Take a Glass Blowing Class

 Completed June 10, 2022

I've always been intrigued by glass work and as a kid saw some glass blowing at a place outside of Mt. St. Helens. I found several places that weren't too long of a drive, so I booked a class where I could make at least two pieces at the Orlando Glass Center. I mistakenly booked a different type of lesson, one meant for people who had done glass blowing before, but it was all good. I'd still be able to make a couple of pieces. When I got there, an 9-year-old girl was making a piece with the help of the instructor, so I knew it wasn't going to be too hard if a kid could do it.

I decided to make a floppy bowl and a paperweight. Naturally I chose purples and blues. What I did not expect was that glass blowing would be so stressful. You had to constantly keep the rod turning or else the glass would just fall off the rod and onto the ground. When I did blacksmithing last year it was a lot less pressure. If you needed to, you could just throw the metal back into the fire or set it on the ground while you stepped away. once you had the molten glass on the rod, it was go go go! 

Luckily, they were a big help there and they wouldn't let me mess up too bad. The owner was there and was nice enough to document the experience, though the one thing he didn't get a photo of was me doing the actual glass blowing part while making my bowl. Someone had come in to pick up their finished piece at that exact moment, so no photos exist of that (which is fine, my stressed out self was captured very well). 

The building is hot as balls (as one would expect) and I had to ask about the power bill because they keep the molten glass thingy running 24/7, 51 weeks of the year. There are also the two other heaters and a contraption that slowly cools the glass overnight so it doesn't shatter into a million pieces. The owner told me their power bills typically run over $5,000 a month! Damn! I get worried when our power bill gets over $150!

Overall a really cool experience, but a bit too stressful for me and one I'm not likely to repeat...unless there's a neat workshop with a piece I really want to make.