was in the Caribbean and it was an extra special cruise because we had a guest glass artist by the name of John Miller. You may have heard of him. John’s work is easily recognized for its boisterous charm and humor in the form of super-sized blown-glass sculptures of everyday items and fast food. That same creativity and his sheer showmanship easily won our audiences over in the shows that featured our resident Celebrity Solstice glass artist. It was a marvelous example of how an experienced glassblower can pick up a blow iron in an unfamiliar hotshop with a new crew and make glass magic happen. Though we did have to teach John the all important glassblower ship stance. He cracked up when the furnace door closed on him when he was gathering some glass.  During his shows, John made a huge 15-gallon incalmo beer glass that impressed everyone with the sheer amount of glass he was able to lug around. He flipped the coin and made a slider stem goblet that was absolutely adorable and funny for his next piece.

John and his darling slider goblet

Our auction to benefit the Celebrity Cruises Glassmaking Scholarship Fund was a resounding success with the addition of several of John’s pieces. One special crackle vase raised almost a thousand dollars for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Listening to the slide lecture that John gave brought me back to my formative college years and how inspiring it can be to take a peak into another artist’s motivations and processes. Having John and his dynamite wife Daniella cruise with us was a real treat not only for John’s amazing glass skills, but because they were such fantastic company to host. Daniella was ecstatic to see John don a suit (he called it a monkey suit) for the first time in 20 years and have many 5 star dining experiences. I was happy that my last cruise was by far the best one and to have had such an amazing time with talented glassblowers and a wonderful crew. Hopefully I will see some of you on the high seas in my next contract! Happy 2012!

The CMOG Crew (Dane, Ryan, Zac) with John after the last show of the cruise

Greetings from Valetta, Malta!

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Today was yet another epic adventure for us glassblowers on the Celebrity Solstice. We had a marvelous time visiting three local production glassblowing studios in this historic city.  It is always interesting to check out different hot-shops to see what equipment and glass is being used, the techniques that are being demonstrated, and to talk shop with the glassblowers. Being able to do all this in another country definitely amps up my curiosity and excitement to a whole new level.

Ryan Doolitle glassblowing

Blowing glass at the Valetta shop

My favorite stop by far on this grand adventure was the Valetta Glassblowing shop. The glassblowers were total characters as they quickly moved around each other sculpting little kitties and swans while nonchalantly smoking cigarettes and joking with each other. When I told them I was a glassblower on a cruise ship I don’t know if I confused them more because I claimed to be blowing glass on a giant ship or if it was the fact that I’m a lady glassblower. Regardless of the reason, they were quick to open the floor to me so that I could prove myself.

Glassblowers at the Valetta shop

The Valetta Glassblowing shop

We always tell our audience that going into a new hotshop to blow glass is like cooking in another person’s kitchen. All the basic equipment is there so once you get acclimated to the layout and the temperature of the furnaces it’s a piece of cake to create what you’re used to making.  Weeeellll, upon reflection I would now say that I have been spoiled because I’m accustomed to blowing glass with very well made and maintained equipment and it was quite an eye opener to work in this unique Maltese hotshop. Their oil burning gathering furnace was open on both sides so that the glass could be gathered out of one side and the other could be used to reheat the pieces to be finished.

I was hazed a little bit with the old warm punti on the back of your leg manuver and I believe I passed because instead of flinching or exclaiming I just moved my leg to the side. I also got to compare arm burn scars with one of the workers and I got a nod from him because mine was larger (though I’m not sure this is something to brag about). Overall it was an amazing experience and even though our cultures and mother tongues were completely different, the glassblowing language that we shared proved more than adequate to understand each other.

Ryan Doolittle

In the hot shop

Until next time,

Ryan

Hot Glass Show auction packs the house in Greece

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Today we have another post from Ryan Doolittle, one of our glassblowers currently onboard the Celebrity Solstice.

Kali mera (good morning) from the Celebrity Solstice in Pireaus, Greece!

