I have an itemized list of the 30 glassblowing stamps on my home page here.

Offers two sizes of crucible kilns:

• 25 pound, Model 1411C Crucible furnace, 14" dia. by 11" tall (inside).
  Fits 25 pound crucible. 240 volt, 17 amp. Very efficient.
  Complete with digital ramp/soak controller, disconnect switch on lid,
  1" fiberboard top insert. Standard w/type K thermocouple.
  For type S thermocouple, add $100.00.
  US$895.00
   
  
• 50 pound, Model 1713C Crucible furnace, 17" dia. by 13" tall (inside).
  Fits 50 pound crucible. 240 volt, 24 amp. Very efficient.
  Complete with digital ramp/soak controller, disconnect switch on lid, 1" fiberboard top insert.
  Standard w/type S thermocouple.
  US$1175.00

• Glossary of Marble Terminology
• Marble Production Methods over Time
• How Marbles Are Made
• US Marble Patents
• Video #1: Gobs of Glass Dropping (with the help of gravity) out of a Furnace
• Video #2: Glass rolling down spiral ramps
• Video #3: Glass spheres exiting the spiral ramps
• The 18 steps to making a hand-gathered glass marble

Dichro is a glass sheet which has been plasma coated (vacuum thin film deposition) with metal oxides only a few millionths of an inch thick. These metallic layers produce one color when viewed via transmitted light as contrasted with reflected light, so the colors you see change when you look at the glass from different angles. I consider this basically a form of "magic", but you may consider it similar to the rainbow pattern you might see in a puddle of water which has a small amount of oil on top.

Susan's dichro has a 90 COE so it should be compatible with most furnace glass.

Susan sells dichro with either a clear backing glass (substrate) or opaque black backing glass (substrate). I've been told that when you want to incorporate dichro into a hot glass piece, you want the CLEAR dichro, place (roll) the plasma side (shiny side) on your bubble, and leave the clear base glass on top - to protect the fragile plasma layer from the heat of the glory hole etc.

Click here to see Tony Patti's first dichro piece

"The American Scientific Glassblowers Society is dedicated to providing continuing education for its members and maintaining the successful association between scientific glassblowers and all of the various enterprises which entail glass fabrication.

The ASGS is a professional, nonprofit, organization of scientific glassblowers and associated members who are interested in the art of scientific glassblowing. The objectives of the Society are the promotion, gathering, and dissemination of technical and scientific information concerning all aspects of scientific glassblowing."

According to an article in the Baltimore Sun Newspaper " University glass shops 'are shrinking,' said Michael J. Souza, the glassblower at Princeton University and president of the American Scientific Glassblowers Society, which numbers about 1,000 members. 'The trend is not going good.' "

Hot Shop Rentals are for 4-hour blow slots and cost $160 per bench. Rental of one bench includes: one glory hole, annealer space, oxy-propane fire polishing area, use of a small garage, jacks, tweezers, scissors, diamond shears.

In 1923, his 26-year-old son William H. Blenko Sr. joined him in Milton. This is when the factory really took off. William H. Blenko Sr. had energy, ideas and an astute sense of sales. Even by 1927, Eureka antique sheet glass was specified for Liverpool Cathedral. By 1929, sales were slow due to the depression in America. Bill Sr. contacted a Boston Importer, called Carbone. Carbone was importing his glass vases from Venice, Bill Blenko said he could manufacture them, and save Carbone money. In reality, Bill Blenko did not have the skilled men to make them. Upon his return to Milton, he found two Swedish glassworkers to work part-time. Their names were Axel Mueller and Louie Miller. They were brothers. These two men were highly skilled in stemware manufacture, and set the standard for all craftsmen to follow.

William H. Blenko Jr., after serving his time in the Air Force, in 1946 became the 3rd generation to join the family business of glass making.

In 1976, Richard Deakin Blenko, son of William Jr. joined the business, becoming the fourth generation to work in the family business. In 1989, he published the book "Blenko Glass 1930-1953, and founded the Blenko Glass Museum.

Flameworking is a technique of forming objects from rods and tubes of borosilicate glass. Flameworking stems from an ancient tradition that was used in Ancient Egypt to produce highly decorated and prized glass vessels that were buried in tombs and survive today. When heated in a flame, glass becomes soft and can be manipulated into the desired shape. Formerly, the source of the flame was an oil or paraffin lamp used in conjunction with foot-powered bellows. Today, gas-fueled torches are used.

