Meet Frederick glass artisan Matt

BY CRYSTAL SCHELLE Special to The News-Post

Since Matt Linker was a student at Catoctin High School, he knew wanted to work with his hands. He had thoughts of engineering, automotive, blacksmithing, carpentry, even woodworking.

“But then I started smoking weed, as a teenager does, and really found glass fascinating,” he said.

Manipulating glass into various forms, using different colors and making small sculptures — all in the form of glass items used to enjoy marijuana — piqued his interest.

He started his craft by utilizing the most basic concepts but has wanted to expand upon what he makes to craft other objects.

“I really wanted to make sculptures, like faces, little figurines, stuff like that,” he said. “I started doing some woodgrain as well, and that’s what I’m getting into right now.”

There are structural elements to consider when he’s making a bong, he said. For instance, “I have to make sure that it’s a nice percolation with the water.”

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Linker, now 20, said he started his research to find people who could teach him how to blow glass and admitted it was difficult to find someone in the Frederick area. But then he met Kyle Troop, who became his mentor. Troop, who owns Glass Flo Art, allows Linker space to work, as well as the use of his torch.

Linker, who now lives in Maugansville, recently started Wheezy Glass in Frederick. He said he’s grateful for the space and has used YouTube videos to continuing building his skill set.

Today, glass bongs are more than a tool to smoke with; they’ve become an art form in and of themselves.

Liker said before he builds anything, he’ll sketch the basic concept.

“Then during the process, I feel like everything kind of just falls into place,” he said.

Of course he likes that his pieces serve a function, but he thinks of his glasswork as pieces of art and said for the time being, he’s leaving seamless functionality to other artists while he focuses on the beauty of the pieces.

Linker uses what is called flameworking, which is a technique of forming objects from rods and tubes of glass. Once the glass is heated, it softens and is manipulated into a desired shape.

Since he started, Linker has done some commissioned work as well. He charges $10 to $800 or more, depending on the size and time he spends on it. He makes bongs, rigs, bowls, spoons, pipes and pendants.

His work tends to be small scale, but the biggest item he’s made was 2 feet tall, a sculpture he created with his mentor. The smallest was a rig at 8 inches.

His favorite item to make is what he calls “little rig guide dudes.” They have a head with a body and arms (no legs). Sometimes he puts something in their hands or contorts them into different positions.

“I recently made some of those, and that’s been my forte,” he said. “I love the process of them. I love the different [movements] you can do with the hands and the different things you can do with facial expressions. I just have so many ideas with that.”

When it comes to the colors, Linker leans toward clear glass because, as he put it, “It’s the cheapest to use, and it never lies.”

Clear glass will show more imperfections than colored glass would, which allows him to continue learning from any of his mistakes.

“I’m trying to make sure every move I’m making is perfect, and the clear shows everything at once,” he said. “Once I get better and have more money to play around with, I plan on using other translucent colors.”

To strengthen his talents, he will attend Salem Community College in New Jersey in the fall for scientific glassblowing, where he’ll learn to use various tube sizes for his flameworking, among other things.

His career plan is to open a large glassblowing and flameworking studio, where he can teach other people and get more people involved in the art of glassblowing.

“I basically want to provide what I would want right now — you know, a space where I can go anytime and make whatever I want,” he said.

In the meantime, while balancing his full-time job, Linker is still trying to stretch his skills and continue to build glass objects.

“Whenever I see work that I really like, I get excited,” he said. Then he paused and added, “I truly want to make incredible art pieces.”

Crystal Schelle is a journalist whose work has been published locally, regionally and nationally. She enjoys trivia, cats and streaming movies.