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Ony learned to work with glass during World War II, while employed in the Radiation laboratory of the University of California, where atom bombs were being developed. After the war she worked as a glass blower in a chemical laboratory, making laboratory apparatus. There she used tubular glass for glass blowing, but, as a "lunch-hour" pastime, she began to sculpture little glass objects from solid glass rods. Soon she had an interesting collection of small animals, ballet dancers, angels, ornamented stirring rods, sparkling balls, and other decorative objects.

Eventually, Mrs. Maxwell left the chemical laboratory to try other types of work—a decorating art shop, school teaching, assistant to a group of doctors—but she always hurried home to her "glass works" as she calls it. Finally, she was impelled to return to working with glass, and now is again employed in the University of California Radiation laboratory. She says she is supremely happy in her work and snug as a bug in her interesting garden apartment at the back of a rambling old Berkeley mansion. There she "sculpts" during most of her spare moments.

Most of these moments now are spent in making little glass objects for sale, of solid Pyrex rods. "Pyrex is the only type of glass for sculpturing," she says. "It is very hard, with a high melting point, which gives it tremendous brilliance and sparkle. The way it catches the light and becomes activated is fascinating to watch."

Ony insists that even though she learned glass technique and procedure from experts, which is essential for glass blowing, sculpturing in solid glass requires no special ability or knowledge. "Anyone can learn it," she insists, "it is so easy." She has often proved her point by sculpturing something, explaining it as she goes along, then asking an inexperienced person to take her place and make something. A very creditable object almost always results on the very first trial.

LOCAL GIFT shops have been Mrs. Maxwell's best selling outlet until recently when her direct sales have increased from word-of-mouth publicity generated by sales already made to friends and acquaintances or through them. She makes a practice of giving glass objects they can use as gifts to any of her friends who help her sell others. A good many sales have come from her demonstrations and appearances before University groups, or at hobby shows or exhibits. Most of these were on request, and came about when a clever girl publicity writer saw her objects and arranged several demonstrations. The most sales-productive one was at a leading San Francisco store. The writer then featured Ony in a long write-up with good pictures, which appeared in a Sunday issue of the San Francisco Examiner. The results were several orders, two other requests to write about her, and a number of requests for her to demonstrate her hobby before clubs and small groups.

Such publicity has been a great help in getting cordial receptions from gift shop owners and buyers when she calls on them, armed with pictures, clippings, and samples of her work. She always gives one or more sculptured objects to each interested buyer which, she says, helps enormously both in getting a first order, and for reorders.

ONY HAS had a variety of experiences with gift shop and store buyers. She says, "The best way to start is to make a list, from the telephone book, or in any way you can, of all gift shops near enough that you can make personal contact. Telephone, if possible, or in someway try to get the name of the buyer and then make a definite appointment. The majority of gift shops are owned and operated by one person who is, of course, also the buyer, and they are usually busy people. They like to see people by appointment and prepare to give their time to you."

She always keeps the appointment on time, and goes armed with her friendly smile, her folder of clippings and pictures and her samples. In giving one or more of her objects to buyers she says that it seems to please them most if they can choose the one they want from several.

Ony goes on to say, "Never, never, high-pressure any prospective buyer. He knows better than you do whether something will sell or not in his shop and he usually is extremely careful not to overstock. Many shop owners will not be interested at all, but it is well to leave a friendly feeling behind and a good impression." She has found that she makes the most sales to gift shops by selling outright. She sets her price as low as possible after figuring time and production costs—no more than $1 an hour for time, often less.

Most of the gift shops around the San Francisco Bay area mark up the price to exactly double—100 per cent—over the purchase price, but in smaller places the markup may be no more than twenty per cent. The barometer of business conditions is the gift shops. When their sales are down, business is not good. Then, too, there are peak periods and low periods in gift selling. Ony tries to make her contacts with the gift shops early in the spring and then early in the fall for Christmas buying.

Mrs. Maxwell has had poor results placing objects "on consignment" in gift shops, that is, leaving a collection of them at her own risk with an agreement that she is to receive a specified amount for just the ones that are sold. On this basis, most gift shops make little effort to push sales, since they are not concerned with overstocking. She says selling outright is the only way.

She also says it is wise to get the order in writing to avoid any problems with oral agreements. Most gift shops, she says, do make out an order in duplicate, giving her the carbon copy, or in one or two cases, mailing her the duplicate.

Usually a buyer sets a delivery date and is not bound to accept the order unless it is filled in full and on time. "You have to move fast after you get an order," Mrs. Maxwell says. "The stated time is usually short and you should be certain you can fill it on time when you accept the order."

Sometimes she is asked to promise not to place her objects with any other near-by shop. If not asked, she usually volunteers that promise.

