Washington Glass School ca 2004, located in the Washington Sculpture Center in SE DC.
In the aftermath of the 2000 Artomatic show, renowned glass artist Tim Tate and metal/eco-artist Erwin Timmers felt the need to create a space for the growing glass art community in Washington, DC. Their solution was the founding of what was first called “Meltdown”—the future Washington Glass School. The school’s very first class, held on September 13, 2001, came in the shadow of one of the most tragic days in American history. While the founders initially considered canceling the session, the overwhelming desire of the students to move forward created an indelible bond. The class became a healing space, where sadness and fear were channeled into creativity and connection.
Meltdown Studio class schedule 2001Early light fixture class (ca 2002) shows off their finished works.
From those early days, the Washington Glass School (WGS) has embraced community and resilience as core values. In 2003, the school relocated from its original home—now the Rubell Museum in DC’s Southwest neighborhood—to the Washington Sculpture Center. Michael Janis, an innovative artist who joined the school that year, became a director by 2005. His leadership, alongside Tate and Timmers, continued to steer the school as it grew in reputation.
Future WGS Director Michael Janis (center) in his first class at Washington Glass School, 2003.Michael Janis works with students from DC’s Stuart Hobson Middle School (ca 2004).
In 2006, a turning point came when the school’s building was taken by eminent domain to make way for the Washington Nationals’ baseball stadium. Unfazed, the WGS team moved just outside the District to Mount Rainier, Maryland. It’s been their home ever since, where they continue to teach, collaborate, and create public art.
WGS Directors (L-R Michael Janis, Tim Tate, Erwin Timmers)
WGS has evolved into a dynamic hub for artistic exploration, encouraging artists to challenge the conventional limits of glass as an art medium. Their collaborative spirit thrives, with glass artists working alongside creatives from other disciplines, producing public art that speaks to the heart of the community.
In 2024, DC artist Kelly Towles painted a mural “I ❤ Glass” on the facade of the glass school.
Exhibit and graphic designer Patrick Trubychecked in with a couple photos of an architectural project that he completed that featured the cast glass he made at the Washington Glass School. Said Patrick of his work “…Refinished this 1920’s door set on barn style sliders for a friend’s house renovation with inset piece of dimensional kiln formed glass produced during my time … at Washington Glass School”
Cast glass by Patrick Truby
Patrick used to be the senior designer for the National Geographic Museum, where he designed graphics, exhibition build elements and promotional materials for over 60 in-house and traveling exhibits, ranging from information kiosks to touring exhibitions.
In 2012, Patrick created cast glass artwork for Lindblad-National Geographic’s expedition ship, the National Geographic Explorer.Below is a photo of one of the cast glass panels as it was installed in one of the ship’s lounge areas.
Bas-relief cast glass panel in the Explorer depicts a school of fish swimming around the sandblast text.
The WGS Blog returns to provide More. Glass. Trivia!
As far as the early history of glass making in Britain goes, the Romans brought the technology with them. This led to the European-wide spread of glass manufacture. British history records glass “Manufacture” dating back to the 13th century when “Broad Sheet” glass can be located to the areas around Sussex and Surrey. In the meantime the Venetians had thrived as glassmakers, as their glass became popular due to its brilliance and creative form. By 1330 the French had also developed “Crown Glass”. This took until the 17th century to be produced in England, in London.
In England in 1676 George Ravenscroft invented “Lead crystal” by introducing lead oxide to the glass which took on a more brilliant appearance.
The 17th century brought a new glass process from France, “Plate glass”, a term still used today. This was a process of pouring molten glass onto a table and then rolled. Once cold, the glass was ground under large grinding disks until optically smooth, making it perfect for mirrors. The French had legislated heavy duties on imported glass products which made it impossible for the Venetians to Export, and also offered generous incentives to any Venetian willing to work for them. By the 18th century this technology was being used in England at Ravenhead, producing the first English Polished Plate.
The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and plate-glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851
Much of functional architectural glass applications – like shower doors, table tops, car windows, skylights, etc. – requires the use of safety glass – often glass that has through a process called tempering. Glass is pretty wonderful stuff, but it does have some bad habits. First, it is brittle and has a tendency to crack when struck or heated unevenly. Second, shards of glass are really sharp and pretty dangerous. Tempered glass solves both of these problems simultaneously. Glass is much stronger in compression than tension.
