Myriad items seize light as isle woman fuses glass

Moms raise their children to stay away from sharp cutting tools, torches, hot ovens, breakable glass and broken glass, but mother and artisan Julie Johnson makes her living around all those things.

“I started fusing (glass) in 2003,” she said, but she didn’t sell her pieces; it was a hobby back then.

A military wife, she wound up in Hawaii and got a job with Maui Divers, until she decided to quit and go to work for herself. Her husband has retired after a 23-year military career. She first learned to work with glass, specifically stained glass, when her family lived in Kansas. It was “years ago, and I did pottery and always did arts and stuff like that,” she said.

In 2009 Johnson registered the trade name Julie’s Hot Glass after years of encouragement from her friends to start selling her Hawaii-inspired dishes, sun catchers, wind chimes and other items.

Her glass work, both deeply and brightly colorful, features the ocean, palm trees, landmarks both natural and man-made, honu (turtles) and flowers. “I like to do flowers,” she said.

Lest anyone think she can do only girlie designs, she also regularly makes military-themed pieces, by custom order, often for farewell gifts, she said.

In addition, she makes night lights, bottle stoppers, purse hangers, pendants, soap dishes, butter dishes, ornaments, clocks, keepsake boxes, garden stakes and a variety of custom designs.

For one client’s baby’s room, she made some items to match monkeys that were part of the nursery design.

She has made Seder plates, which can be a series of small dishes atop a larger plate, or a compartmentalized dish for specific symbolic foods, for a Jewish temple.

She also designed a special ornament for sale in the Volcano House gift shop.

Additional inspiration comes from customers at craft fairs, she said, a revelation that will have other crafters reading this column smiling and nodding their heads.

“I’ll be talking to people, and they’ll ask, ‘Have you ever done a … whatever?'” as did one customer who requested a lifeguard stand during a North Shore craft fair.

“People have things they collect,” she said, which prompts many of the questions.

Johnson’s craft is costly. Sheets of glass measuring 20 by 37 inches can cost from $85 to $225. Her orders usually run into the thousands of dollars, and they must be shipped from Oregon at a cost of $400. Then there are tools, kilns and, we’re hoping, gloves.

Breakage during shipping is not a big problem, surprisingly.

Breakage can be a problem during the production process, however, given the range of tools she must use and the kiln-firing process itself.

A mermaid was her latest kiln casualty, she said.

Some of the pieces comprise stacked glass, as with the hula girls, which resemble gingerbread cookies wearing bikini tops, lei and grass skirts. The multiple layers present a specific challenge during kiln firing.

Prices range from $14 for dishes measuring 4 by 4 inches, to $40 for wind chimes suspended from driftwood she collects on outings with her husband and sons, to her largest platters, which are 13 by 22 inches and go for $400.

Johnson and her hot-fused glass will be in Booth 505 at the Made in Hawaii Festival, Opens in a new tab which begins today and runs through 5 p.m. Sunday at Blaisdell Center.

“Buy Local” runs on Aloha Fridays. Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.