Glassblowing is a process and art form that has remained relatively unchanged since the 1st Century BC.
Over the past several decades, master artisans such as Dale Chiluly have pushed the limits of the art form.
The technique consists of shaping glass material using heat and “blowing” to create art that can be used for useful or artistic purposes.
JauntTV learns the process with Doug from Half Moon Bay Art Glass where classes are available.
The studio is located at La Nebbia Winery so while there, enjoy wine tasting, bocce ball or a garden picnic.
FROM THE FURNACE TO THE PIPE
Glass is placed in a furnace that heats it to a temperature of 2000 degrees, making it malleable. We gather the glass by inserting a blowpipe into the furnace, and rolling it over the molten glass until a “gob” of glass attaches to it.
ROLLING THE GLASS ON THE MARVER
The next step is to roll the molten glass on a flat metal slab called a marver. The marver acts as a means to control the shape and temperature of the glass.
ADDING COLOR, THEN RE-ROLLING ON THE MARVER
To give the glass color and design, it’s dipped in crushed colored glass, which fuses to the main glass piece almost immediately due to the hot temperature.
Once the main glass piece has been fused with crushed colored glass, it is taken back to the marver where it is rolled again.
BLOWING THE GLASS
To give the glass its shape and size, it is blown into with a blowpipe while rotating at the same time on a steel stand.
Throughout this process, the glass needs to be continuously taken to the glory hole to be reheated because blowing it cools it very quickly
REMOVING THE GLASS
The final step is to remove the glass from the glass pipe. To do this, steel tweezers called jacks are used to separate the bottom part of the blown glass while rotating the blowpipe. The glass is separated with one solid tap.
COOLING THE GLASS
The last step is to take the blown glass to an annealing oven. This allows the glass to cool slowly over several hours, so that it doesn’t crack or break when it’s exposed to rapid temperature changes.
Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqQwQGzJ3W0&t=6s
