Bad Gas

This past Saturday my wife and I travel one hour outside of Dallas to shop for Blenko. We ended up running into some friends. All in all a great Saturday until we stopped for gas. We stopped at a a large retail chain's gas station whose name I will not divulge Wal***t. As we started driving on the highway m y wife's PT Cruiser started bucking, surging and slowing. Then the check engine light came on. GREAT! 45 minutes from home. Then I suddenly remembered the only thing we had done is buy gas at Wal***t. The gas was bad i.e. had water in it. Luckily my wife had only half filled the tank with the bad gas. I pulled into a well known gas station and filled it up the rest of the way with premium gasoline. I even bought some gas treatment. Unfortunately none of this seemed to help much. 1 hour later as we stopped to buy cat food I went to an Autozone and explained the situation. The manager said a lot of that is going around and told me I should buy a product called Sea Foam. I guess it was my lucky day there was only one left on the shelf. I tried it and less than 10 minuted later I noticed the car doing much better. By Sunday everything was back to normal even the check engine light went out. I guess it's karma. Blenko has a delicate green color called Sea Foam. Thanks Sea Foam !

After the Storm

Springtime in Texas be both beautiful and quite scary. The words of last night- lighting, storm and tornado. When I woke up the sun was shining. As I started out the door I looked at my Blenko shelves. What a beautiful display of reds, blues and yellows with shades in between.

"I finally figured out the only reason to be alive is to enjoy it."

-Rita Mae Brown

Recycling

It's a funny thing when one is a collector/obsessive. You find a way to shoehorn your interest into what is going on at the moment. As I was thinking about ways I could be more Earth Friendly at home and lessen my carbon footprint, I realized that my glass collection is recyclable. As a matter of fact the Blenko Company recycles leftover glass, broken pieces or misshapen designs. They call this product cullet. When needed they get a some of the cullet and remelt it and start over again. Buy Blenko Glass they recycle. Happy Earth Day!

Blenko For Sale

Blenko Glass For Sale
4-20-08

Here are a few pieces of Blenko Glass we are offering for sale. We're offering them to members of the Texas Blenko Collectors group first. Hopefully, we have something for everyone. If they don't sell here, we will put them up for auction on eBay next Sunday. The pieces are for sale, we will not be taking bids for these pieces, although reasonable offers are welcomed. Please e-mail any question to tkalonzo@gmail.com or if you'd like to see them in person, we can do that as well.

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#5713 Footed Bowl in Jade. Jade was only made one year. It's a hard-to-find beauty, but I'm keeping our other one. This one still has the Blenko label. The piece is over 10" tall

Price: $250

#5422 Vase with Blow Out Decoration in Chartreuse. This is another piece you don't see very often. Stands 13" almost 5" across. Very very light water mark. Price $150

#5711 Footed Pitcher in Turquoise. Pristine condition. Great Husted design. It stand at 14 1/2"tall. The handle is superb. Price $150

#448-R Vintage Ringed Old Fashion glasses. Color is Sea Green. Selling as a pair 4" tall.

Price $20

Shopping For Blenko

I often hear folks say that they can't find Blenko when they visit local antique shops or antique shows. They say the best place to find Blenko Glass is on eBay. I find one-third of my glass at antique shops, one-third at antique shows and flea markets, and one-third on eBay. On eBay you can find a wide variety of Blenko Glass, but I have more luck searching for pieces that are not listed as Blenko. The same goes at flea markets and shops. One tip for folks who regularly attend antique shows or flea markets, let the dealers know what you are looking for. Here in Dallas we have Buchanan's Antique Show and we have several dealers who are looking for us. Give them as much detail as you can, but more importantly buy the pieces if they find them for you.

Here are several pieces that dealers found for us.

Here are Ruby Air Twist Wine Goblets that were misidentified at an Antique Shop

Why do I collect Blenko Glass?

When you see Blenko Glass being made, or when you see a grouping of it, or Blenko in stained glass you will see the allure. The richness of the colors, often transparent and translucent at the same time. The unique designs that span the range of design. From Art Deco, to Modern to Post Modern and even a Studio aesthetic. The heft and texture as well as the delicacy. Knowing that each piece of Blenko Glass took six craftsmen to create. The fact that I know I am merely the temporary custodian of this glass, most of it older than I am. I suppose I could collect matchbooks, they don't take up as much room, or coins, since they usually bring a higher return. But my collection is not an investment per se, it is my hobby and if I were really worried about my return I would have found another avenue for investment. To answer the question more bluntly I collect Blenko Glass because it is a hobby my wife and I both enjoy doing as do many of our close friends and because the glass is not perfect but in spite of its imperfections it's still beautiful.

This is a hard-to-find Blenko 384-H (handle). It is one of our favorite pieces