This morning I woke up early to light up the hot shop for our morning show and something rather unexpected was waiting up on the 15th open deck. It was a sea day so we were in the middle of the Mediterranean Ocean with no land in sight, so I was quite surprised to see 9 little birds flitting about on our real grass lawn that borders the hotshop. I have no idea where they came from but the reason why became clear when I asked one of our always smiling lawn caretakers, Arnold. He told me with a bit of a put upon expression that they had just reseeded the whole lawn so all the birdies were having the best lunch ever. I joked with him that the birds probably have a lookout that tells all his bird friends when a Solstice class ship with a real grass lawn chock full of delicious seeds is on the horizon.

Hot Glass Show at Sea

The Hot Glass Show team

One of our team members, Tom Ryder, just recently left for home in Corning since his contract ended. We were sad to see him go since we had a blast with him blowing glass and visiting amazing ports of call but he left with a bang since we had our best auction ever before he departed. Let me rewind a little and explain. We often get asked if we sell the glasswork that we make and the answer is always no since we’re a not-for-profit museum, but there is one instance in which some of our best pieces that we make each cruise can be purchased.  Most of the glass we make gets raffled off for free to our audience but we do have one auction per cruise in which the proceeds help fund the Celebrity Cruises Glassmaking Scholarship fund. All of our auctions have been wonderful since all our glass fans show up and literally pack the house.

Auction to benefit the Celebrity Cruises Glassmaking Scholarship fund

Auction to benefit the Celebrity Cruises Glassmaking Scholarship fund

We were especially fortunate to have our fabulous Hotel Director, Nina, act as our Vanna White and show the glass up for auction to the audience.

Hot Glass Show at Sea auction

Nina at the auction

Maybe it was her aide, the general joviality and generosity of our fans, the beauty of our glass, or just that some folks were absolutely determined to go home with the best souvenir ever but we raised almost $6,000! I think it may have been a combination of all of the above and we were all very proud that our work helped contribute so much to this amazing scholarship fund, which affords countless glass artists the chance to take classes at The Studio. Yay! Our newest team member, Dane Jack, has expressed his determination to beat our latest auction record, so ready, set, let’s blow some amazing glass on a cruise ship!

Andio for now!

Ryan

More From Rome

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Today we have another post from Ryan Doolittle, one of our glassblowers currently onboard the Celebrity Solstice.

I love to ask our audience the questions, “Who has never seen glassblowing before and did you have any idea that there would be a hot glass show onboard?” Of course, a favorite answer is “Yes, we saw you on the Eclipse or the Equinox and it was the highlight of our cruise so we had to come back to a cruise ship with the CMOG Hot Glass Show on it!” I also love it when people say that they have never seen hot glass in action because the glass bug swiftly hooks them and as we all know, once the glass bug gets you, it never lets go. Our extreme glass groupie fans will forego their fancy dinners so that they don’t miss a show and these are the folks that make my day.

Corning Museum of Glass onboard the Celebrity Solstice

The Celebrity Solstice

The cherry on top of this incredible itinerary of ports in Italy, Greece, Turkey, Spain, and France is when we overnight in Venice and get to spend an afternoon in Murano. Yay glassblower paradise!! The first time I went to Murano I was literally shaking with excitement as we pulled up to the island in the water taxi. Luckily I was with my fellow glassblowers and they were able to show me some hidden highlights. I would never have been able to find Carlo Dona’s toolmaking workshop on my own and to meet the man himself and purchase a pair of jacks from him was absolute dynamite! I shot straight from cloud nine to cloud fifty.

Ryan Doolittle

At Carlo Dona’s toolmaking workshop

Bob, my generous purple kitty coin purse giver-glass-mate, has started a traveler’s guide called “A Gaffer’s Guide to the Med.” We have begun telling our audiences tips about what we like and dislike in our varying ports of call. My favorite instance was when Tom and Bob told our darling fans that they were planning on getting an infamous Kusadasi haircut in Turkey. This is far beyond a normal barbershop haircut and shave since it entails burning the hair out of your ears, a lot of waxing and a bit of a massage as well. Of course sometimes there is a bit of a language barrier and if you ask for just 2 millimeters to be taken off, you might end up with just 2 mm of hair left period. Yikes! We were all rather surprised when one of our frequent audience members came back from Turkey having gotten the infamous Kusadasi haircut. Let the good times roll!

Arrivederci for now!