3D Arts Building
275 Swamp Road (click for Mapquest)
Newtown, PA 18940
Phone: 215-968-8211

Click here for information about the Glass Arts Society at BCCC.

See also Introduction to Glassblowing (ARTS 147 course) and
Intermediate Glassblowing (ARTS 148 course)

The photo shown at the left was taken during the Fall 2004 semester Group Project (normally there are not five people working in the furnace area of the studio at one time).

Fused Glass Source actually lists the price on a per rod basis and while "red" traditionally is one of the more expensive glass colors, it is actually one of the least expensive Bullseye rod colors (and quite a pretty opaque red too).

Fused Glass Source has a good color chart as well as a nice photo of the rods

In terms of COE compatibility, C&R Loo has a nice chart as does which compares

• Bullseye at measured COE 90
• Q-Colors (Reichenbach): calculated COE 89, measured COE 91 - 94
• Kugler: calculated COE 83 - 86, measured COE 89 - 95
• Zimmerman: calculated COE 86 - 90, measured COE 94
• FHC base glass: measured COE 91.5 (this is the glass used at BCCC)
• Spruce Pine base glass: calculated COE 87, measured COE 96
• Gaffer Batch base glass: calculated COE 90, measured COE 95.5

Caithness Glass is a world leader in the creation and manufacture of high quality paperweights and artglass. Since our inception in 1961 we have taken our inspiration from the colours of the Scottish landscape - warm peaty tones, heather purple, golden sunsets, the grey blue of the lochs. In 1968, we added glass engraving to our skills, and in 1969, we developed innovative techniques for producing abstract paperweights. Today, over 30 years later, our paperweight studios in Perth combine the finest design and traditional skills to create pieces which are entirely unique, and we are now justifiably regarded as one of the world's most respected producers of museum-quality paperweights."

Chicago Hot Glass includes:

• 3200 square foot facility
• furnace with 400 pounds of Spruce Pine clear crystal & 100 pounds of color
• (four) 20-pound pot electric color furnace
• (four) gloryholes (12" diameter, 16" diameter, and 19" diameter)
• (seven) annealers of various sizes

Rentals are available for between $20 per hour and $40 per hour, depending on the number of hours rented, and the size of the gloryhole. A glassblowing garage is also available for rent!

• Glass Makers and Artists
• Art Deco Glass
• Art Glass (in 15 different categories)
• Beads
• American Blown Glass
• Colored Glass including Cobalt Blue, Carnival Glass, Cranberry/Ruby Glass, Milk/Opaque Glass, Opalescent Glass, Stretch Glass, Vaseline Glass
• Commemorative/Historical Glass
• Cut Glass
• Decorated Glass
• Drinking Vessels
• Figural Glass/Glass Animals
• Kitchen Glassware
• Paperweights
• Pattern/Pressed Glass
• Stained Glass
• Stemware

Check out LINKS - ARTISTS list, which is very complete and contains links to the websites of over 250 major glass artists!

There are regional and local Contemporary Glass Collectors' Groups in the following regions:

• California: Glass Alliance of Los Angeles
• California: Glass Alliance of Northern California
• Florida: Florida Glass Art Alliance
• Illinois: Midwest Contemporary Art Glass Group
• Massachusetts: Massachusetts College of Art Friends of Glass
• Michigan Contemporary Glass Group (Detroit)
• New York: Metropolitan Contemporary Glass Group - MCGG
• Ohio: Contemporary Glass Alliance (Cleveland)
• Pennsylvania: Contemporary Glass Philadelphia
• Texas: Gulf Coast Glass Alliance

• The Crefeld GlassWorks is one of the half dozen high school glass programs that is used to aid in the education of young adults. With the help of friends and alumni of the Crefeld School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Aaron Wiener and Jeff Elston created a tiny shop where they could make small glass pieces. The Crefeld School basically gave Aaron and Jeff a small space in their basement to work out of for their private use.
• As more and more students took interest in the fire and the magic of the glass, the school realized the potential glass working had as an educational tool. Shortly after being built the studio equipment for the students was purchased by the Crefeld School from Aaron and Jeff. Thus the Crefeld GlassWorks was formed. The glass studio created an opportunity for the students to partake in an exciting new activity that is fun and educational at the same time Over the last three years the glass program has started to find its identity, an identity that is driven by the wonderful way that it has served to help young adults.
• Currently the program is designed to help by teaching as an outward-bound style program. It seeks to teach responsibility and community. The students are responsible for each other, they are all in this together. They thrive with the challenge and bubble with pride as they share and teach each other how to be caretakers of their community and their immediate partners in the studio.
• The success of this program has been helped by the location, close to Tyler College of Art, University of the Arts, and Bucks County Community College. Philadelphia has a healthy glass community, growing and finding strength and visibility. The students at the Crefeld Glassworks have the ability of getting a tremendous start and a chance to take their passion to a professional level, locally, and easily.
• As people have found out about the glassworks, there has been a large influx of interest with the larger population. Crefeld is a changing and growing studio and educational experience. Not entrenched, but finding its way to work both with the internal community of the high school and the external community of the greater Philadelphia region.

