@Leviathan Glass, or Dale C is an artist based in Memphis Tennessee that’s been blowing glass since 2001. He was originally drawn in because of the rarity of glass at the time. Leviathan said he was a teenager carving pipes from wood when he decided he was going to learn how to make the cool glass pipes he’d seen some of his friends carrying around. It took about 5 years to get started on the torch. Back then there was no one to mentor him about the ‘right way’ to do things, and this was before the days of YouTube, so after breaking a ton of glass, reading books and watching VHS tapes he was hooked and ready to try it out.
In his down time, he decompresses by hanging out with his dogs and gardening. He said he honestly just enjoys experimenting with plants to see what he can get them to do. He also likes reading science fiction books, which is where most inspiration comes from. You may recognize his logo as a work of H.P. Lovecraft, the grandfather of horror sci-fi. You may also get a horror / sci-fi feeling from the faces on his pieces, as he sculpts the facial features or body parts into expressions that tell a story.
Leviathan enjoys doing line work and reversals as it takes a lot of time and effort, but can produce very intricate end results. On the other hand, he says most techniques are difficult the first few times they’re tried. He’s currently working on perfecting the process of removable downstems, the most nerve wracking part is that he can spend any amount of time from hours to days on an intricate piece, but applying the ‘plumbing’ is make it or break it time as breaking glass is part of the learning process.
This artist shows off a lot of fume work and some of his favorite colors such as Agau Azule, which can be found in some of the color accents on the pipes we carry! The colors most challenging to work with are Lava, Canary Yellow, and colors similar as they tend to boil or scorch when they get too hot.
We asked if there’s any artist he’d like to work with, and were told that @ashmeglass has been incorporating some of his sculptures into the water pipes he’s been working on. The scientific controlled style of Ashme compliments the organic aesthetic of Leviathan well, we can’t wait to see what comes from future collaborations!
