(Did you get that the 'tsss' above is like a hot burning sound of hotness?)
Have you heard of Dabble? If you're a bit of a dabbler and wanting to try a bunch of new things before committing-to-ONE-thing-forevermore Dabble might be for you. I learned about if from a friend on Facebook and quickly surmised this was a way to help me with this goal of making 41 beautiful things.
Last year, when my pals and I went to Louisville, we stopped by an awesome hot glass studio/building called Glassworks. I was surprised to find myself hypnotized by the process so when I saw the opportunity for a hot glass workshop through Dabble I signed up!
I don't know how all the Dabble classes work, but this one got us right into it. Maybe because this is a one shot deal to have an experience and get enough out of it to sign up for classes - the instructor didn't spend time with a big intro or history lesson. She gave us a quick tour of the space at Chicago Hot Glass.
Notice the burn holes!
After the quickie tour we picked our colors
And then one-by-one our instructor Kit walked us through the process. I didn’t get photos of the whole process b/c I had my hands full of hot glass – but I can walk you through it a bit:
Your first step is to come to this fiery vat of molten glass (wear your safety goggles!)
You then grab a long iron rod and dip it in picking up a small amount on the end.
(source)
You have to be careful to keep the rod spinning as the molten glass will begin to drop towards the ground and you want to keep it with a rounded shape like above.
Next you quickly roll the glass in a bowl of your first color, or what will become the interior color and then place the rod into the next bit of fire. This one is called the “glory hole”…yes.
(sorry, it’s like taking a picture of the sun)
Once the colored chips have liquefied into the rest of your glass you quickly bring it back out and sit down to shape it while it’s still hot
That’s the bench there in the middle and the shaping tools on the table.
To add the next layer and a different color you repeat the whole process. We were making flowers so we had two layers of glass and then a third piece was attached at the end for the stem.
Pre stem
Kit adding a stem to a classmate’s flower
And the final product!….
Beautiful Thing #3!
I predict more hot glass in my future. You got me, Dabble.
xo
erin
