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© 2007
Scottish Provincial Press
Published monthly by
New Century Publishing Group
New Century House
Stadium Road
Inverness IV1 1FG
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Leah Williamson meets a man still learning his craft after thirty years
Heart of glass
August 2008
See this article as it appears in the magazine
 DOUGLAS Wilson has been glass blowing for 30 years but the unique properties of the material never fail to impress him. Gloveless, he is working on a long tube of glass that is grooved on the inside, creating a rippled pattern when blown.
“Glass is a poor conductor of heat so you can hold it without gloves, close to the flame,” he explained. “You need to be able to work without gloves when working with glass so you can feel what you are doing.”
Douglas has been running his own business, Iceberg Glass, for over 20 years. He was originally based in Drumnadrochit, where he still lives, but when the opportunity came up for a new shop in Fort Augustus, he decided the time was right to move.
Open during the summer months, the shop is an Aladdin’s cave of beautiful glasswork. There are delicate Christmas decorations, dainty teardrop earrings filled with coloured ink, solid pendants, brightly coloured window hangers, elegant vases and delightful tea lighters to mention just a few.
Douglas explained that although he has been involved in lamp work (glass blowing) for almost 30 years, he is improving his technique all the time.
One particular technique took a few months to master and involves capturing droplets of coloured, liquid ink inside a glass teardrop that can made into an earring or pendant.
The teardrop begins life as a thin glass tube which is heated up and blown to make a bubble in the middle that is gently stretched to create the teardrop shape. The tube is hollow all the way through and the end is placed over the ink.
The hot air expands to create the bubble and when it cools, the air contracts, sucking up the droplets of ink, trapping it inside the teardrop which is then sealed and ready for a clasp to be fitted on the top.
Splashed
Douglas explained that it took a few months of experimentation to get the technique just right. On one occasion he was shaking the glass vial to check for holes when he accidently splashed a customer with a droplet of green ink.
“She felt the splash on her forehead and said we must have a leak in the building!”
Douglas came to lamp work later in life. He has worked as a teacher and was a coach driver in London before embarking on his new career. The opportunity came about by chance when he spotted an advert for a six-month glass blowing course and he decided to try his hand.
“It was a course in scientific glass blowing – I had no idea what it was about but it sounded interesting! Looking back I think I was always interested in glass and I enjoyed Physics when I was in school. When I was little I had a glass piggy bank and I remember being really fascinated about how it was made.”
The course focussed on making glass laboratory equipment such as pipettes and burettes – the long-necked, curved bottles used in chemistry labs. Douglas enjoyed the work as it helped develop the techniques he would use in his own shop.
“I also learned how to do repair work – smooth out rough patches and fix holes that appear in the glass. You blow a wee bubble of glass over the rough patch and when it collapses it creates a smooth surface over the patch.”
After completing his course he worked for a wholesaler in London where he learned new skills and developed his technique further before opening his own workshop in Battersea.
“I decided to go for my own market, but at that stage all I could make were little birds and ring trees and I was making about 14 a day. The craft is very demanding but you get better all the time. You are always improving your technique.”
Douglas later moved to the Highlands where he set up home and business in Drumnadrochit before opening a new shop in Fort Augustus. It was while in Drumnadrochit that Douglas met a young art student, Brodie Nairn, and gave him his first taste of glass work during a summer’s work experience between college years.
Successful
Today, Brodie and partner Nichola Burns have their own highly successful glass studio and gallery in Tain, Glass Storm. When Highland Life’s sister publication, Executive, featured the couple last year, Brodie credited Douglas for inspiring his career as a glass artist.
Almost 15 years to the day that they first met, Douglas and Brodie collaborated on a lighting feature they exhibited at the Six Cities Design Festival in Inverness last year.
Added Douglas: “I’ve been very impressed with Brodie and what he has achieved. It is not easy to make a living out of this craft. People will look at pieces in a gallery and think they are very nice but don’t realise how many hours of work have gone into it.
“Glass has its limits – there are many things you can do with it and some you just can’t. It has amazing properties, it is a very special substance. When it is soft, it is a completely different material and in the right conditions, when pulled, it can have a tension as strong as steel.” |
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