BLOWING GLASS AIN'T EASY

There are two types of glass blowing and they are vastly
different. The first is a "bench operation" where pre-
formed glass rod is blown and formed into objects used

in the science or chemistry lab with, as a side line, the
forming of little swans and things at county fairs. The
other type is a "glasshouse operation” or ls sometimes
called"bff-hand glass blowing". In this case a blob of
molten glass from a glass tank is gathered on a long hollow
steel “blow-iron" and then blown and formed into an object
which, when completed, is slowly cooled in an annealing

oven.

I got hooked on glass blowing at a Craftsman's Conference
in Tring, England, on January 2nd, 1968, at 3.45 p.m.
That's when I first tried it. Keeping that blob of molten
glass on the end of ablow pipe was the most frustrating

and exciting experience I'd had since I first centred a piece
of clay on a wheel a hundred years ago, and I had to have
a glasshouse. But you don't just go down to the comer
store and buy one.

First, information is hellish hard to come by. There are
no books on the technique of blowing glass. Tools and
glass are hard to find, glass tanks and annealing ovens
have to be built, but the hardest part is getting instruct-
ion on the blowing technique. Luckily I was able to get
to England quite frequently so I made arrangements with
the operators of "The Glasshouse" in London for private
instruction.

The Glasshouse is a co-operative where a group of students
and graduates of the Royal College of Art blow glass and
sell it on the premises. My instructor turned out to be a
petite young lady from the midlands with a great deal of
patience, a cute accent and a liking for "Double Diamond"
beer.

50 I huffed and puffed, dripped molten glass all over the
floor, walls and furniture, and stuck glass pots to the walls
of the glass tank, to tools, the water bucket and a customer's
purse. I learned the basic fundamentals of glass

8.