Herb Thomas was 13 years old when his parents took him to the New York World’s Fair. It was among the recreations of the Belgium village and Bourbon Street, the Eiffel Tower and the Taj Mahal, international cuisine and Pepsi-Cola, that Thomas saw a demonstration that altered his life. A glass blower by the name of Walter Evans fascinated a young teenager with his craft.

It wasn’t until almost 30 years later that Thomas finally ventured into the world of glass blowing. He invited a highly admired glass blower from West Virginia to his home in Pennsylvania to train him for a weekend. Little did Thomas know he would be face to face once again with the very same man who inspired him years ago at the World’s Fair.

While Thomas received this small bit of instruction as he began his glass blowing endeavor, he is primarily self-taught. “I lit a furnace in my garage and struggled through and practiced until I could make something,” he explains. This wasn’t Thomas’ first foray into art however. He was a concrete contractor for 15 years and had worked as a potter right out of college. “I was always drawn to the industry,” he says.

“When I first started with the glass blowing, I couldn’t even blow a bubble,” Thomas says. “My first year was horrid—it got to the point that my mom and grandmother didn’t even want the globs I made anymore. I needed help quick.” That’s where Evans comes into play and Thomas’ new career took off from there.

Thomas has the kind of job every person wishes they had—one he likes getting up and going to every morning. “I look forward to it every day,” he says. “It’s reinforcement seeing my previous day’s work.” In the booth display near Thomas’ blown glass demo, you’ll find the superior quality glass items he’s created in his studio. He’s got large bowls and glass lamps, hanging vases and perfume bottles. “Vases and paperweights have been made forever,” Thomas explains, “but my interpretations of the items are my own style and creative designs.” A paperweight isn’t just a paperweight when it comes from Thomas.

It would be hard to imagine this talented man, who now makes the art of glass blowing look simple, once had hill after hill to climb. “At one of my first Sugarloaf demonstrations I was going to make a pitcher,” Thomas explains. “I dropped it because I was nervous. It had sawdust all over it but I just picked it up and finished the design by putting a handle on it.” A comedy of errors he calls it, but someone in the audience that day called him
a master and he’s been an in-demand Sugarloaf regular ever since.

The streamlined demonstration Thomas now offers is that of an expert, a man who lives and breathes the work he’s creating. Whether you plan on attending Herb Thomas’ blown glass demonstration or come upon it by accident, there is no tearing yourself away from it once you’ve looked in his direction. There is a square of neon orange coals, a quick whoosh of air as the pole that holds the glob of glass is whipped around in a circle. A brilliant piece of glass art is born right before your eyes in only a short period of time. As for what happens to the finished piece at the end of each demonstration, well, that’s something you’ve got to see to believe.