Narrating Process - a Northlands Glass Experience

Remember back when it was summer and some of us lucky few got the chance to travel and take some amazing glass classes? GSoI member Catherine Keenan travelled to our friends at Nothlands Creative Glass, an amazing glassy place not too far away from us - find out about her experience!

'The Worst Journey in the World' James Maskrey

My first experience of Northlands was in 2008 when I got the opportunity of being a teaching assistant for american hot glass sculptor Richard Jolley.  It was one of those complete shot in the dark applications that surprisingly, and dauntingly paid off!  Luckily I wasn’t the only TA, seasoned Northlands gaffer James Maskrey was also there.  This put me in the comfortable position of being Richards second assistant and also to work directly with the beginners to glassblowing.  It couldn’t have been a better experience to build up my confidence in the studio and also in teaching.

I had forgotten what a special place Northlands is and this time I was the student and James Maskrey the teacher.  Since I last saw him in Scotland in James has become a leading figure in British glass, and deservedly so.  He masterfully marries his virtuosity in a variety of glassblowing techniques with his talent for storytelling to make sublimely elegant vessels that subtly suggest narratives in the form of marks, colour, text, and figurative glass miniatures.  A large body of his work brings to light fascinating details of historical journeys such as that of Cook, Scott and Shackleton.

“Narrating Process” was the course title and we had nine packed days to explore themes and means of employing storytelling in blown glass pieces.  There was a clear structure to the course, we had two projects to complete, a short ‘one-liner’ and a more substantially researched final project.  The first day was spent exploring the local area to gain inspiration, we then had allotted ‘bench time’ (glass blowing) and also the opportunity to see demonstrations by Jim.  I was particularly interested in seeing incalmo and murrini and also his ‘Working Solo for Sad Singletons' - how to blow glass without an assistant.  

making murrini

For me this was the first time since I was a college student, seven years ago, to really indulge in the creative process.  Since then I have hired studios to make my work and therefore experimentation has been very limited.  The nine days at Northlands was a chance to play with the material, to be less precious and not worry if the piece ended up in the bin.  It was a chance to generate new ideas and approaches, to be challenged and thereby consolidate what I do and why I do it.  It was essentially a more intense and condensed art college experience, and I loved it!

Catherine's class experiments 

As our masterclass leader, James set the tone for the group dynamic.  There were six in our class, of a variety of ages, skills and backgrounds.  I’m not sure whether it was due to being so closely involved with previous masterclasses at Northlands, or because he was in a rugby team in his youth, but James made great efforts for our group to bond.  One particularly clever ploy was a game he devised, we each had to choose our favourite music track, tell this only to Emma Baker our TA, who made a list of tracks at random and then we had to guess who’s track was whose.  We each threw some money in the pot and the winner got the lot...although they had to take everyone else to the pub and buy the drinks!  I think this investment in the social side of the class was very insightful on James’ part.  It made for a very pleasant working environment, we all enjoyed and benefited from hearing each other’s ideas and half of the experience of going away to do a class should be the time spent with new people. 

The class group

The staff of Northlands are also obviously aware of the essential social aspect to the experience, with amazing dinners arranged every night, a programme of students and tutors giving presentations of their work in the evening, and a day in the middle of the course to explore the local area in groups (I joined the boat trip that followed the breathtaking coast from Lybster up to Wick)

The studio experience was brilliant, with unlimited access to materials and more than enough bench time to make work.  Just being at Northlands however, meeting interesting people in a ruggedly beautiful landscape, was equally enjoyable...and I even saw the northern lights!

Written by GSoI Member, Catherine Keenan

CRAFTed Stained Glass with Gerlinde Kugler

The Design and Crafts Council Ireland’s pioneering CRAFTed Programme has been connecting primary teachers with professional crafts peoples for several years now. The programme gives schools the opportunity to teach many techniques that wouldn’t ordinarily find their way into the classroom. Earlier this year GSoI member Gerlinde Kugler undertook one such project 

to share her experience in stained glass with teacher Rebecca Ivanoff and her 4th Class in Carysfort National School in Arklow. 

We asked Gerlinde to tell us a bit more about how it went: 

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During March and April 2015, I was awarded a CRAFTed Project by the Crafts Council with Rebecca Ivanoff and her 4th class for 10 time hours. The theme was to be ‘Construction’ and the teacher wanted to introduce the children (10 years old) to glass.

Plastic and Wire Necklace 

To introduce the children to the tools, metal and wire we started by making some jewellery using silver plated wire and coloured plastic strips (cut from plastic folders) as they were coloured and transparent; a little bit like glass. Mother’s Day was around the corner so even the boys were motivated to design and make a necklace.



Next we did some wire birds. First the pupils did a line drawing and then bend fencing wire to the correct shape. They tied some pieces of coloured transparent plastic and some beads into the birds with tying wire and a button or jump ring as an eye.

Wire birds

For the next stage in the project I introduced them to glass and showed them some of my work. The teacher had already researched with the class how glass is made and which materials we would be using.

I demonstrated the Tiffany technique, smoothed the edges of a glass bird and explained and showed how the copper foil was wrapped around the edges.

Each pupil could now choose a pre-cut glass bird, the colour and shape they liked and a beak to go with it. As everything thing was pre-cut, and smoothed there were no dangerous sharp edges in the classroom. 

We worked in groups and were fortunate to have some mums as helpers. The children also made a tail and/or a headpiece from wire for their bird. When it came to soldering, for safety I took just two pupils at a time in order to be able to supervise closely as they worked. While that process was happening, the other pupils could choose to do more jewellery or wirebirds.

The 28 glass birds were going to be mounted on a tree in the window in the hall for everybody to enjoy.  

I shaped the trunk of the tree from a wide timber board, 160 cm high, painted it and fixed sculpture rods (RPM Supplies) onto it which then were shaped to become the branches.  As I could only use one half of the window for the display the branches of the tree had to be on one side only. I tied and soldered the birds onto the branches and fixed the tree into the window.


There was just one problem: All the pupils were in love with their bird and did not want to part with it. The solution: Everybody made a second bird to take home and all were happy and proud.
For more information you can contact me by email: gerlinde@kugler.ie - And have a look at my website www.gerlinde.ie

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Thanks Gerlinde for sharing your experience with us. Other glass artists who have completed projects with Schools include Deirdre Rodgers and Michael Ray.  For more information on CRAFTed Projects see the DCCoI Website - and tell us if you have been involved in a similar project!