You bet your Sweet Glass there’s money in it After starting a Ceramics course in 1973, Malcolm was fascinated by making objects out of glass. “Once I had tried the glass, that was it, I was hooked,” he says. Located in a converted garage behind his house and shop in the small Cornish town of Penryn, is Malcolm’s self built studio that he moved to in 2001. What was once an old bakery has since been transformed into a furnace and workshop where Malcolm spends his time forming glass creations to sell in the shop he runs with his wife Jean. Before the furnace was made, the couple had to first remove the 10,000 bricks and 10 tons of mortar that made up the old disused bread oven. “It was the only building we could find at the time which had potential for a studio, gallery and living accommodation. We didn’t choose Penryn as a place, but I think it has turned out to be a good choice,” says Malcolm confidently. Inside, the walls of the workshop are covered in shelves filled with the latest vases and pots, boxes full of equipment and tubs of powdered glass. A large wooden table sits in the middle of the room smattered with burnt patches; tools and rags strewn across its surface. Light shines through several large glass bowls positioned under the right hand window casting blue shadows across the worktop. On the left side of the room is the 6 ft furnace built by Malcolm out of corrugated iron. It whirs and hums and the heat fills the workshop offering a cosy shelter from the bitterly cold winter weather outside. After 35 years experience Glass blowing is second nature for Malcolm and he creates a pot in under half an hour. He starts the process by dipping a long metal pole, called a blowing iron, into a pool of molten clear glass inside the furnace. The working temperature of the furnace is a searing 1,045 degrees Celsius. He then shapes
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the ball of glass on a wooden worktop called a marver, dipping it into coloured powdered glass which melts and colours the clear glass. The glass has to be repeatedly heated in the second furnace, the glory hole, to prevent it from cooling and to keep it workable. Malcolm blows down the blowing iron to create an air bubble in the middle of the glass then manipulates and shapes it using wet wooden blocks and wet newspaper .Tools such as jacks and shears are also used in the process to sculpt and cut into the glass. Eventually the piece is transferred to a punty iron so that the rim of the glass can be shaped. All the time the piece being made has to be continually reheated to keep it from cooling down. Once the pot is of the desired shape and colour it is cracked off the punty and placed in the annealer (which is like a kiln), to slowly cool down overnight thus preventing it from cracking. Many small shops like Malcolm’s often depend on the summer tourism in Cornwall making winter a tough time for business. So Malcolm started offering lessons to the public as a way of creating extra income in the quiet months of January, February and March. “We started the lessons about 4 years ago and it has grown as people seem to like the chance of a new experience,” he says. Despite the worries of health and safety and trying to prevent people from burning themselves, passing on a skill is something Malcolm takes pleasure in. “I do enjoy teaching others. It can be a bit of a challenge but it’s great to see people achieving something completely different to the day job and enjoying themselves.” The recent recession didn’t even affect Malcolm’s business. “In the end we realised last year was a really good year for us. We have had some good publicity, especially in the autumn and we have made the gallery larger which has helped. I think being small means you are able to
Malcolm Sutciffe has spent over 35 years perfecting the art of glass blowing, a skill that is over 2,500 years old and shows no sign of dying out.
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diversify easier than larger businesses,” says Malcolm. Malcolms glass creations include baubles, perfume bottles, vases, bowls, plates and even scupltures ranging from £15 to £345. Many have a wave and sea theme inspired by the Cornish coastal environment and no two pieces are alike. Malcolm has many plans for the future in an effort to perpetuate the current business success he is having. “We want to develop the website so that it brings in more customers which in turn will bring more customers into the gallery as well. I am also planning to incorporate flat glass within my work during the summer months when the furnace is off.” Many of Malcolm’s creations have been featured in galleries and museums all over Britain and overseas including The Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Centre for Contemporary Arts in New York. By Liz Gage