British Society of SCIENTIFIC GLASSBLOWERS VOLUME 53 October 2015 No. 4 - C O N T E N T S - Ed's Crack 115 Chairman's Message 117 A Chairmans Concern 120 Quartz Training in Malta 122 IFG - Stourbridge 2015 127 An Interview with Phil Jones 139 The BBC, a Knight and Me 142 British Glass Biennale 146 Fifty years of Fingers Fiddling 150 AVCF 1st International Flameworking Symposium 156 BGAS Gathering 162 Board of Examiners News 164 Aquacultural Encounter 165 DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE - November 16th 2015 B.S.S.G. JOURNAL - VOL 53/No. 4 113 www.bssg.co.uk British Society of SCIENTIFIC GLASSBLOWERS Founded 1960 Please could all communication on BSSG matters eg. competitions, training, membership etc. be with the BSSG Chairman in the first instance. Thank You. BSSG SOCIETY CHAIRMAN Mr William Fludgate Unit W1, MK2 Business Centre, 1-9 Barton Road, Bletchley, Buckinghamshire MK2 3HU Tel: 01908 821191 (Office hours) Mob: 07885 582 257 (call before 9pm) Email: [email protected] HON. SECRETARY HON. TREASURER SOCIETY LIBRARIAN - Terri Adams - Phil Jones - Terri Adams Glass Design & Fabrication Facility, - Minerva Glass Design & Fabrication Facility, University of Oxford, Bloomfield Close, University of Oxford, Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, Timsbury, Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, South Parks Road, Bath, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QR BA2 0LP Oxford OX1 3QR Tel: 01865 272609 Tel: 01225 385513 Tel: 01865 272609 Fax: 01865 272690 Email: [email protected] Fax: 01865 272690 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] JOURNAL EDITORIAL MATERIAL ADVERTISING MATERIAL Ian Pearson Graham Reed Journal of the B.S.S.G. Hunter's Oak, Trendle Lane, Glendale, Sinclair Street, Thurso, Bere Alston, Devon PL20 7HT Caithness, Scotland KW14 7AQ Tel: 01822 840002 Tel: 01847 895637 (Evenings & Weekends) 07484 112300 01847 802629 (Business hours) E:mail: [email protected] Fax: 01847 802971 Skype: grahamsciglass13 E:mail: [email protected] [email protected] The Journal is published by the B.S.S.G. every quarter and is available to members free. It is also available to others at subscription rates. Apply to the Society Office. Copyright to B.S.S.G. and contributors 114 B.S.S.G. JOURNAL - VOL 53/No. 4 ommunication is est radix omnium malorum est. So one person's idea of glass cricket is another person's expectation of extreme Csport. So it came to be that I wacked a lump of white hot glass straight from the furnace into the far distant trees. All part of art and I volunteered during a course at Northlands Creative Glass, Lybster Caithness. Good fun indeed as I hope the photograph conveys. Thanks to Steph Preston for catching the action with a camera rather than catching the ball. Can an eight-inch bore, floor standing Heathway lathe fit in a Vauxhall Astra? This was my dilemma recently. Short lived as reality meant to do so would involve lots of crunching, squashing and slicing. I opted for the bench mounted one-inch bore version. Much more sensible and seat-belt compatible. The subject arose as I am in the process of emptying my workshop in order that a local glass charity can benefit. This involves negotiating through five fences, some electrified and several armed police. Yet this is simple when compared to the two and a half years negotiating and a fourteen page email trail of administration to gain approval for such a transfer of assets. Now that really is an extreme sport! Staying with the theme of volume capability of cars was my experience of stuffing a painting into the boot of a Mercedes. As Chairman of a local arts B.S.S.G. JOURNAL - VOL 53/No. 4 115 Ed's Crack group in my home town I was responsible for uncollected paintings from our annual exhibition. A portrait of an ex-MP required to be returned to the owner who was the ex-MP in question. I knew he frequented a church next door to my home. So one Sunday I waited patiently for the congregation to exit and then pounced on the owner's wife and mother. I was distracted by a misplaced sense of urgency as I rushed across a busy road carrying a two foot by four foot oil painting. It didn't help that it was raining so it became vital to open the boot and get the painting under cover within seconds. Just an inch to spare so relief all round. In hindsight I should have explained what I was doing to the ladies