Poatina Glass Trailer

Poatina Glass Trailer was a major feature at Deloraine Craft Fair.  The Rotary Club of Deloraine Tasmania, Australia recently supported Fusion Australia to build a mobile hot glass trailer to be the major feature attraction at their annual Craft fair. Thousands of onlookers enjoyed seeing amazing works of art made before their eyes.

Mobile Hot Glass Facility makes Debut at Deloraine

As you may have heard, this year’s Tasmanian Craft Fair held in Deloraine (30^th Oct to 2^nd Nov 2009) heralded glass as its theme for the first time since it began 29 years ago.  The event organisers, the Rotary Club of Deloraine, embarked on a number of projects involving glass including an exhibition entitled Furnace curated by Douglas McManus and a number of hands-on lampworking workshops offered throughout the 4 day fair.  They were also looking to have glass blowing featured as a way of attracting more than the 30,000 people that normally attend.  After their initial glass blowing contact fell through, Craft Fair director John Dare approached Keith Dougall in early August after hearing that Fusion had just finished setting up a new Hot Glass Studio in Poatina.  He asked if Keith would consider bringing their furnace to the fair and after much discussion it was decided that this was less feasible than building a new furnace and related equipment that would be designed for travel on a dedicated trailer complete with a working stage for demonstrations.  The trailer could then be available for future fairs and other events around Tasmania and the mainland. And so a partnership was entered into between the Rotary Club (who provided funds) and Fusion (who provided expertise and labour) to build what we believe is currently Australia’s only existing Mobile Hot Glass Facility, reminiscent of the Corning Museum’s Hot Glass Roadshow that toured Australia during 2005, although somewhat smaller and more humble in design and budget!

Fusion had an old modified duel-axel car trailer that has been used as a mobile stage at festivals and other events in the past, but was now sitting unused.  So it was decided that this would become the base from which to create this great new facility.  The trailer was 4.1m long by 2.2 wide had existing walls that were 1.5m high.  One of the long side walls was able to fold down to create a large platform stage or work area.  We increased the height of this folding wall/floor to 2m, which created an even larger work area when folded down for the bench and marver, plus we added a sloping roof complete with a sliding canopy that could be extended out over the work area for shade.  We also added electric braking capacity by replacing the existing axles with 2 new electric brake axles.

Next came the task of designing the equipment to fit on the trailer…  the basic setup we felt we needed was a furnace for melting the glass, a small glory hole for re-heating, an oven or kiln for annealing finished pieces and a pipe warmer.  We also needed to consider the energy source for each of these items and decided that if we could keep the setup electricity-free we would be able to operate independently of access to power.  So LP Gas was the go, and we created a rack on the draw-bar of the trailer to house 4 x 45kg bottles - enough for a few days’ operation.

James Dodson, of Tasmanian Glassblowers, was also drawn into the project and provided his fibreglass moulds for the castable linings of a free-standing pot furnace.  We decided on a pot capacity of 50kg, mainly because James had an old pot we could use of that size and because we felt that was a good size to take on the road and to switch on and off regularly.  Simon Maberley, of Canberra, also came down for a week to help cast some of the linings and start work on the furnace which was a great help.  He also helped with one of the more difficult tasks – deciding on the placement of each large piece of equipment so that the trailer would be well balanced weight-wise for towing.  Because we had to build the equipment on the trailer (we had no way of lifting the equipment after construction) this necessitated using weights (a couple of pallet-loads of bricks, bags of soda ash and castable and anything else we could find) to do a dummy run and make sure the down-weight on the tow-ball was not too little or too great and that the trailer was balanced from left to right as well.  That was a memorable day… when we lifted over 2 tonnes of weights on and off the trailer in the rain…  but reassuring to know we were building things in the right place afterwards!

Another major challenge we faced was finding a Class B gasfitter (Combustion Engineer) who could do the work of commissioning the burners and getting the paperwork processed for inspection by the gas authorities in such a short lead-time.  There are only 2 gasfitters of this sort in Tasmania and one of them did not want the job –But, we did manage to get across the line… just…  he literally finished connecting the last burner for the Glory Hole on the day before the fair started when we were already well under way in heating up the furnace.

In the end we were featured in all the major newspapers more than once and TV and radio covered it as well.  It was great to see the thousands of people who watched over the weekend being fascinated as they watched the glass blown and shaped before their eyes.  Rotary was really pleased because numbers were up considerably from last year and there was a real buzz about all the glass.

James Dodson and Simon Maberley returned to help with the demonstrations, with me assisting and providing a commentary over a PA system which worked really well.  It was great to be able to tell the bigger story of what is happening here at Poatina with Tasmania’s first access/educational facility for hot glass just coming on line with Fusion.  It does seem to be the start of Tassie’s moment right now for glass and many people filled in response forms saying they would like to undertake workshops or teaching in hot glass techniques in the new year at Poatina.

Fusion is a now international Christian youth and community organisation which started in Sydney 49 yrs ago with centres across Australia and in about 25 countries abroad.  We are excited about the opportunities our new hot glass facility and the mobile facility will bring to work with a range of ages and groups within the community, including school, TAFE and uni students who currently don’t have access to hot glass. There is something about molten glass that brings out the best in people…  a sense of child-like awe and wonder that is an excellent starting point for working with disadvantaged young people and others in need in the community.  It was a special moment during the demonstrations when a 9 yr old boy declared to the crowd “I want to be a Glass Blower when I grow up!”  - a good reminder of the younger generations who are looking to find their place and who are a vital part of our future.

It is great to be able to report that since the fair has ended Fusion have received word that our recent funding application to the Tasmanian Community Fund for a new Artist’s Retreat and Glass Centre in Poatina has been approved.  This complements funds we have recently been awarded from the Ian Potter Foundation and Arts Tasmania toward the glass equipment and will allow us to re-erect a fantastic old Nissan Hut-style aircraft hanger that will become the permanent abode for the new hot glass equipment we have just been building.  It will also become the base for the new hot glass trailer when it is not on the road.

We are still needing to raise a final $35,000 in order to pay for the concrete slab that the building will be erected on, and are looking for support in this.  We are able to offer tax-deductibility to donors – please contact Keith Dougall on 0402 314816 if you wish to contribute, or if you would like to be involved in teaching workshops, demonstrations, or doing a residency here in the future.

We have already been overwhelmed by the number of enquiries we have received about the new Hot Glass Trailer, with tentative invitations to Melbourne, Sydney, Wagga Wagga and also an idea to conduct a tour of aboriginal communities between Tassie and Darwin.  No doubt we will be looking for volunteers at many of these future events, so stay tuned, or get in touch! I get the feeling there is going to be plenty of opportunity to raise the profile of glass and reach out to our local communities with something pretty special for all ages to enjoy.