Philip Doucette's

Glass Ornaments Live Demonstration

Saturday, November 22nd

12:30 to 4:30

1061 Marginal Road, Halifax

About Philip Doucette’s Glass Ornaments

  1. These Ornaments are Handmade in Halifax, Nova Scotia, using a sophisticated propane and oxygen torch.
  2. The materials used to make these ornaments are colorful glass rods purchased from Canadian sources who in turn import them from all over the world. The vast majority of rods come from the Island of Murano, in Venice, but some rods come from Germany, England, China and the United States.
  3. Each country has unique colors of glass rods. England has Yolk Yello, while China has a shade of jade green called Poison Apple. Every year I pursue unique combinations of color, creating new styles for the season.
  4. Some of the glasses I use react with each other, such as Copper rich turquoise glass placed on Sulfur rich Dark Ivory; this produces a soft grey outline where the colors touch. But I also enjoy using glasses which have silver metal in their makeup. These glasses react in a fuel rich flame, and the silver blooms, creating metallic effects on the ornament’s surface.
  5. I enjoy using metal wire and metal leaf on some of my ornaments and am particularly fond of using very thin Fine Silver Wire, wrapping the glass and then heating it, which causes the wire to break up into a pattern of small silver dots.
  6. The metal ornament caps I use on my ornaments are made in Germany, an are made out of brass which has been silver plated.

A Short Biography of Philip Doucette

Philip Doucette is a Halifax-born artisan who established his glass studio in 1987. He has long been affiliated with the Atlantic glass community and Craft Nova Scotia (formerly the Nova Scotia Designer Crafts Council), having joined them in the same year he opened his studio. 

Doucette’s body of work includes works in stained glass, leaded-glass, sandblasted glass, and fused glass sculpture. He has received public and private commissions throughout Halifax and its surroundings, installing his glass works in residential and institutional settings alike. His larger installations can be found in public buildings in Halifax. He is represented by Secord Gallery.

In acknowledgment of his contributions to the craft and arts community, he was granted Honorary Membership by Craft Nova Scotia in 2006. He is also an accredited Master Artisan under Craft Nova Scotia’s designation system. Beyond his studio work, Doucette has taught classes for Halifax City Recreation, the Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and Design and NSCAD University. He has also mentored emerging craftspeople in a variety of communication skills, including writing Artistic Statements, Exhibition Applications and Grant Proposals. As well Philip has become very involved in Historic preservation, working to document and restore local historic windows, as well as consult on the protection of windows from damage by weather or construction. 

In 2010 Philip’s studio work moved in a new direction and he began to pursue hot glass on a small scale. This process, called lampworking, uses a torch rather than a furnace, focussing on small scale objects such as beads and small bottles. It was in the pursuit of making bottles that Philip stumbled into blowing glass ornaments. He estimates that in the last fifteen years he has made at least 3,000 and has taught the skill to over 50 students.

Philip is always interested in sharing his ideas and experiences and believes in the importance of participating in the community, passing on knowledge and skills to new generations of craftspeople.