beachbites
15
Flamework
Sparkling Glass Art
by SUSAN MILLER
Flamework artist Jim Downey has spent decades developing his hand-made
blown glass Christmas ornaments.
The poinsettia is one of Downey’s most popular, and most labor-intensive,
seasonal designs. Just one poinsettia ornament consists of
17 individual pieces — two blossoms with six petals each and five leaves — in addition
to the clear glass globe that surrounds the fragile crimson flowers.
“There is a little bit of a learning curve,” Downey explains. “You have to overcome your
fear of fire. After a while and a lot of practice, you get cut and burned less often.”
It takes Downey two hours to create one poinsettia ornament, which means two
hours of working with his hands over a flaming torch, fueled with propane and oxygen,
and manipulating malleable glass that has reached about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
Downey is currently engaged in his dream retirement gig after more than 30 years of
working for an industrial glass company. Three decades ago, his designs were limited by
the number of colors that were available in borosilicate glass, the type of heat-resistant
glass from which Pyrex is made: cobalt blue, brown, greenish-yellow and yellow. Today,
an array of shades is accessible because of developments in glass technology. Downey’s
Wilmington workshop includes about 25 different colors and he custom-mixes glass to
create different tones. This is the technique he uses to create the perfect shade of red for
his poinsettia ornaments.
Other favorite ornaments that Downey handcrafts annually include a snowman
wearing a striped scarf, and a red candle with a yellow flame that sits atop a berried
wreath. Ornaments cost between $30 and $65. Since mov-ing
to Wilmington two years ago with his wife Lisa Coats, he
has introduced regionally inspired ornaments including sea
turtles, jellyfish and pelicans. Every year, he introduces a new
Christmas design.
“This year, it’s going to be a panda holding a candy cane
sitting on a green wreath,” he says. His goal is to create 700
ornaments, each one individually signed, dated and num-bered.
Some have been collecting the ornaments every year
since 1988, creating illuminated Christmas trees sparkling
with more than two dozen of his original works of art.
Downey enjoys welcoming curious guests to his workshop to
witness the flameworking process, as well as donating a portion
of his sales to community nonprofits. He will host an open house
at his workshop on Saturday, Dec. 7, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Ten percent of open house sales will be donated to the Good
Shepherd Center and Wilmington Area Rebuilding Ministry
(WARM). For more information, visit www.jimdowneyglass.com
Jim Downey uses a torch and lathe to create Christmas
ornaments in his Wilmington studio.
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