| Glass begins in its raw state of sand and is melted down into translucent molten glass. |
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The first gather of clear molten glass, 2200 degrees is taken on a five-foot long stainless steel blowpipe. If color is desired, the molten glass is rolled through color chips laid out on a worktable, or pick up a piece of color bar, already warmed to 900 degrees. |
| Then, we gather another layer of clear glass; this will encase the color decoration. Then the blowing process is ready to begin. The glassblower will blow into the blowpipe to the desired size and shape the piece by hand. The glass piece then needs to be transferred from one blow pipe to another so the glassblower has an open end to work with. |
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The piece is shaped with a series of metal and wood tools. |
| Then the piece of glass is removed from its second blowpipe and is placed in an annealing oven (kiln). |
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This oven slowly cools the glass over a nine-hour period from 1000 degrees to room temp. |
