March 06, 2020
To start off our day, we began with an entirely different realm of glass art. This new realm was at first very challenging for most of us due to the new techniques that challenged our focus and understanding of glass so far. This new form was glass blowing, which involved using our breath to inflate borosilicate glass gathers on the end of tubes. What we were tasked to do was make a “simple” glass ornament with a long stem that would be looped in order to hang it. For many of us, the glass blowing ended up being tricky due to things such as blowing too hard while the glass on the tube wasn’t smooth enough, resulting in blowing out the side or creating an asymmetrical distribution of glass. The biggest issue for all of us was the key component of having to regulate the temperature of the glass precisely for the desired result.
For the second half of the day, we were first given three demos of various pendants that used lenses to magnify and accentuate the designs encapsulated within. This exercise served the purpose of giving us a more simple project from the harder glass blowing in the morning, but it would still prove challenging in its own respect. Although it was easier, the lense had to be rounded as flawlessly as possible in order to avoid distorting the image inside. The overall goal was to create a rounded pendant that could display a beautiful flower held within.
Overall, this was an amazing ending to our instruction classes taught by Suellen Fowler, Deb Crowley, Joy Munshower, and Jody Welch - between them comprising of more than 100 years of experience working with and studying an enormous variety of glass techniques. These women have truly perfected their crafts, and we are grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such masters of glass art.
