December 2008 Ornaments

I took a workshop in glassblowing on Monday.  It was expensive (glass always is) so I funded it by pre-selling the ornaments I’d blow.  Lucky for me, I made a lot, so I get to keep some. Unlucky for me, some of them are really nice, and it’s going to be hard to part with them.  Mom already chose the red and white one, and the speckled violet and blue one to give to someone (whom I hope does not regularly visit my artblog).

The blue and green one is shaped funny, because I jacked too hard and closed off the hole, so the glass collapsed on itself when the air cooled and contracted. The kids like the shape a lot. 

The purple and red one got cracked and the hook fell off–I’m not sure why.  I had trouble jacking that one, and the neck of the ball is twisted.  I’m going to try to salvage it by making a hook out of something else. My dad suggested using one of those aluminum caps that come with commercial glass ornaments.  I think I can do a little better.  Maybe copper cut into the shape of flower petals?

The red and green one is quite small, either because the glass was too cool or because my partner wasn’t blowing very hard or a little of both.  Glassblowing is a team event, and sometimes it takes a while to get accustomed to one another.

The red adventurine-gold one is my favorite, I think. It’s just about perfect.

The swirled red and white one, like the swirled blue and violet one, was made near the end of class. The crucible kiln had some issues with it, and the glass had cooled off to around 1875 F–almost too cold to be workable.  That meant that one gather got a lot of glass, whether you wanted it to or not.  I tried to take off some of the extra glass by twisting it with the diamond shears (and cutting off the knob on the end).  While I was doing this, a tiny shard of hot glass flew up and hit me on the chin.  I couldn’t get it off with my hand, so I licked it off, assuming that the Leidenfrost effect would keep me from getting burned, as my tongue is wet.  Nope. I have a small burn on my tongue.  It wasn’t as bad a burn as I’ve gotten from drinking too-hot coffee, but I had to keep dipping my tongue in ice water for a few hours.

All of them are going to get a little touch-up with the dremel to make the edges not so sharp.  It’s hard to make the hooks well, and they often have cut edges exposed.

I’m very happy that I had the chance to blow glass again.  I love it very much, and it’s so expensive that getting to play in the hotshop is a luxury.