About Glass

Some kids had chemistry sets. George Pavliscak melted the glass tubes.

That impulse — to put glass in a flame and see what happened — never really left. It led through a chemistry degree, a stained glass studio in Downtown Madison, WI, a supply shop, years of custom windows and Tiffany lamp and window restorations, and eventually to a dedicated torch studio in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin, where marbles became the main event.

The first ones, made in 1996 on an old auto mechanic's torch, were pretty ugly. By 2002 they were traveling to marble shows across the country. Today they're in books, museums, and collections around the world.

George has been at the Dane County Farmers Market since 1992 — over 30 years at the same corner, same craft, still surprised by what shows up in the glass. The marbles are still the heart of it, alongside handmade glass earrings and his low-tech, homespun screen-printed shirts and totes.

Everything is made by hand, signed, and one of a kind. That part has never changed.

A jewelry maker's workspace with glass jars filled with colorful glass rods, glass fragments in small tins, and various tools including scissors, pliers, and a torch. Glass rods are organized in a wooden holder and scattered on a work surface.
A workshop with a pottery wheel, various tools, shelves with supplies, and bricks used for a kiln or oven in a basement or workshop setting.
Glass rods at the ready for lampworking or glass blowing. The top of your head will peel off and radioactive termites of though will pour forth!