Glassblowing
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For more pictures of my hand-blown glass, go to Gallery
Link to workshop where I do my glassblowing: barleylandsglassworks
They run one day beginner courses (which is how I started), and
intermediate courses.
All my glass is lead crystal, based on clear glass, often with colour
added. Some pieces include "MilleFiori" pieces from Murano (Venice):
these are the round multi-coloured pieces that look like small slices
of rock (one of these is in the picture above right). Colours are added
in several ways: from solid colour, to give large blobs or trails
as in the spiral vases; by picking up frit (or granules) of colour, as
used in the tumblers; by sticking coloured cane (long thin rods of
glass) onto the piece; or by rolling the clear glass in powder or very
fine frit, to give an overall colour. Several pieces use more than one
of these techniques (see the Black Whirled Vase), and I often twist and
roll up the glass after adding the colours, before blowing, to acheive
more varied results (see the vase above left). Most pieces take between
10 and 30minutes to make, so allowing for breakages I can produce up to
20 pieces in a day. After blowing, the pieces are put in the Leah (type
of kiln, shown in the picture above right) to keep them hot, but below
the softening point. Overnight, the Leah very slowly cools down so that
the glass can be removed in the morning. This very slow cooling is
essential to prevent thermal stresses being trapped in the glass and
the piece cracking. Unfortunately, everything seems to shrink in the
Leah, so vases that were very large and impressive when put in, seem
much less so when they come out. Or perhaps it is just me.