Glass Ornaments by Jim Downing

We'd like to welcome our newest glass blower Jim Downey - an Eastern North Carolina resident.

Jim began his adventures with glass in 1976 when he enrolled in Salem County Community College’s Glass Technology program. He learned the skills needed to create complex scientific glass apparatus during the day and the joy of artistic expression during the evenings.

In 1978, he began his career as a scientific glassblower with EMR Photo-electric in Princeton Junction., NJ. He recently retired after 31 years of service to Schlumberger and is now free to pursue his own glass interests.

In the early 1980’s, Jim satisfied his artistic yearnings by continuing to create glass art in the evenings after hours at work. He absorbed ideas and techniques from the various glassblowers he met along the way. His best teachers were Don Stoop, his boss at EMR, and Hans Geyer, a glassblower at Sarnoff Research Center in Princeton, NJ.

Jim’s glass ornaments have been developed over the past 30 years. The concept of putting a glass figurine inside a clear ball is known in glassblowing circles. However, Jim expanded the idea by using color glass and by developing a catalog of figurines that continues to grow every year.

All the glass figurine ornaments that Jim makes are signed, dated and numbered. These are his signature pieces. He has also made hundreds of vases, candle holders and various figurines. Jim makes wedding cake tops and one-of-a-kind gifts as requested. His masterpiece is the wedding cake top he made for his own wedding in 1998.

In the area of scientific glass, Jim works mostly in borosilicate and occasionally in quartz. He specializes in glass-kovar seals, graded seals, and the fabrication of chemistry apparatus for use in the laboratory.

We'd like to welcome Jim to our Carolina Creations family!