Glass Floats - by Style
We try to make all photographs in our Online Shopping section as representative as possible of the actual artwork. However, since each item is created by hand, there will likely be some variation between these photos and what you receive.
"For almost fifty years, Japan, our immediate neighbor across the Pacific to the west, has unknowingly been sending good-will messengers to our Pacific beaches in the form of lost fishing net floats. These runaways from her vast fishing industry still create as much mystery and enchantment as they did in 1918, when they first started to show up on the Oregon beaches." - excerpt from "Beachcombing for Japanese Floats", by Amos L. Wood, 1967.
Since that time in 1967, those "good-will messengers" from across the Pacific have dwindled, but the tradition of finding hand-blown glass Floats on the Oregon coast has been continued by glassblowers on this side of the Pacific. Of course, the newer Floats are more decorative than functional, but that also allows for the addition of colors and textures glassblowers of the past would have never imagined.
Bob has a unique way of creating our floats to have that variety of color and texture, creating a tactile as well as visual experience. Bob's Floats are also available in a variety of styles - the standard "sitting" style, in which a small plug of glass is flattened onto the float to provide a base to sit on; the "hanging" style, in which that small plug of glass has been stretched into a hook for the Float to hang from; and a "lighted" style, in which an opening remains for a light bulb to be inserted into.
These "Standard" Floats are by far our most popular size and style. Most similar to the original fishing floats, these Floats have a flat base to sit on. And the 6" size makes a statement while maintaining a more affordable price.
