THE TERPINATOR

Fans of the classic sci-fi films will immediately recognize this badass bust of the T-100 Terminator robot skeleton dubbed “The Terpinator” – a three-way collab between Carsten Carlile (Bend, Ore.), Joshua “JOP” Opdenaker (Philadelphia) and Adam “Hoobs” Whobrey (Huntington Beach, Calif.), who came up with the concept.

@HOOBSGLASS @CARSTENGLASS10 @J_OPDENAKER_JOP

“I picked the idea for us,” says Hoobs. “I’ve been exploring a robot theme body of work recently and had always wanted to try the Terminator. Jop, Carsten and I have all done a lot of skull and mechanical style pieces previously, so the idea was a natural blend of all our styles.”

This killer collab was specifically created for last year’s Champs Glass Games in Chicago.

“We were allowed to make as much of the piece as we wanted before arriving in Chicago,” Hoobs explains. “The rules stated we just needed to leave two days of work to complete live during the trade show.”

The trio first got together at Hoobs’ Classic 33 Studio in Huntington Beach in April 2022, where they spent several weeks designing and sculpting out about 90% of the piece. They divided their labor into three main sections: JOP was in charge of the chest area, Carsten was in charge of the mechanical base, and Hoobs was in charge of the head and shoulders.

“It was a very complex build,” says Hoobs. “Every component was going to need to be scaled perfectly for it to work, and all the components were being made at the same time, so we had to hope that they would all fit together in the end.”

Luckily for them, they did … and in the end, their 400-plus hours of hard work paid off: The Terpinator won 1st Place in the People’s Choice category at Champs.

“It was an honor to be chosen,” Hoobs tells the Leaf. “We definitely treated it as more of an exposition than a competition, but it’s always nice to bring home the victory.”

Swan Glass is spinning some serious heat out of Seattle! Born and raised in the Emerald City, Aaron Swanson started blowing glass at Sammamish High School and was always interested in crafting and glass as an art, long before he started making pipes. Now when he’s not holed up making headies at Pipe Place Market, he works part-time at the Seattle Glassblowing Studio and teaches lampworking classes at Pratt Fine Arts Center.

SWAN SAYS his style is all about, “Capturing the best colors of the glass and utilizing flowing, curving shapes influenced by ornamental filigree scrollwork.” You can see this highly detailed technique showing out on his collab with Walmot Glass, another Seattle-based artist known for his bloopers and recyclers. The filigree scrollwork is done using glass with silver-reducing properties, which change the color of the surface once blown. Then, Swan sketches out the design by hand, carefully carving away with a diamond-tipped Dremel to reveal contrasting colors.

With a few styles up his sleeve, Swan calls the design on this orange and blue Hydrant Blooper his “lace pattern.” This complex method layers colors together, pulling them into a twisted latticino cane that is used to build up the wall of the piece. With rich color palettes inspired by the Pacific Northwest, intricate designs unique to each piece and function that absolutely shreds, you don’t want to sleep on Swan Glass!

You can see more of his work or reach out about customs at @swanglass. We also gotta show love to Jamie Zill, a badass female photographer who took these shots and is also based in Seatown.