Help Us Build a Furnace
Donation protected
A Little About Me:
Before moving to Macon Georgia, I spent 9 years of my life pursuing an education in Glass Art. In 2006 I left my home state of Florida to move to my birth state of New Jersey, where I attended Salem Community College to learn the art of Glassblowing. In 2009 I then moved back to Florida to attend Jacksonville University which culminated in receiving my BFA in Glass. After school I decided to enter the professional world of glassblowing taking up a job at the esteemed Kokomo Opalescent Glass in Indiana where I was one of only three production glassblowers. Still yearning for more knowledge I then attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale to work towards, and receive my MFA in Glass Art. While there, I met Yen-Ting Chiu, another graduate student from Taiwan. Yen-Ting and I are now married, and have lived in Macon for 3 years. We both own and operate stARTup Studios in Downtown Macon, which is where Blazing Paddles Studio has made a home for the last 2 years. In this time we have been fortunate enough to have the support of friends, family and the community to help us build and grow as a small public access studio.
Up until now we have kept our hot glass classes running with the use of our Electric Glass Furnace which we acquired from Bryan's first glassblowing instructor. If it wasn't for the generosity of Peter Spence in his selling Bryan this furnace, we would not have been able to provide the Macon area with its first Glassblowing Studio. Though this furnace has had lots of upgrades and repairs over the years, it is now over 14 years old and we just simply cannot keep it running efficiently enough to be able to provide our students and artists with the service they deserve.
What does this mean?
With that being said, we have decided not to continue hot glass classes in 2021 until we can replace our old electric glass furnace with a newly built gas furnace. Doing so will help us keep our hot glass classes running in the future with little to no chance of our equipment breaking unexpectedly.
A gas furnace runs more efficiently and predictably. We will not have as much down time doing repairs and maintenance and can spend more time teaching classes and providing education to the community in glassblowing. The style furnace we will be building will also be mobile, so we can bring our furnace out of our studio and into the community and schools for events to provide even more services.
Being able to educate and provide services is what we love to do, and just simply do not get as much time to do it because of our faulty equipment. Every dollar put towards our goal gets us one step closer to being able to do what we love.
Supporter Benefits! What You Get
Tier 1 - Donation of $1+ Macon Made Glass Chip
(Total Value $5)
Tier 2 - Donation of $50+ Macon Made Glass Chip, Pair of Custom Color Pint Glasses
(Total Value $60)
Tier 3 - Donation of $125+ Macon Made Glass Chip, Pair of Custom Color Pint Glasses, Date Night for 2
(Total Value $170)
Tier 4 - Donation of $500+ Macon Made Glass Chip, Pair of Custom Color Pint Glasses, Date Night for 2, 6-hour private lesson (Total Value $710)
Tier 5 - Donation of $1000+ Macon Made Glass Chip, Pair of Custom Color Pint Glasses, Date Night for 2, 6-hour private lesson, Custom Glass Sculpture (Total Value $1,500)
Thank you for your support.
-Bryan & Yen-Ting Beck
Before moving to Macon Georgia, I spent 9 years of my life pursuing an education in Glass Art. In 2006 I left my home state of Florida to move to my birth state of New Jersey, where I attended Salem Community College to learn the art of Glassblowing. In 2009 I then moved back to Florida to attend Jacksonville University which culminated in receiving my BFA in Glass. After school I decided to enter the professional world of glassblowing taking up a job at the esteemed Kokomo Opalescent Glass in Indiana where I was one of only three production glassblowers. Still yearning for more knowledge I then attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale to work towards, and receive my MFA in Glass Art. While there, I met Yen-Ting Chiu, another graduate student from Taiwan. Yen-Ting and I are now married, and have lived in Macon for 3 years. We both own and operate stARTup Studios in Downtown Macon, which is where Blazing Paddles Studio has made a home for the last 2 years. In this time we have been fortunate enough to have the support of friends, family and the community to help us build and grow as a small public access studio.
Up until now we have kept our hot glass classes running with the use of our Electric Glass Furnace which we acquired from Bryan's first glassblowing instructor. If it wasn't for the generosity of Peter Spence in his selling Bryan this furnace, we would not have been able to provide the Macon area with its first Glassblowing Studio. Though this furnace has had lots of upgrades and repairs over the years, it is now over 14 years old and we just simply cannot keep it running efficiently enough to be able to provide our students and artists with the service they deserve.
What does this mean?
With that being said, we have decided not to continue hot glass classes in 2021 until we can replace our old electric glass furnace with a newly built gas furnace. Doing so will help us keep our hot glass classes running in the future with little to no chance of our equipment breaking unexpectedly.
A gas furnace runs more efficiently and predictably. We will not have as much down time doing repairs and maintenance and can spend more time teaching classes and providing education to the community in glassblowing. The style furnace we will be building will also be mobile, so we can bring our furnace out of our studio and into the community and schools for events to provide even more services.
Being able to educate and provide services is what we love to do, and just simply do not get as much time to do it because of our faulty equipment. Every dollar put towards our goal gets us one step closer to being able to do what we love.
Supporter Benefits! What You Get
Tier 1 - Donation of $1+ Macon Made Glass Chip
(Total Value $5)
Tier 2 - Donation of $50+ Macon Made Glass Chip, Pair of Custom Color Pint Glasses
(Total Value $60)
Tier 3 - Donation of $125+ Macon Made Glass Chip, Pair of Custom Color Pint Glasses, Date Night for 2
(Total Value $170)
Tier 4 - Donation of $500+ Macon Made Glass Chip, Pair of Custom Color Pint Glasses, Date Night for 2, 6-hour private lesson (Total Value $710)
Tier 5 - Donation of $1000+ Macon Made Glass Chip, Pair of Custom Color Pint Glasses, Date Night for 2, 6-hour private lesson, Custom Glass Sculpture (Total Value $1,500)
Thank you for your support.
-Bryan & Yen-Ting Beck
Organizer
Bryan Beck
Organizer
Macon, GA