• Glass Batch
• Blowing Colors (Gaffer Colors, Ornela Colors, Reichenbach Colors)
• Casting Glass
• Dyson Crucibles

They welcome the public to stop in, any time they are working, and watch them transform molten glass into works of art. The studio is set up with a designated viewing area and they will usually offer a special 'behind-the-scenes' tour between pieces. During your visit, make sure you check out our gallery, they have a large collection of glass art made by Philadelphia area glass artists.

They created a new Glassblowing Step-By-Step page to document many different glass blowing techniques and the process to make many different forms.

There is also a glorious photographic glassblowing glossary here which is a wonderful resource for glassblowing students.

The company broadened its Horizons when Riccardo Scarselli joined and, later, started to run the business. He realized that glass companies needed to renew and upgrade the old furnaces;the market was looking for a new company to build,start up and assist the plants. Enginneer Sandro Lorenzini, who has been working in glass factories in Italy and foreign countries as chief engineer and production manager,joined in 1996.

Our products: Miniglass, Day Tanks, Continuous Tanks. In the last 2 years Falorni has produced and sold more than 40 miniglass, 30 day tanks, and 12 continuous tanks. The output of these furnaces ranges from 1 hundred kgs up to 20 tons of glass per day. Our customers produce high quality art glass,either hand made, either robot operated. Each plant is specifically designed according to the customer's needs. In particular we consider the kind of glass produced, numbers of shifts per day, the kind of glassware, and the forming process.

Here is a direct quote from their website, this is awesome!
 

All in all, we have grown as the fusing community has grown, we have great prices on the high quality Evenheat Electric Kilns and we are the US distributor for Holland's, gas-fired painting kilns, The Speed Burn lll. Under the Goodies Section, you will find our wide assortment of mica flakes, gold pens and a few surprises.

We are not some big dot.com business that can offer you same-day delivery. We process every order by hand and we usually ship on Wednesdays and Thursdays. We use UPS so we don't have to drive into town to go to the post office, but we can if you need us to. We are glad to answer your questions and we want to continue building upon our solid reputation by providing great products and quality service. We hope you find what you are looking for, but if you don't maybe we can steer you in the right direction. Keep a Warm Kiln, Gil Reynolds"
 
While much of what Gil wrotes is oriented towards kiln-workers, I think the small size of his equipment is well oriented towards someone (like me!) who wants to setup a small (micro!) hobbyist glassblowing studio at home -- perhaps just for weekend use. The benefits of this scale is the low operating costs (unlike a full-size production studio where the monthly bill can run to US$3,000 - US$5,000 per month for utilities) -- Gil measures the costs of his small gloryhole (Murphy fire bucket) in cents per hour! And there is another benefit to his fiber blanket approach -- it heats up almost instantly, unlike a ceramic brick gloryhole which needs an hour to heat up. Does it retain heat as well, no, but these are the trade-offs inherent with doing a studio on a micro scale.
 
I would particularly point you to Gil's Fire Bucket webpage at: http://www.fusionheadquarters.com/Pages/fire_bucket/firebucket.html

"I designed and built my hot glass studio in a 8x14 foot room in my home.
Everything is electrically powered except for the glory hole.
My crucible furnace holds 40 lbs of hot glass.
Operating costs run about $50 per month blowing every weekend for a total of 9 to 12 hours of blow time.
During the week, the studio is shut down.
I had the local building inspector and fire marshal sign off on the studio for non-commercial use."

Currently G.A.S. has over 3,000 members from about 50 countries.

