Roger Crosta began his glass blowing career after working as a fused glass artist. Early in his work, he began exploring alternatives to the current trends in studio glass. His work is characterized by three distinct techniques.

Roger does all his work without assistance. Solo glassblowing requires split second timing and intense concentration. The difficulties of applying surface treatments and embellishments such as lip wraps, are compounded when done alone. As a result, Roger's work tends to be simple yet elegant.

As a student of Ikebana - Japanese flower arranging - Roger appreciated the qualities of roughness and asymmetry in old ikebana containers. He chose to put colors and textures on the outside of the glass instead of casing pieces in a final gather of clear, smooth glass as do most glassblowers. He rolls final gathers in various frits, shards, and powders - thus the term "inside-out" - and uses a large hand torch to produce a wide variety of colors, textures and metal lusters. He is also one of the few glassblowers to use Scavo, a highly corrosive surface treatment applied at high temperatures.

Roger discovered that glass doesn't like to be touched. The less he used tools, the more he liked the forms he produced, so he stopped using tools altogether. With the exception of jacks to form a neck, he now blows all pieces using only breath, gravity, and centrifugal force.

Using these techniques has allowed Roger Crosta to develop a unique style of glassblowing. He produces work in his private studio on the northern coast of Oregon and pushes hard to evolve in new directions.

Scavo is a word that means "dug up" in Italian. Roger Crosta uses scavo on his glass vessels to give them the appearance of glass excavated from the ruins of an ancient city. Roger found the basic recipe for scavo and tried it on his glass vessels, but was not satisfied with the results of his initial experiments with the compound. He began researching the chemistry of the recipe and created his own formula. After a year of trial and error he finally came up with a chemical recipe that produced a consistent, highly textured finish.

Scavo is tricky to apply, especially when solo glassblowing. The piece is blown to form, then transferred to the punty. Surface decorations an embellishments are completed, and the piece is ready to be swung or spun into its final shape. The piece is heated to an extreme temperature - as hot as possible without losing it - then taken quickly to a powdering booth and lightly dusted with the compound. It is reheated and shaped, and the process is repeated until it looks like the scavo has taken. It is then boxed in a special annealer and slowly cooled. When the vessel emerges from the annealing oven, it is covered with a thick, pinkish-white crust.

After several days, the vessel is soaked in water, and the crust created by the chemical corrosion is scrubbed off. What is left is the highly corroded surface of the glass. The scavo has literally eaten away the glassiness and created an elegant, light-diffusing exterior that reveals the layers of color and texture just beneath the surface of the glass. All that's left is glass. It is a permanent surface that will wait to be discovered by civilizations to come.