For Renton Arts and Glass Studio co-founder Joni Johnson, creating the popular studio as an artist cooperative ten years ago was the way to go.

“I set it up that way so that I wouldn’t have to live my life here,” Johnson said with a big laugh.

At the studio, days are spent standing in front of a blistering furnace and getting molten glass to just the right size and shape. While there are a number of classes where others can learn the fine art of glass blowing, Johnson herself is not a part of them.

“I don’t teach, personally,” she said. “I do three different styles that are too difficult to teach.”

As Johnson puts it, she started out learning the Czech-style of glass blowing completely by accident.

“I took what I thought was a glass beads class and I was hooked. That teacher was from the Czech Republic and the Czech style is mostly with molds,” said Johnson. “I defected to Italy because it’s all hands. So my style is a mix of Swedish, Czech and Italian.”

While Johnson’s style is more eclectic, her longtime friend and fellow glass blower, Robert “Bob” Mays stuck with Czech-style. Mays works diligently in the studio creating glass pumpkins and other pieces, which will be part of the Valley Medical Center’s Thank-A-Caregiver program. “We give the hearts for that,” said Johnson. “We do a lot of work with them.”

Johnson, May and many other artists from the studio are involved in community art programs. Recently, the Renton Arts and Glass Studio provided the glass dragon coins that were part of the April scavenger hunt honoring Erasmus the Rooftop Dragon’s hatching day.

“The city put out a call to artists and I happened to give them dragon egg idea,” said Johnson. “We did the coins and the balls. We did some coins that were clear and ones that were gold.”

Apart from commissions from the City of Renton and other organizations, the artists at the glass studio work hard to let their creative pieces shine during the summer. For July and August, the studio is actually close due to the seasonal heat and the shows are where many of the studio’s artists exhibit their glassworks.

It makes sense for the studio to go on hiatus during the summer heat. The glass blowers and glass artists use four different types of ovens to make their work come alive.

First is the electric furnace, which holds 150 pounds of glass at 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit. Second is what’s called the “glory hole” which is hotter than the furnace at 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit.

Third is the kneeling oven, which sits at 125 degrees Fahrenheit and allows the glass objects to cool down properly over 18 hours. Last is the pipe warmer, which keeps the blow pipe hot.

“You never want to into the furnace cold,” said Mays as he worked on a glass ball.

The studio also puts on two sales a year, a garden sale in the spring and a pumpkin sale in the fall.

Classes at the studio include “A Taste of Glass,” “Paperweights with Fused Glass,” “Blow Your Own” and “Glass Blowing Classes.” The first two classes are up to two hours long while the general glass blowing classes make up a total of four hours.

To learn more, visit rentonagstudio.com.

Bob Mays has been making glass art for decades. Photo by Bailey Jo Josie/Sound Publishing.

LEFT: Bob Mays puts on kevlar gloves to handle the hot glass he’s been working on. ABOVE: Bob Mays has been making glass art for decades. Photos by Bailey Jo Josie/Sound Publishing

The Renton Arts and Glass Studio created glass dragon coins for the Dragon hatching celebration in April 2023. Photo courtesy of Joni Johnson.