Making Glass; or What is That Anyway?

I was just amazed at how quickly a molten blob of glass could be turned into a work of art. Here's another step by step, this one of a gorgeous vase from start to finish.

Shape into a round

Continue shaping and turning to elongate the blob.

Then blow to create the open center of the vase.

More shaping. That's water in the box below the glass, I think.

Into the mold to add shape and texture--this one was a quilted pattern.

He also blew more down the rod before the vase was removed from the mold.

And there it is!

More shaping...

Here comes the guy with the pontil rod (not sure that's the name of it). This rod has a molten blob of glass on the end. He'll stick it on the bottom of the vase, dead center...

 Then WHAM! the blower strikes the top of the glass and

off it comes! 

It's then carried to another worker...

who shapes the top. (Sorry for the blurriness; I was using the zoom to try to get better shots from a distance)

 And there is is, almost complete. He also performs a magic trick that breaks the vase cleanly off the rod, leaving that rough circle that is almost a Blenko signature, the pontil.

Here's another shape these guys made:

Isn't that cool? Looks like an owl.

I can't wait to go back. I know I'll be spending some time watching again just to see what emerges from the molten glass. I'll have to save up some money first though. I think I've turned the corner to become an official collector of Blenko glass.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.