46 Issue CHAMPS Show Magazine June 2023

By Bernie Boulders

Burton

By Kevin Dankman

Ad Sales: Kevin Dankman Office 818-616-7424

46

2023 Writing: Kevin Dankman Bernie Boulders The CHAMPS Magazine Staff Cover Glass Piece: Ben Burton

Design & Layout: Sixxx

ATLANTIC CITY TRADE SHOW REWIND

By Bernie Boulders

We, at the magazine, totally had high expectations for Atlantic City in 2023. Back in 2022, the momentum was really high for an amazing and exciting show. Expectations EXCEEDED! That’s right, another amazing show. More Buyers, More vendors, and more good times.

CHAMPS Trade Show gave Alec from Flawless Smoke Shoop in Bethlehem PA, $5000! That’s right. They’re the lucky winners for Atlantic City 2023. We asked them what they planned to do with the money.

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STORE WINNER ALEC FROM FLAWLESS SMOKE SHOP

CAKE BOOTH

FUME BOOTH CROWDS ROLLING IN

1836 BOOTH

They said, “Buy more stuff for the store”. Vendors will be happy that some of their money came right back into the room to be spent. In CHICAGO, CHAMPS will be giving a Lucky Store $10,000.

CHAMPS Glass Games brought an amazing set of glassblowers in to play in the Glass Games Open Qualifier. For two days, glass blowers blew glass in shifts creating different themed pieces.

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FIRST PLACE - KYRU - DICHROTASTIC

FIRST PLACE - WINDSTAR GLASS - PATTERNS

FIRST PLACE - WINDSTAR GLASS - SWISS ARMY PIPE

FIRST PLACE - RICK BRAINARD - SEALS

SECOND PLACE - CONJUNCTION JUNCTION - MATT Z GLASS SECOND PLACE - GLASS MUNKY - PATTERNS

SECOND PLACE - WINDSTAR GLASS - DICHROTASTIC SECOND PLACE - TONY KRAZY - SEALS

KRAKEM KRATOM BOOTH

LOCAL PHILLY BRAND ILLADELPH

There were five Categories:

Conjunction Junction, How’s your Function???

The piece must be comprised of 2 or more separate parts that fit together to make a functioning piece. These pieces were function tested and cleaned.

Dichro-Tastic!

This piece must be at least 50% dichroic. Seals, Seals, and more Seals!!!

How many seals can you put on one functional piece?

Swiss Army Pipe

Swiss Army Knives are known for having multiple uses, all conveniently in one tool. Create a pipe that has more than just one use.

Rainbows, Baskets, Blotters!

Let’s see a Montage of Patterns. How many patterns can you put on a pipe, bong, or rig?

FIRST PLACE CONJUCTION JUNCTION BLURD GLASS

FIRST PLACE WINDSTAR GLASS SWISS ARMY PIPE

FIRST PLACE WINDSTAR GLASS PATTERNS

FIRST PLACE RICK (RICHARD) BRAINARD SEALS

MONSTER GLASS DICHROTASTIC

FIRST PLACE KYRU GLASS DICHROTASTIC

The Winners Were:

Conjunction Junction, How’s your Function???

1st Blurd

2nd Matt Z

3rd Tony Kazy

Dichro-Tastic!

1st Kyru

2nd Shayla- Windstar Glass

3rd Monster Glass

Seals, Seals, and more Seals!!!

1st Richard Brainard

2nd Tony Kazy

3rd Takoda Madrona

Swiss Army Pipe

1st Shayla- Windstar Glass

2nd Takoda Madrona

3rd Charisma Glass

Rainbows, Baskets, Blotters!

1st Windstar

2nd Glass Munky

3rd Amorphous and Oats for the Tie

The Judges were really tight. The tie shows that the races were closer than ever. I asked Hops about his experience, and he said the numbers were so fair he didn’t even know who won until I announced it! All in all, the Sponsors and Vendors really came out for the show and had a great time.

So many smiling faces and so many people making moves that it will go down in the record books as one of the smoothest shows ever.

