Jack Pine Studio

About Jack Pine Studio

Jack Pine opened his new studio in Laurelville, Ohio, in 2017. More than 30 years after his first pumpkin, and numerous other locations, he wanted to return to his roots.  After developing his art as a glassblower, Jack worked at Seattle Ornamental Blown Glass. Next, he went to the Maytum Glass Studio in Boulder, Colorado. Jack worked there as a production artist and glass trainer. He ran Jack Pine Studio in Lakewood, Colorado, for 15 years before relocating to Columbus, Ohio. This move was to be near the annual Glass Pumpkin Show!

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Wanting to be closer to family, he looked around the Laurelville area. And bragged about it to people all over the country. When he showed them pictures, they didn't believe how beautiful it is.

Pine thinks Laurelville is ready for development and discovery.  He plans to open a private glassblowing school to offer classes and workshops. He views the shop as a unique experience where visitors can watch art created.


Jack Himself

Jack Pine grew up in Circleville, Ohio,  29 miles (ca. 47 km) from Columbus. Circleville is home to one of the biggest pumpkin shows nationwide! Southern Ohio is the birthplace of the North American glass studio movement. 

Both parents were artists– his dad, a DuPont factory worker engaged in artistic pursuits, including inventing. And his mother was a talented painter and sculptor. Jack feels going to Logan Elm High School was a blessing due to the fantastic art program.

His interest in glassblowing began at an early age. He played with molten bottle glass in his family farm's campfires. Glass holds a fascination for everyone. "I grew up having campfires, and my dad would have a few beers, so we'd throw the beer bottles into the fire pit. I'm kind of a "pyro". I love fire."

 He had an eye for art and color from the beginning. A 1983 high school graduate, he was a quiet, creative kid. A scholarship to the Columbus College of Art and Design offered a chance to follow his lifelong passion. But he lacked funds to pay for his full education. So, Jack did a stint in the Army, which he calls "life-changing". To help pay for the rest of school and to get a little world experience, Pine took a two-year stint with the U.S. Army.

"The Army pulled me out," he said. "It gave me the ability to face a lot of different fears and gave me discipline."

"The Army equalizes everyone. It strips away your previous identity and makes you all the same. For me, that pulled me up," he said. He had been quiet and reserved, and the Army brought him out of his shell.

Post-Army, he attended CCAD to study advertising, the first in his family to attend college. His parents hoped he'd get a lucrative job in the field. But the idea of wearing a suit didn't appeal. Dropping out, he loaded up his Escort with his ferret and $200 in gas and hit the road to the West Coast.

"I headed up to Seattle where I was homeless for a minute," he said. "But that was fine with me. I was ready for the adventure." A friend suggested he try out glassblowing and sent him to a glass studio. Pine, who had only taken one glassblowing class, became mesmerized. That's when he knew he had found his passion.

Pine says one of the greatest attractions to glassblowing is the constant state of learning. "You have to be a mechanic, plumber, electrician, and artist all at once." That's not to mention the science that goes into thermal dynamics.

"It's endless what you can learn. You never stop learning," Jack said.


Jack Pine Glass or the Studio Pumpkins Built

Jack's studio creates many beautiful hand blown glass art; vases, Christmas ornaments, and urns. Without a doubt, the glass pumpkins and gourds produced at the studio get a lot of notice.

He started making glass pumpkins for the Circleville Pumpkin Show.  This tip from a friend has proved to be a good one. Born and raised in Circleville, which is "Pumpkin Town." The annual harvest celebration is the largest street festival in America. With the most extensive real pumpkin in the show, weighing between 1,500 to 1,800 lbs.


Jack Pine Glass Pumpkins

Rich in color and used as year-round decor, not just during fall, Jack Pine 

Pumpkins are in a class alone.

 Creating these little beauties begins with raw materials like silica (sand), soda ash, and lime. This mixture stays molten in a furnace over 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (ca. 1,093 °C). For a signature Pine pumpkin, the blower gathers clear glass at the end of a long, metal blowpipe. Rolling the glass ball in frit—colored, fine-ground glass chips comes next. A proprietor-protected combination of precious metals is applied, as well. The glass is then blown out like a balloon and heated another time in the "glory hole". A "glory hole is the furnace; an open-front, 2,000-degree oven used to reheat glass during the process.

Each pumpkin acquires its shape using various tools like hardwood cedar paddles. And metal calipers called jacks. With a special blow rig, the artists force air into the glass bubble, turning and shaping as they go.  That means adding ridges and flattening the bottom just enough, so they won't roll.

Once the pumpkin looks like a pumpkin, it's snapped off the end of the blowpipe with a delicate tap. Adding the glass stem and shaping with a blowtorch finish the shaping.

The signature brilliant colors and sparkle of Jack Pine Pumpkins results from "Torching". This method superheats the surface of the pumpkin with a torch. The heat helps finish the piece and oxidizes the metals bringing out their shine. The "twinkle" sets Jack Pine pumpkins on another level from other glass pumpkin-makers. 

Luscious colors of cobalt, amethyst, ivory, chartreuse, pink, gold, orange, and more blend appear. They blend and meld. There is no limit to the colors used-the the wilder, the better! The single pumpkins and two and three-piece gourd sets can be a part of your decor year-round. The gourd sets look amazing as a table or mantle centerpiece. And with the color variety fit in any home or office setting.


Jack Pine Studios Glass Blowers

On a typical day during pumpkin season, the furnaces and ovens light up.  An eclectic rhythmical musical playlist begins.  The glassblowers take their places in front of their stations. One artist to gather and color, another to blow and shape, another to add the finish. It's pumpkin season. And the dance begins. Each artist on the team knows every step. There is a sense of urgency working with hot glass, but delicate poise is evident as well. It's a contest involving high-speed skills and even hotter glass. They must be aware of where they are in the process and where they are in the space.  Weaving in and out of each other, they create a moving, breathing tapestry of flame, metal, and glass. And more than a few "tattooed" bodies. The "tattoos" help cover the scars of the "ungraceful moments".

Glassblower Britain Lovell has worked with Jack Pine on and off for years. Lovell, who lives in Austin, Texas, joins Pine and his crew for pumpkin season. During pumpkin season, each artist staffs a station creating the multicolor, sparkly pumpkins for which the studio is famous.

There is a signature "Pumpkin of the Year" created for each new season.

 The vibrant colors and a unique style result from Jack's 30 plus years experimenting with materials. The team uses a large variety of precious metals and enamels. Layering them on top of each other creates the "Jack Pine Pumpkin effect".


Jack Pine Studio Today

Jack continues to train artists and create glass art that is sold and shipped nationwide.

Visitors can drop by the studio to watch demonstrations and shop hundreds of glass ornaments, vases, bowls, hummingbird feeders, and Jack Pine glass pumpkins for sale.  All made on-site and by hand.