Animator and satirist Eben Horton has been blowing glass for two decades.
Their voices are flat, computer-generated by what sounds like Macintosh desktop computer technology circa 1998. They barely move, these two stuffed animals having a conversation in a synthetic landscape, adding to the unreality of this very funny spoof film created with the help of the make-your-own-animated-movie Website Xtranormal.com. Titled simply: “I don’t care … I want to blow glass,” it’s spread among the glass artist community like wildfire via FaceBook and email. Welcome to the most-talked-about video in the glass world, which makes fun of the folly of building a glass studio through a conversation between a fictional couple discussing the man’s naive visions of glass glory (“Just like Dante … Lino … Dale!”). It’s flattened, South Park-style satire as light-hearted as it is deadly in its skewering of the increasingly unrealistic dream of making it rich through glassblowing. The Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet tracked down the filmmaker to get the story behind the viral video that has clocked 10,000 views and counting.
Click on the image above for a link to this video.
This unusual film is only signed with the alias of “Nebe.” Putting the word out through the glass artist community, we finally found the author blowing glass in Wakefield, Rhode Island. Here, Eben Horton runs his own custom glass studio out of a former filling station. This student of Penland, former instructor at Corning, and researcher in Murano now focuses on creating large installations, custom lighting, and historical reproductions of Early American and 17th-century glassware.
Here’s what he had to say.
GLASS Quarterly Hot Sheet: What inspired you to do this project?
Eben Horton: Truth be told, the inspiration is my own personal experiences in glass. I’ve been blowing glass now for 21 years and have owned my own studio for ten. Like everyone else, now I’m smack-dab in the middle of our current economic situation. It used to be somewhat easy to make a decent living making glass, and now it’s no longer the case. A few weeks ago, while I was sitting down to cut checks to my propane company and electric company, I paused and wondered what I could do with the money I was paying for propane. Just one month’s utilities at my studio would fund a decent European vacation for myself. Then my thought-process got going down the road of “You’d have to be insane to build a glass studio today.” which, of course, got me wondering if I was in fact, insane for trying to hang in there with my studio. Don’t get me wrong—I do have orders and I am selling glass—but the problem that I’m experiencing is that my operating costs have almost doubled in the last five years and my sales have gone down a bit. The result is that I’m not making the money that I used to with such a small profit margin. I know I’m not alone, and don’t let anyone fool you when they say things are just fine at their studio.
That night, sitting on the couch pondering what the future may hold for the glass scene, I got to thinking about someone who was seriously considering building a studio and how they could possibly justify such an expense. The numbers I used to justify the insanity are numbers that I felt were realistic as far as building a simple studio, and if I really wanted to make a point, I could have doubled that number if someone was going to build a seriously nice studio. As far as making 100 pumpkins a day or 5 “Dinosaur” vases a day, those numbers are certainly possible for a single day. So, on paper, it sure looks like you can make a mint owning a glass studio and that is the golden carrot that I think all who build a studio dream to achieve.. Of course, I am not taking into consideration the time it takes to do trade shows, art fairs, charging, family time, etc.. which feeds into this guy’s insanity.
I threw in the Dino jacks humor because i heard a while back that they were going on Ebay for around $700, which i think is absolutely insane. Yes they are nice tools, but there are people out there that put too much emphasis on good equipment and good tools, when what matters much is what you are making. Harvey Littleton comes to mind with his famous quote “Technique is cheap.” I have to admit, that when i first heard that line, I thought he was wrong. You have to pay thousands of dollars to take classes, not to mention if you want to go to college for it. I didn’t fully understand what he meant at first. The quest for technique certainly isn’t cheap, but if you are not capable of taking the techniques you pick up along the way and translate them into work that is unique to you, I doubt you will succeed as easily as the glass artist who comes up with a new idea and takes it to its fullest level.
GLASS: How long did it take you to make the film?
Eben:It took about 40 minutes to actually make the movie. All of the material has been in my head for years, I just had to sit down and type it out.
GLASS: Is this your first film? How did you actually make it?
Eben: Yes, this is my first film like this. I’ve dabbled in digital films before with fishing, but never with anything to do with glass. It was made by simply typing in a conversation. I can’t type very fast, so I just had a mental conversation in my head and typed it out as I thought a conversation would go between someone who is dead set on building a studio and will justify how it will work with someone who is a realist.
GLASS: What were you hoping to accomplish by making this film?
Eben: I thought that maybe 50 people would see this movie, and, if nothing else, it was for some good laughs in tough times. The people who I was aiming to see this are long-term glass people who were doing this during the good times and probably could use some comic relief. I wanted to leave it open ended, or, in other words, I hope that people see this and wonder if the guy really is insane or if his wife is being a downer and trying to crush his dreams. In reality, they are both right and it is up to the viewer to decide what side they think has the most merit. Personally, I would like to think that it is possible to build a studio in today’s economy, but you had better have multiple outlets lined up to sell your work or you will find yourself losing money fast.
GLASS: What kind of feedback have you been getting?
Eben: The funniest thing that is happening is that i have been getting emails from friends in the glass world, telling me that I’ve got to see this movie because its the funniest thing that they have seen in years. What’s funnier is that they have no idea that I’m the one who made it!
I’ve also heard that a few glass schools have been showing it to their students, that supposedly Tyler’s glass program has shown it over 10 times to their students as an educational tool. That just makes me so proud. Honestly, I had no idea that something like that would happen.
GLASS: Any plans for a sequel or another film?
Eben: Sure, why not? I think that the story has just begun with these two characters. I think we’re all wondering what’s going to happen to our delusional friend. They say that the best artists are the craziest ones!
You can watch for future episodes of “I don’t care … I want to blow glass!” or order a T-shirt via Eben’s Tumblr site here.