1,250 Degrees Fahrenheit

Glass, when heated to that temperature will have the consistency of taffy and is in the prime state to be shaped into anything, from a paperweight to a large delicate bowl.

As part of a very delayed birthday celebration the Giant, my bestie, her sister and myself all took a day trip to a small town in Washington State and participated in a glassblowing class. In a large open workshop along with four workers we got to try our hand at making a few different items. The entire process for our end was about two and half hours, although our pieces had to cool overnight (and thus wait for us to pick up this next week.)

This is the beginning process of a bowl I made. The colors on the table roughly correspond to the actual colors I will get in the end. This particular bowl involved not only blowing the glass out, but then I had to suck air in to create the hollow interior. (Fun fact my lungs are pretty weak when it comes to the process, but luckily the lighter touch is easier to work with for the most part. Woo?)

This photo is the start of a large bowl. The process is similar to my little one above, but requires a lot more teamwork. Indoorcat’s sister is assisting with the blowing aspect as Indoorcat waits to make the next step. The shop teacher was explaining how the rolling of the the glass has to be done in a consistent way to prevent it from becoming lopsided. After the glass was blown out, the top needed to be shaped.

Before the teacher re-heated the glass and was able to make it fan out to create the bowl.

The process overall was so interesting and I know I wasn’t alone in thinking it would be a fun thing to try again.

Hopefully I’ll remember to snap photos of the finish pieces.

 

So how did your weekend go?