Blogs about glassblowing from Pew Pew Laser Blog

Glass Bud Vase.

This small vase is another piece from my Beginner's II class at Seattle Glassblowing Studio last November.

Six months after my first glassblowing class, I took a second one. This was the first piece I made in that class. It was supposed to be a simple straight cylinder, but I had quite a lot of trouble with it. I was imagining something much larger, and after spending a really long time on it, I just ended up with this little thing. I was disappointed at first, but now I can appreciate that this piece makes a cute little bud vase.

Thanks to the husband for the photography.

Fluted Bowl with a Two Color Optic Twist.

I made this a fluted bowl (with a two-color optic twist) in my Beginner's II class at Seattle Glassblowing Studio last November.

The optic twist technique is pretty interesting. I mixed the blue and yellow frit together and picked it up on a single gather without a starter bubble. (The bubble would get all messed up during the color application.) I then heated the glass and shaped it for the optic mold. I dropped the glass into the mold, which cuts the outer layer of color into stripes. I heated the color again, and turned the pipe while dragging the color stripes along the marver, adding the twist. To finish the color twist, I used the diamond shears to grab a nubbin of glass on the bottom of the piece and rolled the pipe down the bench rails while holding the nubbin with the shears.

I then shaped and blew the bowl form out, and heated the rim to give it the ruffled shape.

As always, thanks to the husband for the photography.

Glass Pumpkin 2009 #2.

Here is another of my attempts at a glass pumpkin. I did this one during a "blow your own" session at Blowing Sands, a little glassblowing studio quite close to home. This pumpkin is less than perfect because I asked to do more in way of heating and shaping the piece than with previous pieces. But I still think it's quite cute!

After shaping the pumpkin body, you still need to do a stem, which I find quite intimidating. You have to gather a bit, pick up the color, and dunk it in the mold. Then you attach it to the pumpkin, twist the bitrod, and swirl it around some kind of tube. Lastly, cut the stem off the pipe and torch the end to smooth it. And you have to do all of this quickly, before the pumpkin body shatters! Lon Clark, the professional glassblower who runs the BYO events at Blowing Sands, did this stem.

As always, thanks to the husband for the photography.

Two Tone Flower Glass Paperweight.

I made this glass paperweight during my first glassblowing class at Art By Fire last year, and one of my favorite pieces from that class. I was trying to replicate a red tulip with yellow highlights in the center. I'm looking forward to focusing on more simple flower paperweights when I can grab some time in the shop.

As always, thanks to the husband for the photography.

Glass Cactus Pumpkins.

These are the two pumpkins I made at a Seattle Glassblowing Studio's Pumpkin Making Workshop last October. During this 4 hour workshop, instructors showed me and 5 other people how to work with glass and create the pumpkins. Because I'd had a wee bit of prior experience, I skipped the paperweight part went straight to working on pumpkins.

I love glass pumpkins; I think they're my favorite form. To make a proper pumpkin, the gaffer uses a mold to put the ridges in the pumpkin, and flattens the bubble to the squat pumpkin shape. The assistant (or in this case, the instructor) prepares the stem in a mold, and twists it around a pipe to make the curly stem.

Unfortunately, these pumpkins weren't quite perfect. The taller one got a to long jackline, so I couldn't squat it correctly. Then we put the stem on a bit too hot, and it ended up looking like a cactus. The second one came out a little better; I was able to flatten the piece. The stem was again, a bit too hot, and made a big giant connection on the top of the pumpkin.

I later caught several other pumpkin "blow your own" events, and those came out much better. But I do plan to do a pumpkin workshop if available later this year.