In the Blenko an Eye

The key to living a mid-century lifestyle is to surround yourself in the trappings of the era. While our living/dining room area is nearing completion it is necessary to properly accessorize to create the rich ambiance the time period had to offer. Enter the Blenko Glass company.

Blenko Glass began producing hand-blown glass pieces in 1947 in Milton, West Virginia. Tom is a WV native and grew up around many hand-blown glass factories, even taking a field trip to one in grade school that was so close his class walked to the factory. West Virginia was rife with glass producers during the mid part of the 20th century, mainly due to the cheap natural gas prices in the area; a major production cost for glass manufacturing.

Some of Blenko's Pieces

Most of those factories are now closed, but Blenko continues to produce quality pieces. During the 50s and 60s (and into the early 70s) Blenko was noted for its cutting edge modern design of glassware and was popular with modernist. Recent episodes of the time-period series Mad Men has featured Blenko Glass. Using vibrant colors, the three main designers of Blenko’s heyday were: Winslow Anderson (47-53), Wayne Husted (52-63), Joel Myers (63-70) and John Nickerson (70-74). Blenko glass wares designed by these men are the ones that are sought after by mid-century modernists. Some of the trademarks of a Blenko Glass product of the time are: thick glass, tall pieces, unique colors. Since most are unmarked, the only way to know if you have an authentic Blenko Glass item is to match it in their catalog published for that year (all available online). You would have to match the design and color to pinpoint your piece’s time of manufacture.

The Apple of Tom's Eye

The problem in getting a quality piece? Even though thick, it is hard for a tall or ornate piece of glass to survive 60 plus years. But through searching can turn one up. That is where St. Patrick’s Day 2015 comes in. Not because we are Irish, but because it also happens to be Tom’s birthday. Working in conjunction with the National Security Agency, the FBI and MI6, Stacy located a spectacular, pristine dimpled-globe decanter in olive green. Research revealed its date of birth to be 1964. Just what Tom had been longing for to adorn the cubbyhole in the new hutch which he had reserved for art. And what better art than a hand-blown, modern piece from Tom’s home state? Tom now stays up late at night admiring it. And watching reruns of Mad Men.

Our Blenko on Display

Up on the Roof

The Crew Arrives and Gets Busy

It’s here! It’s here! Like a kid on Christmas morning we were greeted by Santa and his elves. Only Santa was John the roofer and the elves was his merry band of about 10 hispanic helpers. We had been waiting for a few days of weather above 55F. The reason? If you have not had a new roof put on lately, especially a flat roof, there is this stuff that rolls out and is sticky on one side. You just overlap the rolls, it adheres to each other and wa la….new roof. At least for the covering. It is self sealing too, real high tech stuff. It just needs to be somewhat warm to work. This is where the “modern” comes in in Mid-Century Modern.

Beneath the Old Covering

Our roof was old, so it required new decking as well. In addition we had the facia replaced on the roof edges since the old was slowly decaying. Now, next Christmas (we are allowed to say Christmas on a blog aren’t I?) I will need to put new Xmas light hangers. Our home had some appliance modifications over the years as well, and because they were no longer in use we were able to remove 9 pipe penetrations coming out of the roof. Fewer penetrations mean fewer chances for leakage you know. And it was all done in a day. If you live in Tulsa and need a roofer drop me a line.

Gleaming New Roof

Then the irony of it all. The new roof was finished and gleaming by late Monday afternoon. Did I mention that Lortondale, our neighborhood, is in Tulsa? Tulsa, Oklahoma? As in smack dab in the middle of Tornado Alley? On Wednesday, the first twister of the season hit. We had cloud rotation directly above us but the real tornado landed a few miles away. We were fortunate as one person was killed about 6 miles away from us. There was a lot of noise during the storm and lots of lightning cracks during high winds. On Thursday morning we found a huge chunk of tree on the roof. The picture does not do it justice. After breaking off some of the larger branches and tossing them into the backyard, it was still too heavy for Tom to lift and he had to roll it off the side.

New Roof Fixtures/Pipes

We think the flat roof of the MCM design saved it. Being flat it was able to dissipate the energy of the tree strike. Had it been a angled roof most of the strike would have been concentrated in one small area and likely caused structural damage. We dodged a bullet with that storm. As they say; it’s better to be lucky than good. Here’s to luck.

The 100 pound branch

"Up on the Roof" by the Drifters. Peaked at #5 in early 1963. A Mid-Century Classic