Marble display by Humboldt Glass School at Humboldt Marble Weekend on Feb. 10. Photo by Matthew Hable.

Humboldt Marble Weekend lets the good times roll

Translate

Tropher Reynolds, chief promoter of Humboldt Marble Weekend, got the marble rolling with his inaugural, off-the-beaten-path event.

46 glassblowers showcased their handcrafted marbles at Humboldt County’s first marble show over the weekend.

Reynolds, owner of Copious Glass in Eureka, is also one of the participants of Humboldt Marble Weekend.

“We’re all independent artists,” Reynolds said, “and there are a lot of collectors [in Humboldt].”

Reynolds, originally from Iowa, says he has travelled around the country for 10 years networking with fellow glassblowers. In due course, he realized Humboldt has a remarkable marble scene that justifies a proper show.

Humboldt Marble Weekend kickstarted its event with a meet-and-greet party at Siren’s Song Tavern in Eureka on Feb. 8. Marble artists, collectors and hunters from all over the country gathered for an evening of celebration.

The main marble exhibition and glassblowing demonstrations were held at Redwood Acres in Eureka on Feb. 9 and 10.

Robin Culbertson, daughter of esteemed glass artist Dinah Hulet, demonstrates her family-taught glassblowing techniques using a bench burner, or glass working torch, outside the event hall. Culbertson prefers making marbles with a bench burner because it offers more precise control over forming her intricate works of art.

Robin Culbertson demonstrates her marble making techniques at Humboldt Marble Weekend on Feb. 10. Photo by Matthew Hable.

On the other hand, Ember Sernovitz of Humboldt Glass School favors the furnace.

“I like it because I get to move than sitting too much,” Sernovitz said.

The furnace is a heat-resistant container called a crucible that is filled with molten glass. Then, a glassblower dips a rod into the furnace, cools the exterior of molten glass by rolling it onto a flat surface and shapes and cuts them into marbles.

Ember Sernovitz of Humboldt Glass School behind her booth at Humboldt Marble Weekend on Feb. 10. Photo by Matthew Hable.

Santa Cruz-based glass artist Kaj Beck, who was an unannounced glassblowing demonstrator at Humboldt Marble Weekend, says he got his start in the field in 1996 when he was offered $60 an hour to make glass pipes.

“Making marbles was just another product, another option,” Beck said.

In addition to the marble displays and demonstrations, Humboldt Marble Weekend hosted a marble scavenger hunt on Feb. 11. The interactive event, dubbed “Massive Marble Hunt,” involved four marble hunting Facebook groups that posted clues to the whereabouts of marbles throughout the community. These groups include Humboldt Magical Glass Adventure and Humboldt Heater Hiders & Hunters.

If the evaluation process proves Humboldt Marble Weekend was in fact a hit, hopefully it will become an annual event.

Share This Post

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on email
Share on reddit

More Stories

John Craigie merges folk with humor at the Van Duzer Theatre

by Brad Butterfield John Craigie blended comedic anecdotes with folk music, creating a one-of-a-kind show on March 1 at the Van Duzer Theatre. Describing himself as ‘the love child of John Prine and Mitch Hedberg with a vagabond troubadour edge,’

Women’s volleyball club is being formed at Cal Poly Humboldt

by Jake Knoeller and Dezmond Remington For the first time, a women’s club volleyball team is being formed at Cal Poly Humboldt. The idea was brought up when a large number of women were consistently attending the men’s practices, including

Authors’ Celebration brings writers together

by Dezmond Remington Writers are famously loners, depicted in media as squirreled away in some dark cabin deep in the woods or confined to a cockroach-infested apartment. At the bare minimum, they’re often regarded as imprisoned in their own minds,

Be First to Comment

Leave a Reply