Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Making a Glass Float

Ever since I visited the Museum of Glass in Seattle and saw how glass sculptures are created, I've wanted to experience it firsthand.  So I was very excited when I found out Lincoln City had lessons.  In a half hour, your instructor walks you through the process of creating your own piece of art to take home.  All three of us chose the glass float, and we all had different instructors.  Mine was a colorful character with dreadlocks.  I found out he likes to play pool and make his own beer.  We couldn't be more different!  But I could tell he really knew his craft.  He was an excellent teacher and helped me turn out a beautiful float I'm proud to display in our home.

First, Gloves

Preparing the Stick

Getting the Color On.  Thanks to Holly for taking pictures of the steps for me!

Andrew (Instructor) and Me

Cooling the Rod In Water

Into the Fiery Furnace

Stretching the Blob Out

I didn't get pictures after this point, but the instructor had me blow air into a tube that forced it inside the glass, expanding it into a sphere.  The sphere was then broken off with a tap and stamped on the bottom with "Oregon Coast 2014."  We had to leave them overnight to bake.

Holly picked them up next morning.  Mine's the blue.  Cool keepsake, huh?

A couple pics I got from inside the work area.  I'm thinking they made the handles on these lights.

Someone had fun experimenting on an old classroom desk!



Pics from inside their gift shop.  I purchased one of those metal stands for displaying my float at home.



Bowl of Pretty Glass Stones


Painting with Glass

1 comments:

katrina said...

This looks like so much fun! One of my FAVORITE pictures is the one of you! Action shots like that are so great and it looks like you had an excellent time. So glad you got to do that.