Glass Blowing

The first man-made glass was created about 5,500 years ago in the form of beads.  About 3,500 years ago a technique was developed that permitted glass to be formed into the shapes of vases and bowls.  That technique, called "core formed," was very laborious and only royalty could afford to own such pieces.  It is not used today, and there are many questions as to the details of that technique.

About 2,000 years ago the technique of  "glass blowing" was invented.  There are actually a few techniques known as glassblowing.  The technique Jeff uses is the oldest of them and has changed very little in the 2,000 years since its invention. This technique consists of dipping a pipe (the blowpipe) into a pot of molten glass which is inside a high-temperature  furnace (at about 2200ºF). Glass is gathered onto the blowpipe. Pipe and glass are removed from the furnace, and by blowing thru the pipe the ball of molten glass is expanded into a thick bubble. Additional glass is then gathered onto that bubble and colors are added. The bubble of hot glass is then worked, that is, formed by using practically anything that will not be too badly burned by the hot glass: wet sticks, wooden molds, pliers, scissors, wire, and so forth.

During the shaping process the piece must be frequently returned to a furnace in order to keep it soft enough to work.  From time to time additional glass may be gathered up.

Halfway thru the shaping process, the piece is transferred from the blow pipe to an iron rod (called a punty).  This permits the part of the glass that was in contact with the blow pipe to be opened up to form the mouth of a vase or bowl, for instance.

When the piece has the desired look, it is carefully broken off the punty and placed into a temperature-controlled oven (the annealer), where it is slowly cooled down to room temperature.  Depending upon the thickness of the glass this cool down may take from 12 to 48 hours.

This style of glass blowing is often called furnace or off-hand blowing.

If you would like to see a sequence of photos of Jeff making a large plate, just click here.