UPDATE: As of Oct 2024--I've got a few cup jacks, parcioffi handles and lots of medium and large tweezers. If you're unfamiliar, Maruko tools are handmade by an expert metalsmith (and former glassblower) at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan and are excellent in so many ways. These are my...
11.01.2020
Cane are rods of glass; they can be clear, solid color or have all manner of lines of color inside of them. They can also be incorporated in a mass of molten glass and pulled and twisted into all sorts of patterns. This highly-patterned cane is often called 'twisty cane' or referred to...
03.21.2019
New diamond lap disks are amazing to behold--all sparkly in the sun (you do check them out in the sun, right?) and super-rough on your hand. But using them for the first few hours can be pretty challenging since new disks have a break-in period where they're so aggressive they are difficult...
05.21.2017
New large damascus tags to squeeze up murrine in style. Tools like this don't exist by commercial glass tool manufacturers so I had to make my own. Of course making them out of regular steel would be boring, so I used rainbow pattern damascus steel, quilted walnut handles, walnut heat shields...
01.24.2017
A Japanese TV crew shot us today for a show called Wafu Sohonke. Lots of demos for the camera and talk about Maruko tools (with assistant Ian Whitt). The show was on TV Tokyo at 9pm on feb 23, 2017. The show features a visit with Shin Nagai who makes excellent Maruko tools and yours...
10.17.2016
I'm a tool geek; I love to try different tools by established makers, have custom tools made to my specs as well as make my own when I can't find something that meets my needs. As most toolmakers aren't glassblowers, they aren't using their own tools and need to rely on feedback from their...
09.13.2015
My style of glassblowing isn't terribly common and the way I've evolved it is unique to me. This means that I occasionally need tools that aren't commonly made or I want them made a certain way. Heating plates of cane or murrine in the glory hole requires a pastoralle fork, but all...
03.04.2015
I don't know what it is with glassblowers, but most of us have a special affinity for tools. Maybe it's the fact that we can't really touch our material of choice, so more than for other artists/craftspeople, tools are a critical extension of our hands. While the types of tools are...
07.24.2013
Frequently I need tools or custom versions of tools that aren't commercially available, so I make my own. Here's a selection of homemade tools I use frequently:Damascus color paddle/tagliol is great for saving the strap of my jacks from the heat from large overlays.Extra long damascus steel...