Dougherty Glassworks
About Cameron
Born & raised in California's central Valley, Cameron attended California State University. While earning his degree in Business Information Systems, he took glassblowing as an elective, and never looked back.
In order to pursue his passion for glass, he travelled to North Carolina's distinguished Penland School of Crafts in Fall of 2010. By December 2010, he had began working for artist Bryon Sutherland in Gridley, CA. While Working with Bryon, Cameraon was able to add many skills to his repertoire, as well as receive practical knowledge in the industry. He relocated to Portland Oregon in 2015 to further pursue his my career. There he worked as a glassblowing instructor at Live Laugh Love Art as well as being a demonstrating artist at Gorge Glasshaus.
In early 2017 he married and settled in Vancouver, BC. His practice is run out of Terminal City Glass Co-op, while also working as the Studio Manager there.
"The Glass Process" by Cameron
Every Dougherty Glassworks glass is made by hand in a multi-step process that involves glass, steel, wood and fire. The creation process blends centuries-old mold-making techniques with modern technology.
First let’s look at the mold. Vancouver’s beautiful cherry trees are world-famous for their display of color every spring. These cherished trees are so sweet, in fact, that the wood is full of sugars. This makes cherry wood the finest choice for making the molds used for hand-blown glass. The wood for my molds was salvaged in Vancouver by my wife, who is an arborist.
I begin creating each glass using digital 3D modeling software. Once the design is finished, I send it to a CNC machine that cuts two identical halves of the mold into the wet cherry wood. I then add a hinge and handles to complete the mold, and store it underwater to maximize heat resistance and prevent cracking.
To make each glass, I first gather liquid glass from a large furnace onto the end of a stainless steel pipe. I then blow air through the pipe and into the white-hot glass, forming a bubble. I re-heat the bubble in the glory hole until it is ready to be dripped into the wooden mold. When my assistant closes the mold I blow into the pipe while spinning it to produce a seamless glass. Once the glass has cooled enough to hold its shape, I remove it from the mold and I impress the Dougherty Glassworks stamp in the base, marking it as uniquely handmade. I then crack the glass off the pipe and put it in a pre-heated kiln for 12 hours of slow cooling (called annealing), after which it’s ready for final shaping and polishing. After this process, the glass gets one more 15-hour cycle in the kiln to further strengthen it. It’s now ready to use!
