Adventure in the Hot Shop

It's been a cool summer in Michigan, but the West Michigan Glass Blowers Society Hot Shop was the sizzling spot to be this week. I just returned from a couple of intense, exhilarating days in Kalamazoo learning to do amazing things with glass. Here, my friend Tina is showing the honey-thick, molten glass just who's boss as our instructor, Judy, looks on, ready to help out at the first sign of trouble.

After gathering and shaping a glob of hot glass, we blew through the pipe to begin expanding the glass, hoping eventually to form a tumbler or vase.

In my first attempt I blew so hard the glass popped as if it were a soap bubble. Fine threads of glass floated down to the concrete floor. Back at the "glory hole" I gathered more glass with the help of our instructor, Mike. Our classmate, Jenny, manages NOT to pop bubbles!

After almost five hours in the hot shop we were ready for a shower, a bite to eat and then on to our next workshop: Photo Screen Printing.