Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Glass blowing: Day 3

I had another awesome night at Glass Works! Tonight, we made another vessel... it was our choice of whether to make a goblet-styled piece, or one with a more flared mouth. I chose goblet style. Then, because we had some extra time, we got to make another little project: a glass flower! I'm so excited to see how they look when cooled!


The glass class
Here are some photos of my partner, Z, making her flower. It was busier for me tonight because our third person, J, wasn't in class. Therefore, I was helping Z the whole time and couldn't take any photos until the very end.
The powdered glass colors

Each color has to be heated through 


Then another color can be added


To make the flower, glass is pulled

Turn and pull, turn and pull

It gets harder as the glass cools

It takes two to make a thing go right
Wait until you see how they turned out! I can't wait to see mine... my glass from last week turned out okay. It's about 1 cm thick! So heavy for such a small glass, ha ha. 



 It's the size of a juice glass, but weighs about as much as a pint glass half-filled with liquid. It's hefty. But everyone in the class had hefty glasses, as we haven't quite learned how to work with the glass much thinner than this. We're just still fumbling around and it's harder to mess up when you keep your glass this thick!


Will also make a good weapon
It's not a likely looking weapon, but wielded correctly, any attacker will be brained by my juice glass. Not that I'm into that sort of thing. Still, when you hold this glass, things like that come to mind. It's a MEDIEVAL kind of drinking glass. For serious.

14 comments:

Orion Designs said...

I think it's a fabulous glass -- at least you'll know you're holding a glass when you use it!

shari said...

Haha! Yes, you KNOW you've got a glass in your hand... in fact, you'll get a work out if you use this glass! Thanks, Vicki!

Brandi Hussey said...

Hey, in my limited experience, it seems like one never goes looking for a weapon till they need it - soo... this could come in handy (but I'll hope it'll only see libations, not an attacker's head)!

Still, I'm super impressed! Can't wait to see your flower!

Sonja said...

Ahhh! That;s so exciting. I've tried galss blowing once. So much harder than it looks!
But I'd love to try it again. Very cool. :o)

Anonymous said...

Well one things for certain - the cats shouldn't be able to accidentally knock your glass over. I really like it - it has a good solid look to it and is unique and charming. Hope the flowers come out good!

shari said...

Thanks everyone! Yes, I'll have a ready (secret) weapon, ha ha! It's been a blast learning to blow glass.

Sonja, you're right, it's harder than it looks!!

Shell, I'll definitely post pics of my goblet and my flower next week after I get it! And no, this glass is harder than most to knock over!!

-E- said...

oh man i'm pretty jealous. i've always wanted to try glass-blowing.

shari said...

If you ever get the opportunity, you definitely should do it, E. It's very primal, working with molten glass. There's something quite masculine about the process, I think. The results might be pretty (or might not) but the process involves heat, sweat, muscle, skill and great attention to both detail and possible danger!

Cynthia@Beach Coast Style said...

wow that seems like so much fun I always wanted to take a glass blowing class but we don't have any around here. the closest I got to it was last year at Scarborough Fair there was great demonstration from a glass blowing artist.

Tina Ramchandani said...

I'm so jealous of you right now! I've always wanted to try glass blowing!

shari said...

If you guys come out to Bethlehem, PA, you can take a glass blowing class! They actually have a really big arts center here.... I'll tell you this: glass blowing is not for sissies! ;-) It's fun, but hard!

Just noticed that I lost a bunch of fun comments... must have happened when blogger went down! :-(

Karla Tull Aron said...

hi Shari ... my what all you've been up to since i last visited! this is amazing .. i had no idea about glass blowing! it does look like fun .. kind of industrious work which appeals to my inner tomboy.
ps. thank you for your comment from the other day .. it disappeared during that time that blogger was down .. but i saw it and loved it! thank you : )

Amisha said...

Looks like so much fun! I have always been fascinated by glass blowing, feels so magical!

StudioSuki@Fantabulous Design said...

Your glass would look nice as a vase as well.

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