Glass Blowing
Bold Projects → Hot and Warm Glass Projects → Glass Blowing
Similar Projects: Slumped Glass Plates
I got a glass blowing lesson as a birthday present for Tom years ago, and it launched a lasting commitment to the art. I mean, who wouldn’t love working with molten stuff that you magically transform into amazing things?? Glass blowing essentially just involves gathering your glass, introducing a bubble, and repeatedly reheating and shaping the glass until you’re happy with it. Sure, you can get much more complicated, but that’s basically all that’s required for many pieces.
You’ll definitely need some serious supervision, and it’s not for kids (due to safety concerns), but you can absolutely create something cool and useful in one two-hour session. All of the items shown here are things that can be made by beginners, assuming you have an instructor who will give you some assistance and help guide you on the necessary steps and shaping. Just do a google search for glass blowing studios in your area and I bet some will pop up. I’d definitely check the reviews and descriptions to make sure you’ll actually get to do the real thing (and not just a lame demo where you blow in a tube and that’s it).
Here’s what you’ll be doing:
And here’s stuff you can make:
This is what we made in our first lesson:
And this is what we made in our second lesson:
When Tom’s family came to town, they came to the studio and all made cups:
You know those hand-blown Christmas ornaments that cost $30 – $50? Yeah, they’re actually pretty easy to make. You can crank out a few of these in a session:
Starfish are always a popular choice:
And we love these little oil lamps (inspired by an oil lamp we saw at the Four Seasons in Istanbul):
You can do any of these things in one session! You don’t have to commit to becoming a glass blowing expert! So cool, right?
Bold Projects → Hot and Warm Glass Projects → Glass Blowing