Lesson 2

I apologize that I am only on my third post and have already fallen weeks behind.  I knew going into this blog that I was going to have to donate some time to it's cause, and, much like keeping any diary, the gratification would be delayed. In the spirit of finishing, I'm going to try to keep this one brief.


In lesson 2, we focused again on the basic form of the drinking glass, but this time, working towards independence and solo blowing.  An extra hand is always helpful and usually available when working in a studio, but it's nice to be able to do everything alone, as well.  There are many steps in going from molten glass to a final form, and, for the process to be successful, one must continue moving and shaping at all times, leaving no opportunity to stop in the middle for a "teaching moment".  I'm sure, like a football coach standing on the sidelines watching his players make game-changing mistakes which he is powerless to stop, I am testing Annette's patience. She steps in only when she needs to, and reviews with me areas where there is room for improvement between each piece.


With the football coach analogy in mind, I'm sure you will understand how Annette must've felt when I finished my first solo glass (pictured below).

My first solo glass!

Yes, it turned into an ornament. There is a moment of truth when the glass gets transferred from the blow pipe to a "punty", a second rod which gets attached to the bottom of the glass-to-be to allow the gaffer to work on the top or lip of the glass.  When I transferred this one, I found the glass was too thin near the lip to open it up, so I closed it off with a blob of hot glass, made a loop and turned it into an ornament.  Personally, I like it.  A little too heavy for a Christmas tree, but I'm sure it will find a home. 


The colors are tangerine-orange and fire truck red.  If you recall from an earlier post, the actual names are in German and it is my goal to start recording those as well.  Many of the colors look nothing like the final product before I apply them, so I rely on the names to be good descriptors.  I think these two hit the nail on the head, and I will most certainly use them again.

Figure 1 - Optic Mold

Below is a photo of the other items that I made to keep.  The color patterns were made by setting the early form (ball of glass referred to as a "gather" with just a seed bubble blown into it) into a mold (Figure 1 - also called an "optic mold") to give the glass an accordion bevel all around.  After removing the piece from the mold, I reheated the glass to keep it warm and applied colored glass in a thin spiral around the outside, hoping only to touch the peaks of the bevel.  Poor technique let the color land in the valleys as well, which gave my glasses an interesting appearance all the same. Finally, the glass gets twisted before it is blown out to it's final size, transferred to a punty and shaped.  The ridges are meant to disappear, leaving only an impression on the color and not the shape of the glass.  This, I think, worked out as intended.     

I also spent some time practicing on clear glass, working on my marvering technique and "necking" (Figure 2 - forming a thin valley just off the end of the blow pipe, making it easier to separate the piece from the blow pipe.) 

Figure 2 - Necking

The products from my exercises just end up in the recycling bin, and will hopefully have a second chance at life, being turned into something more beautiful some day.  The glass rod in the photo above actually came from my next lesson, so I will save that for my next post, but since it didn't have to anneal (cool overnight in a kiln) I got to bring it home right away, and it made it's way into the photo with the rest of the goodies I got to bring home.  I'm going for lesson 4 tomorrow, so I will be able to bring home the other things I made during lesson 3 and, hopefully, post them promptly.


Well, so much for keeping it short.  Thanks for following!