SECOND PLACE - TAKODA MADRONA - SWISS ARMY PIPE

THIRD PLACE - CONJUNCTION JUNCTION

THIRD PLACE - CHARISMA GLASS - SWISS ARMY PIPE

THIRD PLACE - MONSTER GLASS - DICHROTASTIC

THIRD PLACE TIE - AMORPHOUS GLASS AND OATS GLASS - PATTERNS THIRD PLACE - TAKODA - SEALS

REC GLASS TAKODA MADRONA

BEN BURTON “SEEN AT CHAMPS” INTERVIEW

Ben is a long-time friend and a great artist. Like me, he considers himself a lover of the beach and everything tropical. One of his signature pieces is flamingos made of a glass color called serendipity. I have been lucky enough to win two of his goblet entries at CHAMPS Colorado.

Although he was not competing in the Masters this year, he did show up to support others and sell some glass! It was great to see him, catch up, and make more plans for good times and great glass in the future.

Here is a little interview to get you into the mind of Burtoni!

Ben, your glass career has been long and varied. How did you get started?

Ever since I was young, I always loved art. I did a lot of two-dimensional art as a child, sketching, drawing, and painting. I got into ceramics in high school and quickly excelled in the media and continued taking courses when I went to college. I soon discovered glass blowing while I was in college and was offered an apprenticeship with a local artist my freshman year. Once I turned the torch on, I was hooked and have been blowing glass ever since.

Your use of the color palette is something I have always admired. You are able to find so many vibrant colors to accent using Serendipity. What inspires you to use specific colors?

Ben: I’m a big fan of color and movement, and I like to emphasize that in my work. Natural life provides such a beautiful array of colors across the whole spectrum, and I enjoy recreating those combinations with glass. Bright-colored birds and flowers surrounded by lush green vegetation, and bright blue seas teeming with multi-colored sea life have always been my inspirations. And over the last 20 years, the advancements in color have allowed me to pursue those directions.

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BEN BURTON “SEEN AT CHAMPS” INTERVIEW

Dankman: Cups, Goblets, and Mugs… this seems to be an emerging Boro category, with such a wide range of customers. What do you think about the growing popularity?

Ben: I think it’s great! It offers an introduction to our industry to a whole new group of people who may not be interested in smoking or buying pipes. Everyone needs to hydrate and it opens up a new set of doors for us to extend our art to a much larger group of people. I’d love to see this market grow!

Dankman: Inspiration comes in many forms, places, and moments. Tell us about your inspirations. What inspires you these days?

Ben: I started blowing glass in Hawai’i and have always been inspired by the natural beauty of the islands. The flora and fauna there have such an appealing quality, so I do my best to recreate them in an attempt to draw others into what I find beautiful.

Dankman: You are a dog lover and great doggy daddy. Anything you think artists with pets should know about working with pets around the studio?

Ben: I’ve always been a proponent of ‘Life is better with a dog,’ and having one or multiple in the studio is just a nice combination of work and love. But you have to be careful when you’ve got your animals with you, because they’re not aware of what hot glass or sharp glass is until they discover it for the first time. You just need to be a little more careful when you’ve got pets around so they don’t learn the hard way.

Do you name your pieces individI don’t usually name individual pieces, but I do usually classify them into groups of sorts. But occasionally, a piece is so outstanding that it deserves its own recognition outside of its grouping that it will get its

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BEN BURTON “SEEN AT CHAMPS” INTERVIEW

Dankman: Breakfast… I ask everyone this, what is your favorite breakfast food?

Oooooh weeeee! I love breakfast! It’s got to be something savory. A good breakfast sandwich is a great way to start the day! I love bacon, eggs, and hash browns, but I can’t say no to a good corned beef hash,

If you could tell up-and-coming artists one thing about the Boro Hustle… What would it be?

