Story and photos by Mimi M. Maddock Mimi@TheColumbiaStar.com

David Wingo holds some bottles he melted in his kiln. David Wingo, a Shandon resident is an artisan who makes glass products using a technique called warm glass. He does his magic in a garage stuffed with bottles of different kinds of glass, molds of many shapes, a kiln, mistakes, and everything he needs to fulfill his passion.

Wingo can create a flat glass plate using a clay pot. Then he can turn the plate into a bowl.

To use a clay pot to make a plate, Wingo first enlarges the hole in the bottom of the pot, then places it on a shelf in his kiln with the hole exposed. The shelf usually is made of clay or a lightweight refractory material that has to withstand heating up to 1700 degrees.

Next, he puts selected pieces of glass in the pot. All the pieces have to have the same coefficient of expansion COE which means the same compatibility of expanding and contracting. If not, the creation may crack.

Wingo said, "When I first started, I made a bowl for a friend. One day, the bowl was just sitting in her kitchen and cracked." Unfortunately, she blamed her son for breaking the bowl, not knowing that Wingo had not understood the rule of compatibility at that time.

This is what happens when an artisan does everything wrong. An artisan may test glass to check the coefficient, but it is easier to order from a company that guarantees its glass to have a certain COE. For example, Bullseye glass company is said to have a COE of 90; Spectrum, another company, has a COE of around 96; Corning's pyrex glassware has a 32 COE.

After Wingo puts the glass pieces with the same COE in the pot, he heats the kiln to 1500. As the kiln heats the pieces, the glass liquifies and drips through the hole onto the next shelf which Wingo has covered with a separator glass won't stick to at high temperatures. The liquid will form a circular flat plate 1/4 inch thick. The pieces joined together through a procedure called fusing. If he cools the piece properly, it will be solid and unbroken.

Next comes slumping. To make a bowl, he puts the flat plate on a bowl mold and heats the kiln once again. The glass melts and adheres to the mold and a bowl is born.

Wingo works on a design for a bowl he is making for a client. Wingo started working with cold glass when he began creating stained glass pieces over 20 years ago. He has a box filled with stained glass hearts he gave to his wife each Valentine's Day before her death in the early 90s. Wingo's 27 year old son has his father's talent and lives above the workshop. His daughter is in college.

Wingo is a member of an exchange group that makes maglesses. Each member makes 200 glass creations the size of a refrigerator magnet and sends them to a designated location. Once received they are combined with magnets from other exchange participants, sorted, and mailed back so that each member receives 200 different magnets in return. Membership gives Wingo the opportunity to see what other glass artists are doing throughout the U.S. and the world.

During the day Wingo is a manager of engineers at Blue Cross Blue Shield. He hopes to do his art full time when he retires and presently does commissioned work. He can be reached at 799-4407.

These maglesses were sent to David Wingo from an exchange group.

Wingo created this bowl using squares with Palmetto Trees and cresents designed in each one. He put a special blue paint in the fusing and placed a copper Palmetto tree and cresent between two layers in the final design of the bowl.