• Lighting
• Sinks
• Tiles
• Wall Art
• Architectural
• Furniture
• Sculpture
• Vessels
• Accessories

• Glass Craftsman magazine,
• Books published by Glass Press,
• SkillFest Workshop Series
• GlassLibrary.com (see more detailed description below)

Jay has now decided to build a small studio at his home in Tyrone, New York where he will continue to produce glass in the quality he is accustomed to. Hand made Bowls, Vases and Ornamental designs as well as Wine Glasses and Paperweights will be made with the skill and craftmanship that can only be Glass Formations. We are also making lampworked glass. Jay will be joined by his daughter Angela and son Josh in the lampshop operations. The studio is still under construction and will be operational sometime in 2004. Till then Jay will continue to make glass for Steuben. So, whether you are a collector or a consumer looking for that special piece for yourself or someone you love, Make Glass Formations your choice. You will be glad you did. Thank you for stopping by.

One of the largest, most comprehensive interactive community arts centers in the country, the GoggleWorks offers an exceptional opportunity for members of the community near and far to come experience and learn about the arts in a working studio environment. The GoggleWorks is 130,000 square feet of dynamic space,

The GoggleWorks hot, warm and cold glass facilities are built and designed by Eddie Bernard; a.k.a "Wet Dog Glass", He and his team installed the shop just last September. The glass studio has many facets, including hot glass and hot casting facilities, lampworking with 10 torches from Glass Torch Technologies, a beautiful, complete cold shop (including two lathes), and a cold casting, fusing, and stained glass studio.

In the hot shop they melt Gaffer pellitized batch (co-efficient 96) in a freestanding pot tank that holds 500+ pounds of glass. (Their fusing studio is also a system 96 studio. They will be running many workshops that employ multiple techniques to utilize the ever expanding potential of glass). There are four workstations available to rent in the hot glass studio, with the largest glory hole having a 24-inch width opening, and the smallest measuring 16 inches.

The GoggleWorks art center has an amazingly diverse base of studios, including a complete wood shop, jewelry studio, and ceramics studio with a brand new Bailey gas kiln, 11 pottery wheels, slip casting equipment and a raw materials lab. They offer dark room access for photography, and in digital media they will be offering access to a Mac lab (still being completed), for prints, photography and motion pictures...

In addition to classes and public access to these shops, The GoggleWorks also offers individual studio space to 34 artists in varying media, office space to 25 arts organizations, and 5 art galleries.

The GoggleWorks State of the art Facilities have the potential to be a national draw for artists in all media, but Pennsylvania has been known for outstanding glass art for quite some time. They are excited to contribute to, and be a resource for the inspiring local glass community, by expanding the variety of Artists, shows and workshop opportunities available.

"Glassblowing_topics is a free discussion group about glassblowing and related topics. Please feel free to join in the discussion, post photos and bookmarks on appropriate glass related topics. Because this group is free, there are pop up ads, and the software is a bit difficult to use at first. To view messages in thread format, first click on the messages link in the left frame, then click on the threads link on the top of the message frame. When responding to a post, please enter your message BEFORE the old message, and DELETE any extra text to make the messages more readable. And, please post your NAME in the message."

THE GUILD presents The Artful Home: beautiful furnishings and decorating accents direct from hundreds of American artists. Studio furniture, lamps and lighting, glass vases and other art glass pieces, original oil paintings, fine art prints... and unique gifts of jewelry and art, for life's most special occasions.

If you are a glassblowing student, and can not afford to purchase these pieces, you may find that there are a number of ideas and inspiration you can get from looking at the beautiful art glass they offer from some of the best glassblowers in the world.

For example, you can find Anthony Biancaniello (Reevolution Glass Studio) "Fruit Series" here.

View the Process of creating the MILLENNIUM GLASS PORTAL:
Step 1: Site Survey
Step 2: Definition of Design
Step 3: Local Resources
Step 4: Finalizing the Design
Step 5: Additional Local Resources
Step 6: Visualizing the Design
Step 7: The Structure
Step 8: The Glass
Step 9: The Objects
Step 10: The Final Work
Step 11: The Installation
Step 12: The Finished Piece

"Common glass is mostly amorphous silicon dioxide (SiO2), which is the same chemical compound as quartz, or in its polycrystalline form, sand. Pure silica has a melting point of about 2000 Celsius, so two other substances are always added to the sand in the glass-making process. One is soda (sodium carbonate Na2CO3), or potash, the equivalent potassium compound, which lowers the melting point to about 1000 Celsius. However, the soda makes the glass soluble, which is obviously unhelpful, so lime (calcium oxide, CaO) is the third component, added to restore insolubility."

