John Shelton has studied early American glass firsthand in the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s Department of Collections and at the Corning Museum of Glass in New York. Throughout his nearly 40 years as a master glassblower, he has worked with many collectors and notable authorities on the subject of historical blown glass, such as Ivor Noel Hume, retired chief archaeologist at Colonial Williamsburg.

While most glass studios today buy pre-mixed, pelletized batch or re-melt someone else’s glass, Shelton makes his glass from the basic elements of sand, soda ash, and lime. The extra effort and expense makes his work more authentic to the colonial process. He also uses tools hand fashioned after ones used by colonial glassblowers.

He has produced in excess of 500,000 pieces of glass, each hand-blown and original.

John W. Shelton has been selected for the following Directories: