Glassblowing galore

March 17, 2005 8:30 AM

Fascinated by glassblowing? <- More video and info than you can shake a stick at. See also: Glassblowing in Antiquity as well as today. View the process via a mpeg video (or step through the pictures). See some old glass recipes and learn about what the individual ingredients do. Ever seen a Chihuly exhibition? (or via QuickTime (now in several locations). Wow. There is also a process for fusing, slumping and kiln-forming glass called "Warm Glass". Gallery here. If you are into this you may need to save this one for the weekend, but I couldn't wait.
posted by spock (19 comments total)

I was thinking of getting into glassblowing until a friend of mine who was in the jewelry industry told me about the glassblowers he knew all having serious respiratory ailments.
posted by ursus_comiter at 8:47 AM on March 17, 2005

Great post. So far I only looked through the (very thorough) step-through pix of the process. Worth a detailed lazy savouring.
Thanx spock.
posted by peacay at 8:56 AM on March 17, 2005

If you like glassblowing, I heartily recommend taking a trip to the Corning Museum of Glass in upstate New York. I spent a day there recently and was amazed at both their art collection and the live glassblowing show.
posted by interrupt at 9:05 AM on March 17, 2005

When I have the means and the space I plan to start fusing/slumping glass as a hobby. I love glass. I'll have to check out that museum at some point too!

Thanks for the great post!
posted by LunaticFringe at 9:12 AM on March 17, 2005

I second the respiratory ailment thing. When I tried it, I inhaled accidentally, and I've had a pane in my left lung ever since.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:12 AM on March 17, 2005

nice one, spock. Thanks!
posted by shoepal at 9:27 AM on March 17, 2005

Huh. I was expecting a fan site dedicated to the musician Phillip Glass & his infamous love of oral sex. This is still good, I guess.
posted by jonson at 9:35 AM on March 17, 2005

Also, w-gp, that is a shameful pun and I hope for your sake you didn't just make it up!
posted by jonson at 9:35 AM on March 17, 2005

Along the lines of the oral sex reference, this stage in the process seems to come in handy.
posted by jonson at 9:38 AM on March 17, 2005

I remember first seeing Chihuly's work in California many years ago. From that moment glass was no longer an ornament, but an organic, underwater creature.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:49 AM on March 17, 2005

I know how you feel wgp, I have a friend that worked in Chihuly’s Tacoma workshop and I was able to get a tour. It was an amazing experience.
posted by Tenuki at 10:12 AM on March 17, 2005

My grandmother lived in Williamsburg Virginia, and worked in a Colonial Williamsburg area store/museum...

I remember visiting the glass blowing "section" of Colonial Williamsburg and being impressed with the consistency with which they were producing glassware(using the same technologies as the original colonists.)

Now i feel awed("blown" away!) whenever i walk into a head shop in Venice Beach and look at the extremely intricate glasswork on display. It's kind of like a "chihuly" that you smoke stuff with, therefore making it even more beautiful!!

Pardon the pun...couldn't resist.
posted by schyler523 at 11:28 AM on March 17, 2005

I have met a lot of glass artists through ties to the Gift industry, and went to their studios, and I have seen a lot of amazing stuff. It continues to fascinate me and draw me in.

I wish I had a lifestyle that would support my art-glass fetish. As it is, I only have a few small latticino cylinders, but I could play with them for hours. Well, those, and I have a borosilicate glass "toy". Which is nice on the coffee-table.

Great post, thanks!
posted by exlotuseater at 11:34 AM on March 17, 2005

Most respiratory issues faced by glassblowers are incurred during the coldwork process (grinding down punty marks, etc) because of the silica that gets released. Wearing a respirator during coldwork helps.

I'd also imagine that the report linked above describes factory glass production rather than art glass production - there just isn't much respiratory risk involved in the relatively limited work your lungs are doing to create an individual piece. The only glassblowing injuries I ever sustained were small burns - and those always from metal tools that were still hot, not from the glass itself.
posted by judith at 11:41 AM on March 17, 2005

I can also highly recommend the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. Lots of great pieces to admire and a fantastic "Hot Shop" where you can watch the artists at work. It's narrated by a staff member who describes/explans what's going on. I could have watched them for hours.
posted by ssmith at 2:52 PM on March 17, 2005

i would love to take a class on glassblowing. unfortunately, the cheapest one i've found is about $350 for a 6-week session. i should save up.

except for that respiratory ailment thing - i am asthmatic and a *ahem* chronic smoker so perhaps my lungs don't need any more torture.

I know a guy who is a glass artist - his pieces are amazing. he makes the standard array of pipes and bongs, as well as some really cool jewelry, and has started a foray into "toys". if i were into dildoes, i'd want one of his.

also, reliable sources inform me that dale chihuly is, in fact, an asshole.
posted by salad spork at 4:10 PM on March 17, 2005

On the other coast, a glass museum that has been open since 1907.


http://www.sandwichglassmuseum.org/

Enjoy.
posted by Jumpin Jack Flash at 8:57 PM on March 17, 2005

If anyone's ever been to Venice and seen the amazing displays of glassblowing and heard the history of the glass art culture there it really is quite amazing...in the early thirteenth century all of the glassblowers were forced to move to the island of Murano so the glass could be controlled and also--no joke--to contain any potential fires from the glassblowers' furnaces. Neither the glassblowers nor their families were allowed to leave the island punishment of death! Unbelievable...

I've always had this strange idea that I would be a great glassblower, I don't know why, I've never tried it...what crazy dreams we have...
posted by popsicletoes at 11:59 PM on March 17, 2005

Tracing the Old World origins of the art back one step further, glassblowing lives on (linked from here) in small pockets in the Middle East (serious glassblowers can even take a workshop vacation to Damascus).

Stateside, I'm not sure whether the billing as "the only public glassblowing studio in the Southeast" is right, but Creative Studios in St. Augustine, Fla., does some great work.
posted by Zurishaddai at 8:00 AM on March 18, 2005