Playing in the Glory Hole

Some of you know of B's intense love of glassblowing and Chihuly artwork. We have spent countless hours standing (and sitting) in glass blowing studios watching the artists work. Well today we went to Baron Glassworks in Ypsilanti for a unique opportunity. B worked with the studio owner and actually learned to blow glass. He actually did it!!!! Talk about a G R E A T experience!!!

First thing Annette did was have B select some saftey glasses and off they went. There was not a lot of lecture, but 3 hours of hands on work. She explained things as they went. B made 5 projects and came out smiling :)

Gathering glass from the 2150 degree glory hole.
Tempering, to add structure to the molten glass. Done before blowing.
1st time ever blowing. Although B learned that blowing glass is actually not what is happening. You just put pressure into the pipe and the expanding hot air does the majority of the work for you.
Adding color before reheating.

Blowing
Jacking
Blowing
Blowing
Adding eyes

Adding fins
Shaping fins
More shaping
Pulling

Needless to say, this is the best art class B has ever been to. I took a happy artist home this afternoon. But no projects ;( they had to be put in the cooling boxes and can be picked up in a few days. So you've got to check back and see the finished work. And....what the next class will bring. Check one thing off B's "bucket list"!