When the Lenox glass plant in Mt. Pleasant closed in 2001, Uniontown native Robert Fleszar found himself out of work. A trained machinist and glass-mold maker, he decided to turn lemons into lemonade by using his mechanical skills to take a hobby and turn it into a home-based business.
Now an accomplished pewtersmith, Fleszar will hold an open house from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. todayand Dec. 17 at his studio, 159 Stadium Drive, Hopwood.
Fleszar's journey into pewter-working began in 1970, his senior year in high school, when he was completing his machinist's training at the Fayette County Area Vocational-Technical School in Uniontown.
A representative from Anchor Hocking, in Connellsville, came to the school to recruit employees. Fleszar was selected for an apprenticeship program and learned to make molds for glassware.
He worked at Anchor Hocking until 1991, when he was laid off.
In 1996, after working at several other glass plants in Washington County, Fleszar began working at Lenox, where he was a supervisor in the plant's mold shop. Fleszar noted that many of the glass figurines sold in Lenox's shop had pewter accessories; for example, glass Wise Men had pewter crowns. When the Lenox plant decided to begin making its own pewter items rather than continuing to outsource their production, Fleszar had the chance to go to Kirksteif Pewter, in Baltimore, to see how pewter was made and shaped.
He liked what he saw.
"There was something about the way the workers poured and molded the pewter that appealed to me," he said.
When the Lenox plant closed in 2001, Fleszar set up his own machine repair business to support himself. Because he still had a desire to work with pewter, he also bought the equipment he would need to become a pewtersmith.
Soon he was fashioning his own projects, such as spoons, key rings and Christmas ornaments, and he and his wife, Patty, were traveling to craft shows to sell the handcrafted items.
Fleszar's initial challenge was to establish credibility with his customers.
"At first we didn't demonstrate our craft at the shows," he said. "We sold the items we had made at the shop. People thought we were reselling things that had been made overseas. They didn't want to believe that we made all of our items by hand."
Fleszar began demonstrating his craft at shows, and people were stunned. "They were amazed that we made everything that we sold," he said.
To make his items, Fleszar first makes clay figurines to use as molds. He then vulcanizes the clay molds between pieces of silicone rubber. He pierces the molds to create openings for the pewter to go through once it is poured. Once the items have cooled, they are removed from the molds and then ground and polished by hand.
"I love how it looks," said Fleszar.
Pewter has a long history. "It dates back to the Bronze Age," he said. "In the United States, it dates back to the mid 1700s."
Fleszar said that early pewter had a high lead content, which caused items to tarnish easily and gave them an overall dark color. Over the years, Fleszar explained, the amount of lead in most pewter was reduced and then replaced entirely with tin.
Modern pewter is lead-free. In many cases, it also contains trace components of gold or silver.
Fleszar uses ingots of pewter for his work.
He said the most challenging part of being a pewtersmith is coming up with new ideas.
"We listen to the customers and what they're interested in," he said. "Then we go back to the shop and try to come up with something. Then we take our product to the same show the following year to see if there's still any interest in that product."
Fleszar plans to expand his skills to include spinning the mold while applying the pewter. In particular, he hopes to learn to make some 18th-century-style pewter plates.
He plans to travel this spring to Louisiana, Mo., to take instruction from master pewtersmiths Tom and Pat Hooper.
"We've been getting requests for 18th-century-style items," Fleszar said. "They're making a big comeback."
He hopes to expand his line of merchandise to include larger items.
Fleszar generally sells his pewter items at wholesale locations such as New Geneva Stoneware. He hopes that someday he can quit his day job and earn his livelihood solely through his craft.
"I love going to craft shows," he said. "I love the interaction I have with the people. They're always interested in seeing how things are made."
