Small Glass Ball Ornament by Hayden Wilson

These friendship balls/ornaments will bring color and joy to your home.

Measures approximately 3" in diameter.

Handmade by Hayden Wilson in Asheville, North Carolina.

In the late 1980s Virgil Jones was challenged by a friend to make a glass bead. Not one to turn down a challenge, Virgil took a piece of stained glass and a small propane torch and went for it. Within four months he left his career job and started selling glass beads. The jewelry beads quickly grew in size and complexity. Blessed with a short attention span and lots of ambition, Virgil delved into the hot glass world in all its forms.

Today Virgil’s art glass is a contemporary combination of unique old-style skills with modern hand-blown furnace work.

Hayden Wilson grew up in the mountains of Western North Carolina.  He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree with concentration in sculpture from the University of North Carolina at Asheville.  

As a second-generation glass maker, he has been around glass his entire life, but working professionally as a glass blower and caster the past six years.  He has been an assistant instructor in the glass studio at Penland School of Craft and Pilchuck Glass School.  Hayden has also worked at Jackson County Green Energy Park, and for 5 years served as Asheville Glass Center shop manager building equipment, teaching glass classes.  He currently creates his work in Virgil's old studio in Asheville, North Carolina.

Hayden bought Virgil’s Art Glass studio in April of 2017 and is continuing to run Virgil’s business as well as adding to the products available.

Find more of Hayden's work here.