"The word glass, Latin glacis (ice) German Glas, M.E. glas, A.S. glaes was also used by the Aesti-Old Prussians. They used the word glaes to describe amber, recorded by Roman historians as glaesum. Angle-Saxons used the word glaer for amber. Another German word for amber, Bernstein (English translation : burning stone), came into use because of its transparency as glass, to shine (glare) and its ability to melt."

I actually have a 2,000 page Latin dictionary and it does have the following listings:
glacies: "ice" No doubt "glacier" derives from this!
glacio: "to make or turn into ice", "to freeze or congeal".
glaesum: "amber" (from the German word for "glimmer")

Check out their web page describing, with photos, the step-by-step process of creating one of their pieces of beautiful art glass!

Currently, Jeremie is working with Hiram Toraason at Toraason Glass Works, 208 Morton st., Peoria IL. Currently her work can be viewed at the Peoria Riverfront Market on Water st. and in various galleries in IL and OR. For more information please call 309-495-0919 or e-mail jeremilinn@yahoo.com

Louisville Glassworks opened in 2001, and was born from the Architectural Glass studio.
Architectural Glass Art is one of the oldest American glass studios in continuous operation,
and has become internationally recognized for its innovative development and application of new technologies.
Louisville Glassworks is unique in its many different strengths including:

• Architectural Glass, including Warm Glass and Coldworking
• Hot Shop (Hot Glass) including gallery
• Lampworking (Torchworking)

The Mayne Island Glass Foundry is dedicated to the process of making environmentally friendly glass art and designing super energy-efficient studio glass equipment.

See especially Fused Mosaic Glass (Venitian Style)

Mark also offers a series of instructional videos, including

• "Bead Kiln video"
• "40-Pound Electric Furnace videos"
• "Surface-Mix Bead Torch video"
• "15-Pound Electric Furnace videos"

Take a look at these very educational web pages that Ed Schmid has created.

• AD 500-1050: The Iron Age included historical ages such as the Roman and Frankish Empire and Viking Age.
• Medieval Period: Middle Age inspired glasses, used by farmers, soldiers, preasts, kings and queens for 500-950 years ago.
• AD 1500-1700: Included ages such as the colonial times, the Napoleon Empire, the French and the Russian Revolution.

The glass shown in the image on the left is described as:

• Iron Age Trunk Goblet with Double Rows (AD 500, England, Norway)
• Replica of glass found during the archeological excavations in Castle Eden (England) and Borre (Norway).
• Volume: 1.7 cups (40 cl).
• This glass is produced by hand with the same techniques they used for almost 1500 years ago, which means that the size and thickness of the glasses may vary slightly.
• The color of the glass may also vary as well as the number of small bubbles inside the glass.

• Furnaces
• Glory Holes
• Annealers
• Kilns
• Garage & Pipe Warmers
• Benches
• Marvers
• Heat Shields
• Yolks
• Control Components
• Safety Systems

See the 14 videos I took while renting time at PGC

Hot Shop - 2,560 square feet includes:

• Two - 975 lb furnaces
• Eight - Glory holes all with pneumatic doors ranging in diameter from 17. to 29.
• All eight benches are equipped with compressed air, Nortel multi mix oxy-natural gas hand torches and propane Exact torches.
• The shop has a portable garage to accommodate any bench.
• A wide range of Carlo Dona, Jim Moore, and Cutting Edge hand tools

Pittsburgh Glass Center
5472 Penn Avenue (click for Mapquest)
Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Phone: 412-365-2145
Fax: 412-365-2140
Email: info@pittsburghglasscenter.org

Ruben Romero received a BFA in glass at Temple-Tyler School of Art and an MFA in sculpture from the University of the Arts. He currently runs the glass program at Harrisburg Area Community College in Pennsylvania.

The 700 square foot cold shop is equipped with a vertical belt sander, diamond flat wheel, circular saw, Merker lathe, sandblaster, chemical etching bath, flex shaft, and three reciprolaps.

Experienced glass blowers may rent the studio for half day, full day, or evening hours. Blow slots are scheduled in 4-hour blocks:

Half Day Slots: 9am -1pm, 1:30pm - 5:30pm
Full Day Slot: 9am - 5:30pm (includes a half hour lunch break)
Evening Slot: 6pm -10pm

PRICES:
The 700 square foot cold shop is equipped with a vertical belt sander, diamond flat wheel, circular saw, Merker lathe, sandblaster, chemical etching bath, flex shaft, and three reciprolaps.

