(no subject)

[camwyn]

Went to Luke Adams Glass Blowing STudio last night to see what it was like working with red-hot glass. Didn't actually do any blowing; the Groupon I had for the glass let us make either a paperweight or a blown glass ornament or a blown glass pumpkin, so I went for the paperweight on the grounds that it had a better chance of survival in a house where one of the cats periodically tests gravity. I still got to fiddle with red-hot glass, though, and my paperweight will be ready for pickup on Saturday; if it turns out to have gone nicely I may sign up for one of their three-hour classes instead, in which you first make one of the small things mentioned above and then get to make either a tall tumbler, a scalloped bowl, a vase, a larger pumpkin or a footed bowl.

Not sure what the deal is with blown glass pumpkins. They're... pumpkins. You can only look at so many of them before you start wondering whether Cinderella dropped the prince and ran off to join a glassblower's guild instead (actually, I kind of like that idea and may run with it; there are worse symbols for a craft guild than a pumpkin).

ANYway. If I go back for a second class I will probably go for the tumbler, and pay a little extra to get to use dichroic metal colored bits in the paperweight or ornament because they're awfully pretty. The same place also has a glass jewelry making option, so there's that too. And there are other glass places in the Boston area, although the other one I can think of, Diablo, seems to be more inclined towards training people to be professional glass workers and artists rather than an artist studio that also has non-artists taking the occasional one-off class. We'll see how it goes.

This does not count towards my post-apocalyptic rebuilding skill cred, by the way. This was just 'stick a rod in the oven that is already full of melted glass, take it out, and shape it this way', not 'here is some sand and a lot of fuel, let's see how far you can get from here'. It's the equivalent of melt and pour soapmaking rather than lye, oil, and water, I think. And there's nothing wrong with that, I'm just saying this doesn't really count as something that'd be useful if civilization went out the window and the factories weren't available any more.

Comments

[telophase]

There's a glass studio not terribly far from where I work, and Toby and I made paperweights last year. We also attended a drop-in workshop where you got to assist them in making Christmas ornaments--they did the rolling and shaping while you blew into the tube. It was fun, although it gets hot enough here that they shut the ovens down during the summer.

[synchronicity2]

Sounds like a fun time regardless, I'd love to try something like that.