ART ... around the region

What was your artistic experience before designing and making glass bottles?

I was always very interested in art. In college, I was an art student and took classes in pottery and jewelry before I started working in glass. After graduating, I set up a glassblowing studio with some friends from school and started blowing glass and selling my work.

Who or what inspired you to create the bottles?

The perfume bottles evolved as I experimented with different techniques and forms. My first teacher was a sculpture professor who emphasized form; he inspired me to make classic, elegant shapes. I also studied art history while in school and was inspired by the glass made during earlier periods, such as Art Nouveau and Art Deco.

What is the process from start to completion?

All of my work is hand-blown. Some of my perfume bottles have carved and frosted designs; other perfume designs are made by combining clear and colored glasses in transparent layers. The process starts with molten glass. I gather the molten glass on the blowpipe, layering together clear and colored glass. The bottles are blown and shaped while the glass is molten and then cooled slowly to room temperature. For the carved perfumes, a resist is used to create a pattern on the surface of the cooled piece. Each piece is designed individually, creating a pattern that complements the form of the piece. Areas unprotected by the resist material are then carved away by sandblasting the surface with an abrasive. Some pieces are carved and frosted in low relief, with the raised areas highlighted by a dusting of colored glass. Others have deeply carved, sculptural surfaces. As a final step, the surface of the sandblast carved pieces are acid etched. Each perfume bottle is hand-fit with a teardrop-shaped, clear glass stopper. When finished, I sign and date each piece.

Where do you usually sell the bottles, and do you sell primarily to collectors, or do people purchase the bottles to use for fragrances?

I sell my perfume bottles at my Readsboro studio (I am open by appointment, and I hold open studio events seasonally), at juried craft fairs (mostly in the Northeast), online through my website and through the Artful Home website/catalog and in galleries and museum shops that specialize in fine American crafts. Many of my bottles are bought by collectors to add to their private collections or are bought as gifts. Some people do use them for fragrances-they are functional, but most use them as decorative art pieces.

Learn more at maryangusglass.com