An exhibit at the West Virginia and Regional History Center (WVRHC) at WVU invites the public to explore influential traditions for today and tomorrow.
Home » Four Generations of Glass-Making Celebrated in Two Documentaries
Published
Four Generations of Glass-Making Celebrated in Two Documentaries
Share this Article
Explore Blenko, a family-owned glass-making company based in Milton, W.Va.
Watch Sunday Dec. 17 on WV PBS beginning at 7 p.m.
7:00 p.m. — Hearts of Glass — A detailed, affectionate look at an immigrant’s dream which has become the last great American glass factory where all the work is done by hand. Hearts of Glass traces the company’s history through four generations of the Blenko family. Hot glass is a family obsession that began when William John Blenko emigrated from England during the gilded age of Stanford White and Louis Comfort Tiffany. In America, Blenko was a man of contradictions- both capitalist and socialist, worker and boss. Three times he tried to produce European-style stained glass and three times he failed. At the age of 67, he tried one last time and found the elusive formula for radiant medieval ruby glass. His discovery was the start of a company whose rainbow of more than 1300 colors would circle the globe.
8:00 p.m. — Blenko Glass: Behind the Scenes — Journey to the hills of Milton, W. Va. into the heat of Blenko Glassworks and see first-hand how Blenko handmade glass is created, from start to finish. Each step in the Blenko glass-making process is accomplished by human hand, eyes, and he arts, not by impersonal machines.
This week on West Virginia Week we learn about improvements being made to the state’s correctional facilities. Also we learn about the issues of protecting endangered Appalachian salamanders.
On this West Virginia Morning, Blenko Glass has been making everything from stem and table ware to decorative glass figurines for more than a century and proposed federal protections for the spring salamander.