Glas-blowing!

I´ve just had the best adventure! Talk about dream-come-true! I´ve made my very own glass! I mean, I´ve blown and shaped my own glass! That is just amazing! On the evening before our Master class-trip to Bergen, there was an introduction-workshop in glass-blowing at S12Galleri. Two hours, and only room for four people, which is the exact amount of people in the class. Talk about field-trip! O.M.G.

The oven is always burning (it takes about a week to cool down, and a week to warm up) at 1150 degrees centigrade, filled with liquid glass.

Me, undeniably excited, about to embark on a great adventure! 😀

First step was practicing getting the glass onto the steel-rod. Oh, it was hot in there! (For that reason alone, I should become a professional glass-blower! I´d never have to freeze again!)

Second step, was to add specks of broken, colored glass onto the blob. This would blend with the clear glas, and add color and pattern.

Third step, was to shape the blob of glass into a nice, round starting-point for a glass. In between, the glass was heated several times, to make sure the temperature didn´t drop lower than 700 degrees, or else it would break. And by all means, this is pretty impossible to do alone without excellent supervision from the professional artist-teacher.

I thought actually the most difficult thing was keeping the rod in a steady roll, to keep the glass in place and not drooping or dropping. And of course, when you blow, you don´t really see whats going on, so you had to just listen to the instructions. Not a lot of blowing actually. Surprisingly little and light blowing.

As I mentioned, we did have great help. Thomas the glass-blower (making sure the rod is always moving) and Anett, the assistant (making sure I don´t burn myself). Here I am making a mark, where the glass will be cut at the top.

After another round of warming up, I am widening the glass-opening, so that I can actually drink from it. (Does it look as fun as it was to experience?)

When I was satisfied with the shape, Thomas knocked on the steel-rod, and the glass came off and into his glove-covered hand, and then straight into an oven, which used the hight to cool down. That way it wouldn´t break because of a sudden temperature-shift.

Next day, we come back to collect our self-made glasses. I don´t know who of us were the proudest, but we all enjoyed the workshop immensely!

I feel like a mother: isn´t she a beauty!?! I mean, of course I can see, with my objectivity-glasses on, that she is chunky and crooked and all that, but to me, she is an absolute beauty, she is imperfectly perfect!