While working as an apprentice in the glass cutting department of Schlitz Studios, John had the rare opportunity to assist Jim Schlitz in his glass foundry, manufacturing sheets of glass that were equal to or exceeding in brilliance the original Tiffany glass he was trying to emulate. This was John’s introduction to hot glass, running ladles of molten glass to be hand mixed and hand rolled. When Jim died in 1993, John became a full-time furnace worker. He would ladle, hand roll and run to the annealer sixty sheets of glass a day. This was when his fascination with molten glass began; to control and manipulate this material that begins as a glowing viscous liquid and quickly becomes a solid seemed nothing short of magic. After leaving Schlitz Studios, John became the production manager for Chicago Art Glass & Jewel Company. He helped manufacture their lines of high-end opalescent sheet glass, pressed jewels and tiles and “Prairie Glass”. It was here that John learned and refined the techniques for applying iridescent finishes (lustre) to glass surfaces.

The transition from ladle to blow pipe seemed only natural, and the desire to create three-dimensional pieces with the same designs and motifs portrayed in his stained glass work has continued to the present day.