Glass Blowing

I took a glass blowing class a couple weekends ago at Susan Knecht's studio at Lowe Mill. There were four students and she taught for about 5 hours. The first thing she showed us was to gather. Gathering is pulling a blob of molten glass from the pot. This takes a bit of getting used to - seeing as how its a might bit hot. An the only way you can tell that you're gathering is by the shadow of the rod above the surface of the molten glass since its all the same flaming orange color. The above photo is my first gather.

Sue showing us how to gather.

The second thing Sue showed us was how to manipulate glass with a few types of standard glass working tools. Here's my little flower.

The third item taught was a combination of the first two. 1. Gather. 2. Add color 3. Manipulate the glass. 4. Gather again. So here's my little paper weight.

The forth item was to see what it felt like to blow glass. So we gathered and then warmed the glass in the glory hole and then blew. Its NOT easy. I think I turned a bit red before I finally got a bubble.

The 5th was to try and make a glass of some sort. Blowing a bubble, cutting the glass off the blowpipe and placing it on another rod (or punty stick) and then heating it in the glory hole then finally using the tools to manipulate the glass and open the mouth. My bubble was offset - resulting in this rather wonky juice glass. But its still pretty darn cool.

For the last item - we could choose whatever we'd like to try. I went for a larger paperweight. With three gathers and random color.

Then Sue showed us how to make a plate -


It was incredible to see her work. So fast, so skilled. Can't wait for another class!