Learn All About Glass Blowing Tradition.

Glass blowing is as intense as it gets with glass. From idea to completion, this method of glassworking has a life of its own. For the experienced glass blower, the sky is the limit. There are no boundaries to what you can make with glass -- it is more a matter of the number of techniques you have mastered.

The glassblowing process begins with the blowpipe and the furnace. On the tip of the blowpipe, a bulb of glass is gathered from the furnace and a small puff of air is blown into the piece to start the shaping process. Once a suitable bubble has been created, the neck is added to the piece to allow easy removal from the blowpipe. One of the interesting properties of glass is that it does not stick to cold metal. Since the blowpipes are made of steel, they actually need to be heated up prior to use; but once they are brought up to temperature, the glass sticks to them and does not come off.

The shaping process takes up 99% of the glassblower's time. There are a number of tools that are used throughout the shaping process:

The marver is probably the artist's favorite friend. It is generally a large slab of metal mounted like a table. The marver allows the glassblower, also known as the gaffer, to control the heat within the piece. By rolling the glass on the marver, heat is lost from the piece anywhere the surfaces meet.

There are a number of hand-held tools that also provide the gaffer with a variety of shaping capabilities. The jacks allow the artist to crimp the piece or shape the sidewalls depending on the angle of attack. It is basically two blades connected like tweezers. A large pair of tweezers allow the glass to be dimpled or pulled to a point. Shears are large scissors that can be used to cut the glass in a variety of ways depending on the type of shears that are being used. Another common tool that is uesd around the shop is the sophietta. Imagine a straw with a cone at the end -- the pointed part facing away from the straw. This tool is used to blow air into the piece from outside of the bench.

Bench torches are also included in the gaffer's artillery of glassworking tools. The torch is used to target specific points on the piece without heating up entire body of glass. This can be used to make holes, pull lips, adjust handles, or prepare for a transfer.

One of the most suspenseful moments of glassblowing is the transfer. For the majority of pieces, a piece needs to be moved from a blowpipe to a puntil. The puntil (pronounced puhn-ti) is simply a steel rod about 3/4" thick. The transfer allows the gaffer to work on the lip of the piece.

Once the piece has been shaped to the satisfaction of the gaffer, it is prepared for the annealer. A few drops of water around the neck and a quick scrach from a rasp is all it takes to get the piece off the pipe or puntil. Usually an assistant will open the doors to the annealer or, for larger pieces, prepare a bed of refractory fibers to first place the piece on and then carry over to the annealer. Once inside the annealer, the piece can be brought down to room temperature in a controlled fashion to ensure it does not shatter. Any glass piece that is worked at high temperatures needs to be annealed. As glass cools, it can shrink up to 17%. This change in size creates stresses throughout the piece and can lead to cracks or shattering depending on the surface quality of the piece.

After removing the piece from the annealer, it is finished in the cold shop. A series of grinders and grinding wheels are used to remove any rough abrasions or imperfections. These machines can also be used to facet a piece to reveal colored layers behind an opaque surface. At this point, the piece can also be sandblasted or decorated using any coldworking method.