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The How and Why of It All

BY: ABBY ROBINSON

I come from a long line of glass blowers. I am at least the 4th generation of my family to take up the craft. I say craft, because it is a running argument as to whether it is an art or a craft. I say at least 4 generations because beyond my great grandfather, we have yet to find out our ancestry. All I know for sure is that I was the only kid on my block that did not drink out of a jelly jar. We had hand blown glasses and never thought a thing of it.

My great grandfather, Frank Bischoff (who knows how they really spelled it but that is how it was recorded) came from Bavaria, as did his wife. They lived on the south side of Pittsburg, PA where most of the “glass houses” were located. In 1862 they had twin boys, Bernhardt and Anton, both of whom followed Frank into the business.

Bernhardt was my grandfather. They called him Barney and he stayed with glass eventually owning a “glass plant” of his own. In fact, he owned several, but there were reasons for that.

Prior to 1913 all glass object were made by hand. Edison’s invention of the “electric lamp” was limited only by the fact a team of glassworkers could only blow about 1200 bulbs a day. If you have ever watched glass being blown, you know that 1200 is an astounding number. However in 1913 a machine was invented in Corning, NY that could blow glass. It still required someone to put a gob of glass on a pipe but with 10 years there were over 60 such machines in production, each making 42 bulbs per minute.

In 1922 William Woods invented a new kind of machine - a machine that would eventually produce 2,000 bulbs per minute replacing the utility glass blower altogether. Sometime you should read about the Studio Glass Arts Movement. That is what has kept the art alive since the 50’s.

However, before it got to that, all bulbs, all glasses and most importantly prior to electricity, all lamp chimneys were hand blown. Factories had to be near resources to make the glass and transportation to distribute the final product. When they saturated the market or had a major fire, they would move on. To that end, B.F. Bischoff and Sons opened “glass factories” in Pittsburg, Pa, Stubenville, OH, Marion, IN, and Huntington, WV. Each town was on the Ohio River, near rail lines and had near by fuel sources. Along the way, ole Barney also got married and had 8 children, 3 of which followed him into the glass business. His youngest child was my mother.

My grandfather died long before I was born but I can still remember his sons, my uncles Bernard, Anthony and William, operating a factory not far from where Blenko Glass is now. I also remember all I ever got to do was watch and be told to be careful. By the time I was out of high school my uncles, as well as my mother, had gone to the great glass museum in the sky and I went to college to study science, not art.

I might have never gotten the opportunity to pick up a blowpipe had it not been for a flyer in a local gallery advertising classes at Glass Axis. I was one of their first students. That was in the early 90’s and while I’ve not quit my day job, there is no describing the amount of enjoyment I have gotten from blowing glass. Perhaps you might want to try it or one of the other ways to make art in this medium - lampworking, fusing, slumping etc. I hope you will – it’s fun.