The final products might not be unbreakable, but the ISU Gaffer’s Guild has come from many fractured pieces to establish itself as one of Iowa State’s key student organizations.

“Many of our members are glass blowers now because they saw it in demonstrations when they were younger,” said Steve Martin, guild adviser and university professor of materials science and engineering.

The club began as part of an art movement that was gaining popularity in the United States during the 1960s, Martin said. The club was founded a few years later by David Martin, professor emeritus of materials science and engineering, and John Rundle, lab mechanic technologist for the physics and astronomy department.

“The studio was started outdoors with overhangs to cover the furnaces and students,” he said.

“They were outside for the first five years or so.”

It wasn’t until a group of art students vacated their space, in what was then the Engineering Annex, that the guild was able to come indoors, Martin said. Five years ago, Martin helped the club make the transfer into its present home, Room 1334 of Sweeney Hall.

Today, the ISU Gaffer’s Guild is a popular campus club, with hundreds of interested students, faculty and staff and community members waiting for their chances to blow glass.

Glass-blowing for all

Steven Diesburg remembers watching glass-blowing demonstrations from the guild when he was younger.

“I saw demos when I was little and thought they were interesting, but then forgot about it,” said Diesburg, senior in physics. “I had two brothers that went to Iowa State, and one of them was in the guild when I started and he told me to just sign up.”

Four years later, Diesburg is president of the guild and spends time near the furnace polishing his craft.

“He’s a collector,” said Jeff Diesburg, guild member and ISU alumnus. “Now he makes his own stuff to collect.”

The club isn’t just good at attracting attention – it’s also successful in keeping interest and enlisting new members.

“We take 12 to 18 people every semester and do a course with them,” Steven said. “It’s not a course through the university – it’s just through the guild. It’s three hours per week throughout the semester and it gives you the basic safety and skills so you can start coming in and doing it on your own.”

This semester, the guild had three classes because so many people were interested.

Anyone who wants to join the guild can go to the club’s Web site, www.gaffer.stuorg.iastate.edu, and sign up on the waiting list, Steven said. However, it might take a couple of semesters to finally make it to the top.

Fortunately, you don’t have to be a member of the guild to enjoy their work. The guild sells some of the pieces three times each year, usually around Thanksgiving, Christmas and Veishea.

Interested buyers will be able to purchase works from members of the guild in the Memorial Union as part of the Art Mart and also in the guild’s studio, Room 1334 of Sweeney Hall, where they will also be having demonstrations all day April 21.

This is the lead story from this week’s AMUSE section. Check out the rest of the section.