Glass Blowing Studio Prepares for the Holidays

Chaos Before the Silent Night

By Victoria Scott

When it came to finding a name for the Evanston glass blowing studio she opened in August 2006, artist Kelly McGowan reached back to the arcane language of medieval alchemy.

She chose as the logo for Chaos Glass Studio, 1601 Payne St., the alchemical symbol for glass set above the symbol for chaos to signify, she says, "glass overcoming chaos."

"Glass overcoming chaos" is a definition Chaos studio manager and teacher Kit Paulson can relate to her work: shaping blobs of molten glass into art objects. This season they include several kinds of Christmas ornaments.

Ms. Paulson, whose undergraduate degree in fine arts included a two-year concentration on glass, says she is drawn to the medium because "it has rules it obeys, and it's fun to figure them out and use them to your advantage."

She brings these rules to bear as she demonstrates how she creates ornaments like the balls, icicles and candy canes already strung on lines in the studio.

The concrete-floored studio houses three furnaces for heating glass. Ms. Paulson has turned on the electrical power to the largest, which contains a crucible, or pot, holding 250 pounds of clear glass heated to a temperature of about 2110 degrees. Other times she and her students use the "glory holes," the smaller, cylindrical furnaces that operate on gas.

The process begins when the glass blower sticks the end of the long, hollow metal rod known as the blowpipe into the furnace. She spins its end, gathering a blob of molten glass in a process she compares to dipping honey.

Immediately she removes the blob from the furnace and rolls it in frit, chips of colored glass that will melt onto the clear ball. The crucible is filled with clear glass, says Ms. Paulson, because it is easier for beginning students to work with. Colored glass tends to be more temperamental.

Opaque red, white and yellow glass, for example, tends to be stiff and must be hotter to be worked. Transparent blues and purples, on the other hand, are less manageable because they are so soft.

Back into the furnace goes the glass-on-a-stick until the frit has spread smoothly over its surface. When it does, Ms. Paulson carries the piece, still on the stick, from the oven to the marver, a thick steel table. She twirls the rod, rolling the glass blob on the marver to cool the outside. Before blowing, she must also shape the bottom of the hot glass - the part farthest from the rod - with the tool known as the jacks.

She is abiding by the rule that says air blown into a piece of glass will take the easiest path, says Ms. Paulson. The easiest path here would be for the air to move into the warmest part, the bottom, which would result in its swelling into a teardrop shape instead of the desired sphere.

Time is a-wasting: A glass blower has less than 30 seconds to work each time the glass is reheated. Ms. Paulson blows briefly into the pipe, making a small bubble in the blob of glass. Then she turns to the furnace to reheat it before again rolling it on the marver and blowing once more.

With this breath, the blob becomes a hollow sphere.

Deftly she lays it on the table and, using straight shears, cuts it from the blowpipe. Then she reheats the pipe in the furnace - hot glass will not stick to cold metal - and gathers a bit more molten glass from the crucible. Poised over the hollow sphere, she drips a little hot glass onto it, and then uses a tool to stretch the blob and turn it back on itself to form the ornament hook from which it will hang on the Christmas tree.

The piece will spend the night in the annealer, a cooler that resembles a chest freezer. To prevent the outside of the sphere from cooling faster than the inside and causing the ornament to crack, the annealer cools gradually, finally reaching room temperature after the heat is turned off overnight.

Students at Chaos Glass begin by making little two-blob snowmen, practicing gathering and shearing with the jacks. Next they make a bubble without the hook. Typical beginning work is "thick and heavy," says Ms. Paulson. "After awhile you start to want to be like a Venetian." That is a goal she achieved with a feather-light footed wine glass she made at a crafts school in North Carolina.

But she has another holiday trick up her sleeve. After gathering more molten glass, she squeezes two channels into it with the jacks. Then she gathers more glass on top of this. Using the jacks, she pulls and twists the piece.

Magically, the air pockets become interior spirals and, as she snips off excess glass, the piece takes shape. It remains for her to heat it once more, then to turn it upside down and pull down with the jacks.

Using gravity - a second rule glass obeys - Ms. Paulson has drawn a sparkling icicle from a shapeless mass.

The studio is one of only three in the area that are "public" - that is, available for rent by other artists or for private parties like birthdays or showers as well as for classes. Ms. McGowan hopes it will become a resource for the community, perhaps even collaborating with local schools to give children an unusual opportunity. The first Friday of each month Chaos Glass holds an opening, with demonstrations and, this time, ornaments for sale.

More information is available at www.chaosglassstudio.com.

Romano Brothers & Co. Celebrates 45th Anniversary

This year, Evanston-based Romano Brothers & Co. will reach a business milestone, 45 years of providing professional investment service to individuals, corporations, trusts and foundations.

Brothers Robert and Richard Romano began their foray into the investment business when they could not find the right firm in which to invest their parents' real estate earnings. In 1962, the brothers founded Romano Brothers & Co. investment firm. "What began as a brother-and- brother-run firm has changed to a father-and-son-run firm," said Richard Romano, chairman.

In 1995, Richard's son, Joe Romano, joined the firm and in 2001 assumed the role of president. Their philosophy of investing has not changed in 45 years, the two say. "All of our portfolio managers develop personal relationships with their clients and build solid, value-driven portfolios. We never advocate buying fads or trends. Our focus is to reduce volatility and increase profit," says Joe Romano.

The firm has grown steadily since its inception, and currently employs 20 individuals. "On average, our portfolio managers have 20 years of investment experience and a cumulative 156 years of direct investment management," said Dick Romano. The firm's goal is to reach one billion dollars in assets under management by the end of 2008, he added.

Romano Brothers & Co. has been a member of the Evanston community for 45 years. Recently, the firm became a founding Cornerstone member of the Women's Club of Evanston's capital campaign. For the past three years, Romano Brothers & Co. has sponsored the Evanston Symphony Orchestra's Christmas Concert. Both father and son have served on various community boards including the McGaw YMCA, Evanston Community Foundation, Evanston Arts Council and Connections for The Homeless.

"We look forward to serving our clients and the Evanston community for another 45 years and more," said both Joe and Richard Romano.