The glass department provides its students with a thorough technical foundation and broad resources for specialized material exploration. An extensive custom facility offers a full range of glassworking processes (see below). Among its various refinements are a half-ton continuous-melt glass furnace, a 500-lb. casting furnace, 22 computer-programmed process ovens, a well-developed coldworking facility and individual studio space for graduate and undergraduate students.

Hot Shop 

• continuous melt furnace (1000-lb. capacity)
• casting furnace (500-lb. capacity)
• 3 glory holes
• 3 benches with compressed air stations
• mobile pipe cooler
• gas-fired pipe warmer
• 2 large front-loading annealing ovens
• 2 top-loading annealing ovens
• 3 pick-up ovens
• 1 front-loading sculpture annealing oven (for solid work)
• rolling metal boxes & ladles for sandcasting
• oxy-propane bench torch
• natural gas-fired garage
• sand casting equipment (ladles, metal boxes, acetlyne)
• 2 Digitry GB5 controllers
• 1 Watlow 981 controller

Kiln Room 

• 2 small kilns
• 3 small stacker ovens
• 4 medium ovens
• 2 large ovens
• 1 car kiln
• 1 bell kiln
• 2 Digitry GB5 controllers
• Nederman downdraft de-molding table

Cold Shop 

• Clipper diamond cut-off saw
• Convington diamond cut-off saw
• Somaca glass drill press
• 2 Somaca roller platen vertical belt sanders
• 3 diamond flatting wheels
• 1 large Steinert flatting wheel
• 2 Somaca polishing wheels
• 4 grinding/cutting lathes & diamond wheels
• 2 Merker cutting lathes
• 2 Foredom flexible-shaft engraving stations
• Merker engraving lathe
• 2 Tornado I & II air-powered diamond shaping tools
• 2 Starlite hand-held etching/grinding tools
• 2 Rose Industries Recipro-lap automatic polishing machines
• American ultraviolet curing lamp
• UV gluing station
• Polarizing lamp

Sandblasting Room 

• Zero Mfg. Co. #BN 65-1 sandblaster
• Cyco-Blast industrial sandblaster

Plaster Room 

• Hoffman RPGH-15 steam machine

Additional Equipment 

• Carlisle and Bethlahan bench burners