who were somewhat bemused at my antics. They quite naturally assumed I was out to attack them or steal their car! Talking of so called famous people such ex-MPs it is always a privilege for me to interact with real fame. By this I mean the Duke of Rothesay or HRH Prince Charles as he is perhaps more widely known. I have met him a few times at local art exhibitions where he displays two of his watercolours. This year his work was held up at Balmoral and I had to drive to Inverness for a pre-arranged meeting with a member of the Royal staff to carry out a high level, top secret transfer. This took place in Inverness football club car park, a rather bleak and lonely location but safe as away from prying eyes. Ignorance really is a great security enhancement for which I need no training. Then there is the story of Fanny Christie and her glass viruses. Pictorially reported later in this issue, it doesn't give justice to the full experience. To be honest one would need to breathe the same air as Fanny just to gain a little insight into her work. As a conceptual artist Fanny is idea led and not restricted in any way by media. Working in the flame with a camera circulating at rapid intervals right above my hands and face added just the right level of excitement and annoyance for me to realise that I am not an artist. I was actually told by a professional artist that I am a scientific glassblower, so it must be true. The easel never lies! ERRATUM Readers should note that on page 100 of July 2015 issue of BSSG Journal, Vol. 53 No. 3 the captions of the two figures were transposed. 116 B.S.S.G. JOURNAL - VOL 53/No. 4 B.S.S.G. CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE ell I do hope everybody had a good summer, as I am sure you must have been able to get a picnic in one afternoon, unless you missed that Wday. Being in my workshop makes me wonder if retirement is a good idea, not that I am off that age yet, but the idea of being at work and wanting to do some art work during the day is just a pipedream at the moment. Time seems to be rushing away and evenings seem to be full of things I have yet to do, or at least finish. On top of that, we have recently got ourselves a new puppy and he is a handful but a very kind and softly mannered dog despite him being completely deaf. Keeping him amused and teaching him hand signals seems to be working, but we can't let him off of the lead yet because he does not respond to his name and I am not chasing a deaf dog. I am sometimes accused of being deaf, due to being “told” things that I have allegedly forgotten. Saying that, I am also accused of being able to hear when a job has to be done at work but not at home. There must be a scientific reason for that. What has all this to do with this Journal I hear you ask? Well, to be honest, not a lot, other than an awful lot of my time is taken up with things to do with glass. In hot weather I seem to attract the hottest job, the artwork would be glass related, my dog comes to work and falls asleep in the office during the day. If I try to work on my ham radios or my old motorcycles I am distracted by things that I should have already done. Now I know we all have things that we should do and things we would like to do and if you are reading this, you already know that I am about to ask to add something to your already busy agenda. How about an article that I know you promised to send up to our Editor for him to fill some of the pages of our wonderful and informative Journal. The work done by the team, dotted all over the country from top to bottom is done to keep the wheels of our Society going and to benefit those around that need help, advice or better still, ideas and suggestions. This can be shared via the Journal and if need be, a workshop session could be arranged and we could take some very good photos to give exposure to your skills. B.S.S.G. JOURNAL - VOL 53/No. 4 117 Chairman’s Message Here at work, the kiln has gone down big style, new control box and thermocouple ordered and hopefully we can catch up with our work orders, but in the meantime, where do I start with all the things I said I was going to do because I can't work. It's raining, so the new canopy over the back door can't be fitted, my bike is in for its service and MOT, have not got my art stuff yet, the dog is asleep, so down to the shed to play with my ham radio again I suppose.