Float Glass process
If you can cause the surface of the glass to become compressed relative to the interior of it, you can harden it by a factor of up to 10. There are a couple of ways to do this. One is to heat the glass and then cool it very quickly. The surface of the glass will cool much more rapidly than the interior. The slow cooling of the interior causes it to want to contract more than the surface, placing the surface under considerable compression. This strengthens the glass and makes it more scratch-resistant and heat-resistant in the bargain. Another method is chemical tempering, in which sodium atoms on the surface of the glass are replaced with potassium atoms, which are significantly larger. This also puts the surface in compression, and can be done with glass of complicated shapes that would not survive heat tempering.
One interesting effect of the tempering process is that tempered glass doesn’t just crack. When tempered glass encounters a big enough stress, it shatters into small granules. If the integrity of the surface of the glass becomes compromised, the interior, which is under huge tension, will disintegrate. This is much safer than big dangerous shards, but does make the glass suddenly an awful lot harder to see through. This is one reason why the windshield of your car is not made with tempered glass, but laminated glass. Laminated glass is made by bonding two or more layers of glass with an ‘interlayer’ of plastic film which will hold the pieces together if the glass should crack.
Tempered glass is an extremely useful material, but it does demand some planning. Because of tempered glass’ all-or-nothing breakage, it must have been already cut to the size, shape, and already have any holes cut out before the tempering process. There’s no cutting the glass down to fit afterwards.
Tempering as an industrial process started in the 20th century, but it was a party trick far before that. One of the first examples of tempered glass is something calledPrince Rupert’s drops (or balls), supposedly named after the Bavarian prince who brought it to the attention of the Royal Society. If you let a blob of molten glass drip into a bucket of water, it will form an extended teardrop shape with interesting properties. The bulbous end of the drop is tempered and can withstand extreme force, such as hitting it with a hammer. The tail, however, is very delicate, and if broken, the whole thing will shatter into tiny pieces.
When you think about it the stuff is a bit odd, but that’s glass for you. It’s odd stuff.
Boyce Lundstrom – one of the co-founders of the Bullseye Glass company and fused glass leader – answers questions about vexing glass fusing issues on his website. Recently he posted on other ways to detect the tin side of float glass. As glass fusers know, the tin side of float is contaminated with tin during the float glass making process, and locating the tin side is useful for the artisan.
Boyce writes:
“The most accepted way to tell which side was floating on the tin is to use a short wave black light. A small device often referred to as a Tin Scope is available and costs approximately $55. When the black light is placed against the glass, the tin side will appear cloudy. (Mark that side with a permanent marker.)”
M L Duffy checks for tin side as he creates the cast glass for Safeway supermaket’s Bethesda public artwork.
“Another way to test is with cutting and firing. First mark one side of your glass with a line made with a permanent marker. Cut off a strip of the glass that has the marker line and fire the strip to 1450º. The tin side will not devit or haze. The side without the tin will haze, or get a satin finish. Match up your tests and mark the larger glass as to the tin side for later identification. The cost will be about $.50 for the firing in any 120 volt kiln.”
“This feels like float…”
Boyce continued – “I recently tried a third method of discerning the tin side of Float glass with my students at a workshop in Kansas City. I explained how Float glass was made, and then I asked them to identify the tin side by using only the sense of touch. They were encouraged to feel the two previously cleaned sides of the Float glass with their fingers and discern a slight difference in the surface texture. Without further instruction or explanation, every one of the students was able to tell me which side of their glass sample had the tin finish. One side was smooth but the other side is “smoother.” The less smooth side is the tin side. The cost is “0.” Trust yourself!”
Interesting premise – I have not tried it yet. I am sure that I will feel the cut side of the float glass.
Ow.
Click HERE to jump to Boyce Lundstrom’s Q & A section of his website.
Since the earlier posting about BE’s glass forming process, many have asked us about how float glass is made so smooth. The answer is due to the manufacturing process.
The first advances in automating glass manufacturing were patented in 1848 by Henry Bessemer, (of steel-making fame), who developed a steelmill-like, but very expensive process to produce a continuous ribbon of flat glass force under heat between rollers. Another old method formed large sheets of plate glass by casting a large puddle on an iron surface. Both of these processes required secondary polishing.
Then in the 1950s, Sir Alastair Pilkingtonand Kenneth Bickerstaff created the first successful commercial application for forming a continuous ribbon of glass using a molten tin bath on which the molten glass flows unhindered under the influence of gravity. By floating on the bed of tin, the glass sides are smooth and flat, however the glass does pick up a tin residue – which often needs to be addressed when kilnforming.
Not as motivational as Bullseye Glass’ Mitchell Schou’s wicked dance moves – but educational.
Click HERE to jump to an industry video about the float glass process.
