Lawrence Family
Glass Blowers
~ story and photos by Paige Langenderfer
As a visitor stood in awe, John Lawrence transformed a clear glass rod into a perfectly formed leaky faucet. As he has done thousands of times before, John held the glass rod over a torch and twisted the glass as it congealed into an orb-like mass. He then expertly gave the sculpture its shape with light touches from his metal tools, all while rotating the glass over the flames to keep the glass heated from all angles.
Within minutes and a few seemingly effortless movements, John placed a beautiful and intricately designed leaky water facet into the kiln to set up overnight.
John and his twin brother Jim, and their father Dick Lawrence have been shaping glass since 1967. Their start in the industry was a bit unexpected.
“ Dad went to Indianapolis one afternoon to volunteer for the Korean Conflict and stood in line with a man by the name of Jack Bohlander,” said Jim, 58.“ The two instantly became lifelong friends.”
After the war, Bohlander opened a traveling carnival business in central Indiana. Dick Lawrence, who was a physical chemistry professor at Ball State University, asked Bohlander if he and his sons could help out in the summer.
“ For a few summers, we traveled with them and helped set up and tear down the rides,” Jim said.“ But dad wanted to be permanently involved with the carnival. When he asked Jack what he could do to join the carnival business, Jack the carnival needed a helicopter pilot or a glass blower.”
Dick, also a helicopter pilot, signed up to provide helicopter rides to carnival guests. The
John and Jim Lawrence.
venture turned out to be too expensive, and Dick and his sons soon started traveling with the carnival as glass blowers.
“ We had never done it in our lives. We had grown up at the work bench in the garage building things with our hands, but this was completely different,” John said. Learning the trade was not an easy assignment.“ At that time there were not many people doing this type of work. And those who did were very secretive about it,” Jim said.“ Glasswork was a craft that was only handed down within families and people didn’ t share their techniques with others.”
The three dove into the trade the best way they knew how.
16 Our Brown County • March / April 2015