Experienced glass blowers may rent the studio for half day, full day, or evening hours. Blow slots are scheduled in 4-hour blocks:

Half Day Slots: 9am -1pm, 1:30pm - 5:30pm
Full Day Slot: 9am - 5:30pm (includes a half hour lunch break)
Evening Slot: 6pm -10pm

PRICES:
Small Glory Hole (12 inch) $35 per hour
Large Glory Hole (20 inch) $45 per hour

Additional costs apply to rental for tools, blocks, pipes, and extra equipment.

The cold shop is available for rent in 1-hour blocks to those with cold working experience.

Simple Syrup currently offers several glass classes and workshops to introduce beginners to traditional techniques. The classes currently being offered include: a six week Introduction to Glass Blowing, a one day Glass Paperweight Workshop, a two day Glass Blowing Workshop, a six week Introduction to Kiln Casting, and a two day Kiln Casting Workshop."

C&R Loo sells the Spectrum 96 sheets by the square foot for between US$4.50 and US$7.70 per square foot. The following section is from Spectrum Glass's "Basics" page

I have a lot more information, including all the colors, on my page here.

• Glass I
• Glass II
• Advanced Classes, and
• Weekend Workshops

Particularly noteworthy is their "General Information" document at STLsyllabus1.htm Although Dexter and Trinkley have each exhibited internationally they wanted to create a unique line of work separate from their own styles. The result...colorful dynamic forms and superlative craftmanship in one of a kind and limited editions of hand blown glass. Taylor Backes Gallery represents a wide variety of fine American crafts and art including wood, clay, metal, fibers, jewelry, paintings and other various interesting items from throughout the United States. Dexter/Trinkley and Taylor Backes maintain studio galleries and a showroom in Boyertown, PA."

• Image 1
• Image 2
• Image 3
• Image 4
• Image 5
• Image 6
• Image 7

Information about the BFA (Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts) in Glass can be found here.

Information about the MFA (Masters Degree in Fine Arts) in Glass can be found here.

What intrigued me the most is his "make your own" glassblowing lessons web page which lists:

• $25 - Make an ornament! (approx. 10-15 minute lesson) (that is yours to keep!) with lots of help from a skilled glassblower!
• $45 - Make a paperweight! (approx. 20-30 minute lesson) (that is yours to keep!) with lots of help from a skilled glassblower!
• $90 - Make a Vase! (approx. 30-40 minute lesson) (that is yours to keep!) with lots of help from a skilled glassblower!

and offers the following useful "what to wear" information for the prospective student:

• Long cotton pants such as jeans or khakis & a cotton T-shirt - no fleece, polyester, or synthetics. Bring a long sleeve cotton shirt that you can put on over your t-shirt.
• Sneakers & socks (no open footwear).
• Sunglasses if you have them.
• Long hair needs to be tied back.
• Bring a camera!

University of the Arts
Crafts Department - Glass
320 South Broad Street (click for Mapquest)
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Phone: 215-875-1050
Fax: 215-875-2238

Vetri was conceived as an opportunity to present this remarkable resource to a broad audience.

The mission of Vetri is to offer innovative work of the highest caliber, in an attractive setting at accessible prices.

Here are some of the more than 7,000 Glass Art Technical Forum discussions:

• "Colors of goldstone"
• "Gold aventurine powder - what can I do with it??"
• "Reduction frits, kugler, gaffer, etc"
• "System 96 Studio Nuggets"
• "pulling fins and wings"
• Glass Saw/Grinder"

To quote from their "Who Are We" page:

"WetCanvas! is an effort to bring information relevant to today's artist to an online format. It is part magazine, part virtual classroom, and part reference site. More importantly, it is all about community. We are currently the largest community site on the Internet with a specific focus on the practicing visual artist. This site concentrates on providing the following services to our visitors and members: * A virtual community where artists can share ideas, critiques, and other information
* Tools for managing and promoting virtual/online galleries of work
* A complete array of art lessons and tutorials for all levels of artists
* Product comparison and research information for art supplies and services
* Our award winning content selection has helped thousands of artists, aspiring and otherwise, to achieve their goals and broaden their horizons."

Other more general Wet Canvas Glass Art forums can be found here.