Glassworker takes heat for his job, but doesn’t break

Tom Doner really blows at his job. He also sucks, and folds under heat.

He doesn’t sound… Tom Doner really blows at his job. He also sucks, and folds under heat.

He doesn’t sound like a model employee, but in the field of glassworking, a professional needs these characteristics.

Not everyone can blow at their job and still get paid for it.

Doner is the owner and proprietor of a small glass shop in Butler County that specializes in hand-blown glass and sculpture. The range of art in Doner’s shop spans from delicate vases and figurines to thick sculptures and ferocious beasts perched upon chunky lumps of wood or sparkling geodes. He also fixes broken pieces and conducts free demonstrations for the community.

Tucked inside the corners of his store, Flame Worked Creations, is a small workshop where he does demonstrations or creates more pieces for sale. Plexiglas shields the cramped corner workshop to prevent stray sparks from finding their way out. Bunches of brightly colored rods peak out of their holders like crayons in a box ready to illuminate their transparent paper. A silver dragon of a torch arches its neck over the table, ready to spit blue and orange flames at glass tubes and rods.

The rest of the store sparkles from floor to ceiling with a collection of his works and those of his fellow tradesmen and tradeswomen from throughout the country. It is zoo of factual and fictional animals, radiant jewelry and vessels of all kinds.

His wife, Elaine, usually works the register, tending to customers and handling the business end of the business.

Doner got into glass about nine years ago after seeing a man at a flea market sculpting glass out of clear rods.

“After seeing that, I fell in love with sculpture and realized I wanted to do it,” he said while walking out the door and into the parking lot.

Just across the lot is a barn-shaped building that houses the future site of his school. The inside is focused upon a center torch with five stations lining the back wall. The chalkboards around the center torch give a formal classroom setting for a not-so-formal art. Doner hopes to open the school by the summer, if everything runs according to plan.

“I don’t want to open [the school] until I know I am ready to teach,” Doner said as he pointed out the different equipment.

Before starting a piece, he draped a thin latex tube with a mouthpiece around his neck and puts on safety goggles. The tint of the lenses filters out some of the light from the flame, allowing a clearer perception of the glass while working. He flips a switch, causing a large ventilation fan to hum.

A strong breeze fills the room, ready to suck out harmful gases and fumes. The spark from a striker ignites the torch, causing a thick, orange flame to gush out of the top. He picks up a clear tube and begins to twist it over the flame. It glows a bright orange as he evenly spreads the flame around the surface.

After heating up a clear rod, causing a bright orange tip — like the tip of a cigar — to glow at the end, he reaches into a small, plastic bag and pulls out a small piece of silver. He places it on the table and smears the glowing rod into it.

“You want to put it on heavy because it burns away,” he said of the silver, as he spun the rod to create zigzag patterns across the top. “This is going to be the scales of the dragon.”

He adds more oxygen to sharpen the flame and begins to dab the molten rod onto the tube.

Thin glowing threads are draped over and around the piece in a constant spinning motion. The glass glows brighter as the electric spiral wraps tighter and tighter around the piece.

Doner takes the latex tube from around his neck and places it in the cool end of the tube. He blows slightly to create the head and body, defining the mouth by rolling it around on the block to narrow it down. Then, by spinning one hand faster than the other and heating evenly, he straightens out the body.

“I take my time with it,” he said as the reflection of the flame danced in his goggles. “I only heat where I want I to move.”

The sculpture receives more color as he shapes the body and tail of the unborn dragon. Tiny blobs of neon blue glass are dabbed onto its back and pulled into small wispy cones. The round, white balls, covered by thick flowing blue eyebrows, form two eyes. Whiskers and horns finish the face in a snarling expression, and the whole thing is placed in the kiln.

The glowing, red coils of the kiln keep the glass at a working temperature while Doner crafts the wings.

A chunky piece of graphite flattens small, clear discs. The end is pulled out and resembles a small oval leaf. Two more are added until the wing comes to life. He curves it slightly to give the illusion of aerodynamics. The wing is cupped as if the glass dragon was trying to take off into flight.

After both wings are fashioned, he pulls the body out of the kiln and fastens them with two thin beads. He then places it back in the kiln so it can cool down slowly. After the cooling is complete, the newborn dragon was brought out into the world.

“Nobody else does a dragon like I do. This is my special technique,” he said proudly staring over his work with approval.