Alongside the boro hustle, or any hustle, is to find something you love and own it. Work on it, develop it, make it recognizable, and make it yours. Take something you already enjoy and work it into your glass work. You’ll find happiness making things that make you happy. And surround yourself with like-minded and motivated people who support you and encourage you, and you’ll find yourself heading in the right direction.

I know you are always working on projects and collaborations. Tell the readers what you have planned this year.

I feel like this is going to be a great year to work with friends, as well as newer artists. I’ve always enjoyed helping others grow and sharing ideas that lead to more involved work between artists. I’d like to do some teaching as well as some traveling to meet new people and to develop new ideas to incorporate into my work.

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BEN BURTON

“SEEN AT CHAMPS” INTERVIEW

Dankman: Lastly, where would it be if you had one place in the world that you could visit?

Ben: This might be the hardest question to answer in this interview! There are sooooooo many places I’d still like to travel to. Mostly warm and tropical places, somewhere with water, but not limited to that. South America has so many places I’d love to see. Places like Indonesia, and the Philippines have always drawn my attention. I’d love to visit Japan and Australia, and New Zealand as well. There are beautiful lakes in Africa that I’d really like to see and swim in as well as adventuring across the savannas. There are so many beautiful places across the globe I don’t know if I could pick just one.

Thanks, Ben. We really appreciate you sharing your work and insight with our readers, we hope the rest of 2023 is amazing for you, and we hope to see you at the Denver Show!

By The CHAMPS Magazine Staff

Summer CHAMPS in Las Vegas is coming fast. We wanted to start you thinking about all the great things you can do at CHAMPS in the summer. First and foremost is the winning…

CHAMPS Summer show is the second largest show every year. This year will be no different. With two floors of vendors ready to fill your store, you can bet that the deals will be amazing. All the sponsors and vendors will be bucking to get your attention.

That’s right, TWO FLOORS! You can bet the vendors will be bringing out the big guns for this one! If there was ever a reason to bring a celebrity, this new floorplan is one.

To celebrate this new layout, CHAMPS is gonna give away a NEW store every DAY! Four days, Four Stores.

That’s right. Four existing Brick and Mortar Shops will be winning $50,000 in Inventory and up to $10,000 in cash for expenses towards a new location!

If that doesn’t get your blood flowing and your mind spinning, nothing does.

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Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

WIN A NEW STORE IN VEGAS

Every day you will have a 1 in 2000 chance of winning a $60,000 Prize. The best part about this gamble… You can write it off as business in Vegas!

CHAMPS Summer Show also hosts the largest open glass event of the year. Glassblowers from around the world come to take a shot at one of eight competitions.

1. Rigdiculously small… Best Functioning small rig.

2. Opaliscious… use the “Dopal’s Opals” Opal C Provided and create a functional piece “Dopal’s Opals” These will be tested for function and cleaned professionally after.

3. Yin vs. Yang light versus dark

4. Gold - n - Dreams, Gold fumed pieces only. Make it something buyers dream of owning. (Golden Dreams)

5. Buddies, two are better than one. This will be a two-person collab.

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Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash

6. In 20 minutes Time… what can you make out of this random glass in 20 minutes? Inspired by the EGS Glass Challenge.

7. Venetian: Look it up… Translate Venetian style into a piece.

8. 1-7 = ROYGBIV what is ROYGBIV? … Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet make a Rainbow. Incorporate it into your piece.

Winners will take home $250 for 3rd Place, $500 for 2nd, and $1000 and a trip to the Masters for 1st place winners.

There will be a special guest demo showing techniques that are often unknown and underappreciated. A legend in our industry will be at the helm of the torch.

If you have never been to a CHAMPS Summer Show, this is the year to catch this event. We will have more fun and more vendors representing more categories than ever. Adult Vendors will have their area alongside our growing Mycology Section. Add that to the array of Smoke Shop, Vape, Kratom, CBD, Glass Pipes, Manufacturers, and Distributors. You could fill an entire strip mall with businesses at CHAMPS, including the display cases.

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Photo by Joyce McCown on Unsplash

WIN A NEW STORE IN VEGAS

Photo by Kaysha on Unsplash