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PARKERSBURG - The Wood County Commission and Fenton Art Glass Co. have teamed up for creation of a unique customized limited edition piece of glass artwork for sale to the public and as a marketing tool.

The colorful vase, which will be created for a limited edition of only 150, will be handmade so each piece will be slightly different. Fenton artisans worked on the glassware this week, and it can be pre-ordered. Information will be available on the county Web site: www.woodcountywv.com or through the county commission office at the courthouse, 304-424-1976.

Commissioner Blair Couch was on hand Wednesday at the Williamstown facility to watch premier glass artisan Dave Fetty work craft the glassware for the county.

"We're only having 150 made and they will be numbered individually. We are also offering a DVD as part of the package. It will show the entire process for making the glassware. ... All the costs related to the vases will be built into the price so the county will have no funds involved in the project in the end," Couch said.

"We want to keep a few of the vases on hand to give out to visiting dignitaries, and business people who come to look over the area, to promote the area and what we have here," Couch said. The county will front the cost of the vases then reimburse the fund as the vases are sold, he said.

"We're anticipating a sellout within 60 days, once the word gets out, it goes onto the Internet and the Fenton collector boards, they will be gone very quickly, and we may look at additional projects by keeping track of the names and numbers of the purchasers then offering them the same number with a new run of a different colored vase," Couch said.

The commissioner noted the hues chosen for this vase relate to the courthouse, creating a kind of colorful mosaic.

"The inside is a kind of transparent red color, a lot of the older styles had black or blue," noted George Fenton, president of Fenton Art Glass Co.

The artisans worked flawlessly and quickly with the glass on Wednesday, using something called Frit to create the color. Ruby glass was rolled into the Frit which melts onto the surface to create different colors. Frit is a ceramic composition that has been fused, quenched to form glass and granulated.

"This project is totally unique with Fenton. We no longer have the bicentennial coins or maps to give out. This is a way to have something meaningful for the county to give to officials and businesses and also to offer for sale to the public. We hope if it's popular, to follow up by creating additional glassware with different coloring; maybe something with blue and gold for the Mountaineers then green and white for Marshall and so on," Couch said.

No price is available, but officials said the cost will probably be around $200 for the vase and DVD.