Meet a Knight: Glass Master Mike Fradin

Our ongoing series Meet a Knight features discussions with members of the PCD community about what they do on and off campus. We began the year by having conversations with two new faculty members, and today we present our first chat with a current student, junior Mike Fradin. Mike is well known around campus as a student and an athlete. What most Knights don't know, however, is that Mike has also been creating glass artwork outside of school for years. @PCD caught up with Mike to talk about his art, a sample of which can currently be seen in a display in Lund Hall.

@PCD: I don't know that I've ever met a student who was also a glass blower. Can you tell me how you got into it?

MF: I started around 12 or 13, so I've been doing it now for four or five years. It's a class through RISD - my mom was the one who found the class and asked me if I wanted to do it, and I said, "sure!" and I've stuck with it ever since. 

@PCD: Do you still take the class?

Mike Fradin's glass is on display in Lund Hall. 

MF: In the beginning years it was really a class and I got a lot of directions from the guys who run the studio and have been blowing glass for a while. But after a while they lay off the directions and just let you do it. So I do still go to the class, but it's pretty informal. I go in for about three hours one day a week and take turns blowing with whoever else is there.

@PCD: I know almost nothing about blowing glass other than that it looks pretty intimidating. Can you explain the process of going from nothing to having one of your beautiful pieces of glass? I assume there is a lot of fire involved!

MF: Yeah, there is a lot of heat, a lot of application of heat. But there's also a lot of application of cold as well. You start with a pre-heated hollow pipe, which is called the blow pipe. You have the glory hole and the gathering hole, which is what holds the hot glass. You start out by taking a small gather - maybe a little more than a golf ball's worth of glass. You try to get it into a ball shape at the end of the pipe and then you blow your bubble. Usually you then gather again over it, doing the same thing process again, and then you can apply color. The reason why you have two layers of glass is that it is much easier to gather and blow out that second layer if you have a smaller one inside - it's much easier to hold it together. You can shape the glass as you blow it. Then, after you have your piece and have it shape, you can use another pipe to take it off the blowpipe, and then you can open it up using a third tool that's kind of like a gigantic pair of tweezers that opens up the opening. There's a whole variety of other things you can do after that, but that's the basic idea. 

@PCD: Sounds complicated...

MF: You get the hang of it pretty quickly, but it definitely takes a while to get good.

The heavy three-gather red vase Mike is talking about is
second from the right. 

@PCD: How many pieces have you made?

MF: Oh, I don't know. Probably over a hundred! I have a whole corner of a room full of them.

@PCD: Does any one stick out as being a personal favorite or one you're most proud of?

MF: Actually, the red vase that is out in the display [in Lund] is one. It's a heavy piece, maybe four or five piece, and it's heavy because it has a third gather. It took a lot of time and it's really heavy, and the bigger it is the harder. 

@PCD: How did your work come to be in a display case in the hallway?

MF: This term I started taking a pottery class [at PCD], and the teacher, Mrs. Karl, and I started talking about our art and I mentioned that I blow glass. She asked me to bring some pieces in, and I did. She asked me if I wanted to put the pieces in a display case, and I said sure!

@PCD: What's the response you've gotten? I know you and yet had no idea that you were a talented glass blower. Do your friends know this is a part of what you do?

MF: It's been great. Some of my friends know, but not that many people know do. A big part of that is because it's only a few hours a week. So many people around here do things - play sports, ride horses, act in the play - that take up so much time that I guess this just doesn't really come up. So it's been cool to have people come up to me and say that they didn't know I made glass and that they think it's really good. 

@PCD: Well it is really good, and I think it's great you agreed to display some of your work. Thanks for talking to me today!

MF: You're welcome.