The Hoppy Beer Glass would not be possible without my trusty girl…Gertrude.  She was the first major investment I made into glassblowing.  Gertrude is a Merker Glass Cutting Lathe, discovered abandoned in Austria, refurbished with love and shipped to the US to be my work buddy.  She is at least 80-90 years old (don’t know exactly, could be much older).  Made out of cast iron, with Babbitt bearings (that predates ball bearings)!  Runs true as the day she was built.  

Lathe cutting glass is kinda like wood turning, only reversed.  In wood cutting, the wood is chucked up to the lathe and the cutting tool is held in the craftsperson’s hand.  In glass cutting, that is the opposite.  The cutting wheel is attached to the lathe, while the craftsperson holds the glass in their hands and presses it into the diamond wheel.  Yeah, we use diamond products to do all our carving!

The original Pretentious Glass!  The Hoppy glass was designed as a quirky offset/stemless tulip glass…way before craft beer glassware was even a thing.  The first batch was for the gents in our impromptu bottle share club at Mellwood Arts Center in Louisville.  I carved each members handprint onto their own glass.  It was so freaking Pretentious!  Hence the company name 😉