This Glass Art Isn’t Blown or Molded — It’s Turned on a Lathe

Unlike many glass artists, Jack Storms likes his glass cool. Compared to more common melted glass blowing or molding, he turns his material cold, on a lathe. Besides needing additional time and expertise, this also required the artist to invent a cold-working lathe to begin with. The device was inspired by Storms’ home state of New Hampshire — known as the granite state. He saw that granite could be turned, and wondered, why not glass?

Storm starts with big blocks of leaded crystal, cutting and grinding them, and then inserts dichroic glass for the colored layers. That’s followed with epoxy to hold the art together. An external layer of optical glass gives the crystal a floating appearance.

In this unique medium, Storm employs both the golden ratio and the Fibonacci sequence in his designs, giving them a beautiful yet harsh angular appearance. His stunning pieces range from wine bottle sculptures to a crystalline egg called the ViviOvo. And he’s still refining both his process and his specialized tool. “I am not close to being done tweaking my new lathe design so I can push the art further,” he says.