blown · 2008-11-23 20:09
I went glassblowing yesterday. I’d found a place in London doing one-day courses (I’ve also found another), and after enquiring a week ago, I was lucky enough to get a cancellation. A lot was covered – about the same as 4 months of a normal glassblowing course – gathering the glass, working it into shape (using the secret weapons of glassblowing: blocks, jacks and the Yellow Pages), colouring, creating a number of different shapes, and blowing. The morning was spent getting used to hot glass, and then the afternoon was spent blowing pieces.
There were 4 students and 2 teachers, and there was emphasis on you thinking about what you wanted to make, aided by all the work in the studio and gallery. And then you made it. The demos of what we were about to do were daunting, and it was a revelation to get anywhere close to what we were shown. I only lost one gather of glass – trying to extend the length of a paperweight.
What I really liked was getting into the rhythm of glassblowing. Hot glass is only malleable for about a minute before it has to be reheated, so the process was heating, working on the bench or marver, reheating, working again, and gradually introducing colour, the bubble, further blowing, and final shaping. I still consider glass to be an extreme craft – you’re working with and fighting gravity and momentum in those 60 seconds before it starts to harden – but you learn to take your time, even if there are lots of moments of extreme concentration to keep a piece from disintegrating. You’re always just seconds away from the piece disappearing.
There are so many variables – colour means that the glass has different properties, and multi-colour means that different parts react differently. You’re also working blind – colours are hard to see until the glass is cool, and also it obscures seeing the bubble blowing into the glass. I also learnt it’s strictly a right-handers’ craft, with the triangle of gloryhole, marver and chair carefully set up, and that it’s teamwork – from transferring from rod to rod to work on the neck of a piece, through to protecting the other worker’s arm from the heat of the glass using a paddle.
Anyway, my pieces are slowly annealing at the moment, and I should have them next week (if they don’t shatter). Thanks to the wonderful trainers at the London Glassblowing Workshop, and I can totally recommend doing the course if you’re in any way interested – it’s also a lot of fun if you just want to get your hands dirty in some other subject too – they run lessons once a month. If you want to see the Bermondsey workshop or the glassblowing process, they’re holding an open house and sale from this Friday (28th November) until Sunday 7th December. More photos here.