Napa Valley Open Studios - 2009

For the last year, I've been working with Saint Helena hot glass artist, Ed Breed. I've been learning to work with hot glass so that I can assist him in making pumpkins, glass tumblers, and vases. While he can make pumpkins by himself, it certainly is quicker and easier with an assistant. But, when making larger pieces and pieces that need to be transferred back and forth between pipe and punty, two or more people are needed to complete the process.
In the beginning, I was very timid. It's rather sketchy working with hot glass on the end of a stainless steel rod. Especially when that glass is so hot that it moves around like honey. (In fact, in the very beginning, I would practice with actual honey and a wooden skewer.) "How hot is glass when it moves like honey?" you ask. Well, it's about 2000 degrees F, or hotter. Hot enough that you probably wouldn't feel it right away, because it would burn your skin off and then the nerves as well!

So, my feeble attempts in the beginning made the work harder for Ed. The glass that I would bring him for the pumpkin stem was hot, but not nearly hot enough. He would have to pull harder than is comfortable to do repeatedly, to get a pumpkin stem...and then need a day or two to recover strength in his overworked arm muscles... (My first solo pumpkin attempts can be seen here, and are a great example of what happens when the glass isn't hot enough.)

What really helped me to get my heat right was the repeated pulling of flowers, which I really enjoy. Once I got my heat right, it was no longer a race against time with me trying to pull the glass before it got too cool to move. It was also easier for Ed and I to work as a team. Now, he could focus on blowing, and I could bring the stem when he was ready. After a year of working with Ed, I am now able to anticipate the steps, and we can work more efficiently with fewer mistakes.

Sporting my hot glass gear and my hot glass flower

Here I am at Open Studios in Napa, this year. I made the trip out to Napa, shortly after moving back to Nebraska (to be nearer to my family), to help Ed out with hot glass demos. We had a beautiful setting on the patio of Beverly Wilson's house in North Napa. We were set up outside, with Beverly showing her bright and bold Napa themed paintings both inside and out, and jewelry artist Marjorie Shachnow displaying the tools of her trade and her beautifully organic precious metal jewelry inside.

It was a hot time in the sun with the weather being over 100 degrees and the glory hole blowing 2000 degrees out at us, but we had a great turn out and a lot of friends were able to stop by and see what I've been doing.

For the demos, we pulled flowers, blew a few pumpkins, and made some drinking glasses. We were able to keep most of what we made, but the traveling hot shop's annealer is much too small to hold everything. There were several broken hearts every time we had to let a piece break open or shatter because there was no where to let it cool slowly. Below, are pictures of Ed and I making a tumbler...

Ed blowing hot glass into the shape of a tumbler using a wooden mold

After Ed has blown and shaped the glass to the point where he can go into the mold, we need to transfer it to a punty and shape the lip of the glass, knock it off and put it in the annealer to cool.

Transferring a blown glass from the pipe to the punty

Shaping the glass with a paddle and jacks

Finished glass

I really enjoyed my short California vacation and can't wait to get out there again!
As a side note, Ed can only make the drinking glasses with an assistant, and they really are beautiful and impressive when entertaining guests. Hint, hint ;)
Thanks to Erika for the great pictures of Ed and I working at Open Studios!

Ed Breed's pumpkins
(photo courtesy of Ed Breed)

Ed's "Pumpkin Patch" at Open Studios

Glass-making 101

From Stained Glass Step By Step, by Patricia Ann Daley:

I love this book for its plethora of information, from the process of making glass to types of glass to leading and foiling methods of assembly. The projects focus on different types of assembly. A list of projects includes: a Fleur de Lys Panel (Lead Came Method), a Butterfly Sidelight (Copper Foil Method), a kitchen wall clock, a mosaic-ed vase, a six panel lamp, and an Alaskan Totem Light (Sculptural Element).

The first 10 page chapter tells about the process of glass making, as well as describes the different types of glass...

First and foremost, glass is a liquid. Mind you, it's a solid liquid, because it moves so slowly that we don't notice it. However, if you were to examine a large cathedral window that has been standing upright in the same position for many years, you would notice that at the bottom, the glass has flowed downward and become thicker.
Glass is made from silica sand with 1% iron, soda ash, limestone and borax, plus added metal oxides for color: dichrome=green; copper/cobalt=blue; cadmium=lighter reds, oranges, and yellows; gold salts=deep, rich reds, gold pinks and purples.
Generally, most glass that is on the market today is machine-made. The process begins with a carefully measured dry mixture that is place in a crucible, a large "bowl," and then placed in a furnace to slowly heat the mixture to white-hot temperatures. After reaching the high temperatures, the glass liquid is ladled onto mixing slabs where the glass is twirled with a two pronged fork, similar to the way salt water taffy is twirled to mix it. The color changes to a bright orange and the consistency resembles taffy as the glass begins to cool.
The glass is now ready to be rolled, and this is the point where it is textured. The bottom roller gives the texture to the glass and is engraved with the texture. For standard glass, the thickness is now at 1/8" and the color of the glass mixture becomes a dull orange/red as it has cooled even more.
At this point the glass enters the annealing lehr, a conveyor line that slowly cools the glass by moving it from the hottest end of the "oven" to the cold, room temperature side. The glass is ready to be cut and packed into crates for distribution.