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alog has become full time work for the Kvarnes’, and he sells many other glassworks at craft shows during the year. The largest one is the Kutztown, Pennsylvania show, which runs for ten days. Mr. Kvarnes not only sells his wares, but does glassblowing demonstrations too.
Mrs. Kvarnes draws the original designs for the suncatchers. The two designs in the catalog now are the sun and a heart. The design is cut into a linoleum block, which is then pressed into casting sand. Melted aluminum is poured into the impression left in the sand. This aluminum piece is called the stamp, and it is pressed into a blob of melted glass, leaving its impression in the glass.
Mr. Kvarnes does most of the handling of the glass from the propane furnace which he uses, and will place a blob of melted glass on a table for Mrs. Kvarnes to stamp the design into. After she does this, she pokes a hole near the top edge so the suncatcher can be hung. The hole is then smoothed out with the help of a propane torch. Using a metal spatula, she transfers the piece to the annealer, which is a cooling oven which lowers the temperature of the glass very gradually to avoid cracking. The suncatchers spend about 10 hours in the annealer.
Once the suncatchers are cool enough to handle, they are wrapped in paper and boxed, ready for delivery to Faith Mountain. If everything goes right, the team can press 75 suncatchers in four hours. It then take eight hours of work for Mr. Kvarnes to tend to his furnace to add glass, cook it down and get it ready
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