Journal

I had a wonderful time in Japan, meeting people, showing work, exploring studios and enjoying the generous hospitality of many makers welcoming us into their homes.

I am still processing the incredible adventure, I am though, planning a return trip.

Kate will be visiting Kyoto this month (Stephen will be in Rosedale Blowing Glass), joining several British and Japanese artists in the the Kogei region of Kyoto showing ur work. It's a wonderful project and we are delighted to have been invited to visit Japan with our glass.

Kogei are Traditional Crafts of Japan that must meet  five requirements to be recognised by the Ministry of Economy. 

1. The crafts must be made for everyday use
2. The main parts of the manufacturing process must be handmade
3. The crafts must be created using traditional techniques
4. They must use raw materials that are extracted and then used in a traditional way
5. They much be make in a designed area and must come from a certain region in Japan

The glass making has resumed in Rosedale.

Our third furnace in nearly thirty years working glass, is up and running.

Light and colour, two of my favourite things, as is the overlay of textures, transparency and mark making on glass.

Septembers full moon was a wonder to watch from Scarborough's shores. It's been a beautiful week in Rosedale, we have been blessed with good weather, clear skies and warm daytime temperatures.

Perfect for furnace building

Brick by brick our third furnace is growing..... ready for glassmaking over Autumn and Winter months.

We are delighted to have had one of our Landscape Bowls selected to show at the 10th British Glass Biennale.

The piece is a Swedish Overlay in gold and Heliotrope, wheel cut, sandblasted and engraved with a collection of marks gathered from observations of the Rosedale landscape. For millenia, people have shaped this dale, working the landscape to survive and thrive, leaving behind marks of their toil.

One hundred and twenty-one artists were selected out of 326 applicants to present the most interesting, diverse and outstanding glass art made in the UK in the last two years.

The exhibition is open Tuesday to Saturday from 26 August to 28 September at the Glasshouse, Stourbridge; the heart of the historic glass industry in the UK.

The show is an eclectic mix of techniques and works and well worth a visit, with more works on view than ever before.

The next event, in 2026, moves lock stock and barrel to the World of Glass St Helens. We look forward to the next incarnation of the event now in the hands of the American Glass Art Society.

The Americans have a vast experience in staging events for glass, we visited the annual GAS conference in Berlin this year and loved every minute of it, so we look forward to seeing how the Biennale and the IFG develops in 2026.

This is a beauty, all my Roses are having a wonderful year, as are all the plants.

Anyone know what this Rose is called ?