Podcast | EP 35: Rusty Russo – Neon in Excellence

Hello Lightning Tamers!

In today’s podcast, I have Rusty Russo, who has been working and developing his skills in the area of Illuminated Glass Tubing for over 30 years in which he’s acquired an expert level proficiency in glass fabrication, vacuum tube processing, system design, and construction, leak detection, technical support, packaging design, and technical writing.

He’s also a Senior R+D Glass Blower for a Boston-based start-up specializing in energy-efficient inductively coupled soda-lime light bulbs.

From his beginning as a neon bender, he’s worked as a technical consultant for The EGL Co., a columnist for Signs of the Times Magazine, demonstrating artist and technical assistant for The Glass Art Society, and assistant instructor/visiting artist for various education facilities such as the Pittsburgh Glass Center, Penland School of Craft and Urban Glass.

Additionally A recognized industry authority on all phases of neon vacuum tube production. Having served as Co-Chairman of the ISA Research and Standards Committee on Neon Processing, where he co-created an internationally recognized standard for the processing of neon tubing. This provided a practical, teachable, repeatable solution to what had been a historically random intuitive process.

He currently works as a freelance technical consultant, and glass artist, conceptualizing and creating 3-dimensional sculpture using glass, light, and mixed media.

I met Mr. Russo in the summer of 2018 during the Pittsburgh Glass Center’s first Plasma Workshop taught by Wayne Strattman and Mundy Hepburn where he assisted alongside Ander Mikkelsen. In the chaos of that class, Rusty was a grounding tether to the complexities of plasma and neon, someone who was very comfortable with meeting you at your level. He’s been such a great source of information and support in regards to troubleshooting and identifying components in the manifold, and helped provided confidence and guidance in my career development in technical consultation on several jobs.
Like many of the guests on this podcast, Rusty has a rich history and knowledge, and we barely scratch the surface of who Rusty is. Treat this as it is, an introduction, he’ll talk about the origins of his interest in neon, the influence of music and martial art on his practice and teaching philosophy, and his drive toward excellence through repetition, self-examination, and refinement.

Show Notes

Music Credits

Preview – Retro by ONE
The introduction – Boost by Joakim Karud
Intermission – Sunny Side by ONE
Credits – The Process by Lakey Inspired

Contact Rusty Russo!

hrustyrusso@gmail.com hrustyrusso@gmail.com

Right now we are 2 episodes in on the Intro to Plasma Series with GEEX.

What’s the intro to the plasma Series?
well, it’s a 4 chapter introduction that will provide some foundations and actionable practices on what is involved in making a plasma sculpture, so that topics like gas mixtures, manifold design, and procedures, including advanced consideration have something to stand on. Understandably the podcast hasn’t provided a way to understand plasma in a comprehensive way. But that’s why we are doing the Intro to Plasma Series.

Why is that?
Well, besides sharing history with neon, plasma for our uses is on the fringe of considerate study requiring interested parties to spend time reading related materials, books, and sources to make sense of it. In my first two years of learning about plasma sculpture, I had to simplify the scope of knowledge, skills, and equipment into categories just to process it. And when questions arise such as “how do you make plasma?” the question is much bigger than that person understands. And I’m not saying this to scare you from the subject, my point is to understand that learning, doing, and teaching, are all different skills and that it takes time to bring effective learning and teaching materials into existence.

Why am I saying all this?
To encourage you dear listener to watch the Intro to Plasma series, and to ask questions. Your attention is your interest, and through it, your engagement tells us you want to learn more. We ask to provide more than just general questions, but questions that are specific.

Here’s an example from a listener. “I want to learn about gas mixtures”, this could be multiple questions ranging from common gases used, filling technique, or specific recipes. So I pressed this listener for more specific questions.

And they answered, “why do gases produce the colors they do?” “What dictates the behavior and the colors that dominate at mixture?” “Why do colors change over time? Is that related to a longer aging or burn-in time compared to neon?” these are great questions. As Mr. Suba, and Bruce Suba would say, the only stupid questions, are the ones you don’t ask. I may no know the answers, but I know plenty of people do, and thus we can learn together. So please watch the Intro to Plasma series, drop a like if you
do, dislike if you don’t, but more importantly leave a comment or dm your questions to taming lightning.

Thank You for listening to the Taming Lightning Podcast.

I hope you enjoyed the podcast. I think back to this recording and really appreciate Rusty for taking the time to tell his story. There’s so much more to glean from him as well as our past guests. I hope to schedule another recording with him soon to talk about the various subject provided in his bio and resume. I’d like to thank Pittsburgh Glass Center for supporting me as a place of research and inspiration. Plasma Art Alliance where I have access to the well of knowledge and connects me to some amazing and supportive people. Additionally, I’d like to extend thanks to Wayne Strattman for connecting me with Rusty Russo, as these connections have been of my most valuable thus far in my career.
If you like to support Taming Lightning, please donate to the Taming Lightning x GEEX Intro to plasma series. Should money be tight, please checkout the intro to plasma series on youtube and leave a comment about what you find useful, and questions about what you like hear for current and future chapters, I’ll have links provided in the show notes.

Please share, comment, and subscribe. And as always be safe, be healthy, and be Strong, and I’ll See you next time!

–Percy Echols II, Taming Lightning

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