Hand blown studio glass creating decorative and functional free blown glass vessels of all shapes and sizes. Sited along the famed and beautiful Undercliff on the south facing coast of the Isle of Wight. One-off designs, collections, corporate and commisions are produced and designed at the studio by International glassmaker Timothy Harris. Founded in 1973 by International Glassmaker Michael Harris, Isle of Wight Studio Glass is readily recognised for the highly imaginative and original approach used in developing this magical material. Oustanding skill in design, in exploring new techniques and manufacturing has enabled Isle of Wight Studio Glass to become the leader in this field.

Each piece of Isle of Wight Studio Glass is hand crafted in our studio. Our extended family of glassmakers strive for perfection of shape form and colour with every piece of glass they produce. Over the past two decades our craftsmen have honed their skills, with each new collection offering new technical and aesthetic challenges to be conquered. Today they represent one of the finest glassmaking teams in Europe.

Following in the pioneering footsteps of Michael Harris, the Harris family with the support of their craftsmen continue the family motto - "Our best work will be done tomorrow".

You can watch this magical craft performed with dazzling skill and witness the making of truly unique glassware. The studio is open all year round to visitors. Our raw material is a pelletized batch consisting of: Silica sand, Potassium nitrate, Sodium carbonate, Red lead, Arsenic, Manganese, Calcium carbonate and Borax. At 1300deg.C the ingredients fuse to form crystal clear molten glass. Apple, Cherry and pear are the preferred materials used to craft the wooden blocks which the glassmaker uses to shape and centre his gather of molten glass. Wet newsprint, pucellas, parrot nose shears, calipers and the steam stick are some of the glassmakers tools for forming and shaping the hot glass.

The Process

Molten glass is gathered from the furnace on a stainless steel hollow iron. The working temperature of the glass is 1050 deg.C giving the consistency of treacle.

The gather is spun in coloured glass enamel powder which sticks and melts onto the surface of the glass. Richly coloured glass chips and canes are then rolled onto the gather and fused onto the surface of the glass in the Glory hole (re-heating unit).

The glass must be re-heated regularly to keep the glass at a workable temperature. The first puff of air blown into the blowing iron expands the gather into a bubble. A wet paper pad controls and shapes the bubble as it expands further. Steel pucellas or jacks cut-in to form the neck of the piece. The design of the glassmakers tools have changed little for hundreds of years.

The chips & canes now fused into the surface of the gather expand and stretch as the glass expands.

Next, two separate gathers are applied to the base of the piece which will later form the foot. Whilst turning the iron the glassmaker squeezes the hot glass with the paper pad to form the foot of the bowl; the jacks or pucellas are also used in this process. Once the craftsman is satisfied with the shape of the foot his assistant will gather a small amount of glass on a new iron called the punty. This is carefully positioned in the centre of the foot. The piece is then cracked-off the blowing iron.

The glassmaker's assistant then gathers a small gob of glass which has been coated with glass enamel. With great skill and care the strap is precisely wound round the rim of the bowl, first once and then again. The strap is completely fused and blended onto the rim of the bowl in the glory hole or re-heating furnace at a temperature of 1250 deg.C plus.

Once the bowl has warmed through and softened from the intense heat the glassmaker will turn the rim out and flare the bowl. The shape is controlled by pressure applied by the glassmakers woods, or paper covered pucellas and the speed that the iron is turned. His assistant also follows the rim of the bowl with a fruit wood board to ensure the bowl remains flat and level and under control. A good assistant knows intuitively what the glassmaker is going to do next, and anticipates his every move

When the gaffer or head glassmaker has finished shaping the bowl and is happy with the form, the last stage in the decorative process involves flaming the surface of the glass with a blue oxygen-rich flame which reduces the surface of the glass and reacts with the metals used earlier in the decoration such as the Sterling silver leaf. Very quickly a preparation called Stannous chloride is sprayed directly onto the surface of the hot glass in a fume extraction cupboard, giving a decorative lustrous and iridescent effect. This process requires great skill and ensures that no two pieces of IOWSG will ever be identical - each piece is unique!

Only when the glassmaker is completely satisfied with the shape, colour and decoration of the bowl can the piece be cracked-off from the pontil iron and placed into the lehr or annealing oven, which is kept at a constant working temperature of 440 deg.C. At this level all the stress in the glass is relieved and at the end of each day the lehr is switched off and allowed to cool slowly overnight. 12-18 hours later the bowl is cool enough to grind, smooth and polish completing the production process.