BLOG – 35 YEARS AGO BLOG 24

I hate the phrase “self-taught” that some crafts people and artist’s use. There is no such thing, we all learn from interacting with others, if not directly then by books people have written or watching videos on the internet that others have produced.

Many people I credit for my training from my Uncle Ted who I worked for in his own business after I left school through to John, Barry, Gary, Vic, Terry and more who taught me techniques face to face. Even if I didn’t have the luxury of working with others then I read loads of magazines about glass so if I could name all the authors of articles that I devoured during my early days. I still read glass art magazines and subscribe to many but never too many!

As Editor of the Journal of the British Society of Scientific Glassblowers I am allowed to keep surplus copies since the Journal is distributed from my home. Over the years I have built up quite a mountain of surplus copies. They would make a great collage I often think so one day this may happen. Now they languish in boxes in my studio. My position as Editor means I can swap magazines and journals with other similar organisations such as those in Germany and America. A right little old archive of valuable information me thinks. I daresay some will see this as a very primitive behaviour as one can get everything that people ever wanted to know from the Internet!

I have noticed over the years that some organisations are turning towards issuing electronic only versions of their publications as this is cheaper than hard copies. It is true but still requires input from anyone and everyone except AI!

I am reluctant to throw away any magazines since they may come in useful in the future. Quite how long this future is anyone’s guess. I know that I don’t know when I will have the need to refer to an article in a magazine, but I do know that time will come.