Glassblowing

I absolutely love trying new things – food, places, experiences, just about anything.  My personal opinion is – “it could be my new, most favorite thing in the world and how will I know unless I try it?”  So when my wonderful friend Mary presented me with the opportunity to make my own Christmas ornament at the Tulsa Glassblowing Studio – well, you can just imagine my elation.

We met Alex, our instructor for the morning, on a bright Saturday.  He walked us through the gallery and working studio and answered our endless questions.  Even though it was brisk outside, it was nice and toasty in the studio, with the ovens and kilns running.

The Oven

He showed us, step-by-step, how we would make our ornament and the different factors that shape each piece.  We started with a “blob” of molten glass on the blowing rod and heated it in the oven – slowly spinning the rod at all times – until it was soft enough to work with.  We then rolled the liquid glass through a pile of colored glass shards (I chose multi-colored and Mary chose black & white), melted it all together, and repeated the process.  Interesting tidbit – regardless of the color of glass shards chosen, when you heat the glass in the kiln, it all appears to be a bright orange but once it starts to cool, the true colors appear.   After the glass was melted together (spinning constantly) we had to roll the glass on a metal table to cool and shape it into a cone.

Firing the ornament

 

Now came the hard part.  You had to keep spinning the rod while Alex used giant tweezer-looking tongs to slowly pinch the blob of glass.  Alex would direct us on when to blow on the tubing to make a more round shape.  After it formed a round shape (more or less) we then scored the glass so it would release from the rod.  The bad news was mine broke when it released from the rod.  The good news was that I got to do it all over again!

Still in progress

 

 

The Final Product

 

After successfully creating an ornament, it then goes into the drying oven to finish curing.  The whole process took about 30 minutes from beginning to end and I would do it again in a heartbeat.  The possibilities are endless and I can easily see how one would get caught up in creating all kinds of nifty things – vases, sculpture pieces, martini glasses, wine glasses – well, the list is endless.

The Tulsa Glassblowing Studio is located at 19 E. Brady (on Brady between Main and Boston).  They offer classes for ages 13 and up, demonstrations, and tours.  Most artwork is also available for purchase.  Check them out on Facebook or give them a call at 918-382-0085.