Department store gift sections have not proved very good prospects in Ony's experience. She says there is a tremendous turnover of buyers, the reason usually being that they have overstocked on items that have not moved. The next buyer is, of course, most conservative about doing the same thing. Department stores usually buy small items by the dozen or by the gross and also mark up 100 per cent. They usually want to pay a low price too, so the department stores have not proved too satisfactory, at least not as much so as the gift shops.

The smallest glass objects sell in the shops for about $2, so Mrs. Maxwell's price is half of that. Her ballet dancers sell for from $5 to $7.50 depending on size. She hopes to build up her direct sales so that the price can be lower, yet with more profit to her. Small objects sell faster, and the little glass animals have proved particularly popular.

ON HER job at the laboratory, Ony works with an oxygen type torch which makes a hotter flame, consequently is faster than the acetylene-air torch she uses at home. But oxygen is expensive both for the equipment and for the gas, and some localities have ordinances regulating the use of an oxygen flame in homes. An oxygen torch has to be connected with gas, requiring two hose connections, a blending pressure control, and a torch tip for the correct size of flame. All of these are considerably more expensive than those for the acetylene-air type, which is just as practical for home use, merely slower. Ony can make a glass mouse in five to ten minutes with oxygen, but it takes her ten to twenty minutes with her acetylene-air torch. A ballet dancer takes thirty to forty-five minutes with oxygen, and approximately twice as long with acetylene.

Many men with home workshops own acetylene equipment, as it is necessary for soldering, heating, brazing, or for any job requiring a hot flame. It is also used for metal work and jewelry making. Ony uses this same type of equipment for melting glass. Hers is Prest-O-Lite, a well-known brand of acetylene equipment, usually obtainable in most localities. It consists of a portable tank containing ten cubic feet of compressed acetylene gas in a portable cylinder. A forty-cubic foot size is also sold. The first tank must be purchased outright, at a cost of about $15 for a full tank. When the gas is used, the tank is merely exchanged at a dealer's for a full tank, on a one-for-one basis, at a charge of about $1 just for the gas itself.

The equipment can be used indoors or out, under any sort of weather or temperature. The gas mixes with air, much the same as does household gas, but it is not the same as household gas. It is nearly pure carbon and produces a flame up to 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit. It has no objectionable fumes and there is nothing to be primed. Acetylene can be used without a pressure control regulator, but one is desirable because the pressure changes with the amount of gas in the tank.

Other necessary attachments are a hose connection, torch stem and mixer, and the correct size of tip for the flame desired. These tips come in sizes from one to ten, and Ony suggests a size four. Hose, mixer, torch, tip and regulator cost about a total of $25, in addition to the $15 for the full tank of gas. Of this, the tip costs about $2 and most shop men have several different sizes for various sizes of flames.

For those who might prefer the faster, but more expensive oxygen flame, Mrs. Maxwell says the approximate cost of a full tank of oxygen is about $40. A refill costs about $5. The gas in this will last about six hours if used continuously "at full tilt" but she says one very seldom does that. The pressure regulator costs about $18, the torches about $6 to $10 each. Oxygen tanks can be rented for about $10 a month. The two hose connections, cost of attaching to a gas line, and possible ordinances must be considered.

ONY'S MAIN working tool looks something like a pair of pliers with flat square paddles on the ends, made of metal, which a friend made for her. This tool, she uses to hold her hot glass objects and to shape parts, such as the ears of an animal. She uses a file to cut the glass rods, and a pointed instrument made of carbon for touching and shaping. The reason for something made of carbon is that metal tends to stick to the glass if used when the glass is in the melted state. She uses two other non-inflammable items, a solid block to press on in shaping flat portions, and a flat working surface that could be asbestos, or transite, which she uses. This is a composition material obtainable from building supply companies.

One "must" in working with glass is a pair of special glasses such as all glass workers wear, called "didymium" glasses. Optical companies can obtain them, or they can be purchased from glass supply companies for from $4 to $7 depending on the frames. Ordinary glass contains large quantities of sodium which gives off an intense yellow flare when heated. Because of this bright light, the worker has difficulty in seeing the glass in the flame to bend or shape it. Didymium glasses have a high luminous transmittance which makes it possible to watch the point of work in the flame. They also protect the eyes from glare, from anything that might get in them, or from any other type of injury.

Pyrex glass rods are sold by the pound by glass companies and many hobby shops carry them. They come in approximately three-foot lengths and in sizes from one millimeter to ten millimeters, and can be purchased in a package of assorted sizes. The price is around $1 a pound and one pound will make a great many glass objects. Of course plain glass rods which are not Pyrex can be bought for as little as thirty cents a pound but plain glass does not sparkle and reflect as does Pyrex. Pyrex comes only clear, not in colors, but it is possible to fuse plain glass in color to Pyrex. Rods can be purchased—or ordered by a glass company—in red, yellow and blue.

Mrs. Maxwell says there are two important precautions to remember. First, everything must be spotlessly clean. The rods must be washed and polished before using, as the slightest bit of dirt will ruin the clearness of the piece. Impurities leave marks and pits in the glass. "Dirt is not dangerous, but uncraftsman-like," Ony says.

The other precaution is to be sure to have everything you will work with very accessible, as you will need to reach for what you need quickly while the glass is melted. Mrs. Maxwell clamps her torch in a small vice to the edge of her table with the flame directed away from her body and she centers herself behind it. She puts her rods in a tall vase and has a bowl of cold water at hand into which she plunges each hot glass rod as she finishes using it. The hot point breaks off and the rod is cooled for future use. Glass holds the heat a very long time and there is some danger of burning one's self by thinking a hot piece of glass is cool enough to handle, when it will still burn you. However, glass is a poor conductor of heat, so the rod ends which are held in either hand while working in the flame do not get too not to handle.

MRS. MAXWELL suggests the following procedure for making a glass mouse:

The glass rods needed for making a mouse are one eight-mm. rod about twelve inches long, and one five-mm. rod, eight to ten inches long.

Ony starts with the eight-mm. rod, holding one end in each hand with the center of the rod in the flame. She rolls the rod slowly in the flame, making quarter turns at a time, and continues until the spot in the flame melts and begins to bulge out into a ball or "blob." Then she moves the melting point slightly to the right to spread the bulge and continues turning and melting until she gets the body size of he mouse as she wants it. She says as you get used to making a certain object, you learn where to fatten the bulge and where to taper or shape it in the flame. "The trick," she says, "is to rotate the rod evenly." It takes practice to determine just the right amount of quarter-turning and moving the rod in the flame to get the precise shape and size desired.

Ony makes one end of the mouse larger than the other by moving the large bulge slightly to the right and fusing the smaller bulge into the larger one. As she gets the desired body size and shape, she draws the smaller end out to give a slightly pointed shape to the nose. Then she quickly twists off the rest of the rod and rounds off the nose before removing it from the flame. She immediately dips the hot end of the rod she has removed, into the bowl of cold water.

Next, she takes the smaller five-mm. rod and melts the end in the flame. She touches the melted end to the sides of the nose, twisting it off quickly, leaving a tiny spot for each eye. Again she melts the smaller rod and makes slightly larger dots of melted glass for each ear, finishing one before she starts the other. While the ear dot is still pliable she quickly takes her paddle clamps and flattens the ear, giving it a slight twist out from the head to shape it. She cautions that one must always keep working with the part that is hottest, and shape it at once, as it hardens quickly.

She attaches each foot as she does the eyes and ears, except that she presses the whole mouse against the carbon block to flatten the feet and make the stance level, otherwise the mouse might wobble.

When the eyes, ears, and feet have been completed, she fuses the five-mm. rod to the end of the nose. "This is for a handle," she says. "You have to have perfect control of your sculpturing and hold it with both hands whenever possible."

Next, she turns the mouse around to work on the tail, holding it by the small rod she has just attached. She melts the large rod at the tail end and gradually draws it out from the body, letting it taper off thinner and thinner, then gives a quick pull and twist, forming a curly tail, at the same time snapping off the excess rod.

Last of all, she holds the mouse with her paddle clamps while she melts off the small rod from the nose, and rounds off the nose to smoothness in the flame. For her own amusement she adds three whiskers to either side of the nose, but says they are so thin and fragile they break off easily so she usually does not put them on mice to be sold.

ANOTHER STRIKING effect Ony has perfected, which she believes is entirely her own invention, produces a brilliant, sparkling mass which she uses for the skirts of ballerinas, for shaggy dogs, manes or tails, Christmas ornaments, the ends of stirring rods, and for other such decorative effects.

She does this by starting with a large rod, usually an eight-mm. size, melting one end of it in the flame until she gets a fairly good sized ball or knob on the end. Then she takes a smaller rod, melts the end in the flame with the larger ball, and touches the small rod to the large melted ball. It adheres momentarily, then she pulls it away, detaching it with a slight twist. This leaves a point of glass protruding from the larger ball. She repeats this over and over, constantly rotating the ball and attaching points of glass with the small rod, building out and filling in depressions and spaces with tiny points of glass until she has a solid sparkling ball on the end of the rod. For a Christmas decoration, she detaches the holding rod and adds a tiny ring of glass to use in suspending the ball.