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How to Blow Glass

You are viewing an Expert Village Video Series:

Techniques such as making gather with glass, blowing and capping, centering glass, using marver, flashing glass, taking glass off punty, spinning glass for waves, and placing glass in the annealer; learn these things and more in this instructional arts and crafts video series on glass blowing.

There are 39 videos in this series:
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Views: 138,092 Videos in Series: 39

Tags: glass, working, class, technique, beginning, blowing, artistic

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Summary: Glass blowing is the art of creating glass structures such as simple utilitarian vessels or delicate works of art. The process involves gathering molten glass on a hollow steel rod, rolling the “gather” on a slab of marble or flat piece of steel called a marver, and then blowing into the rod creating an air-bubble in the center of the gather. The glass is shaped continually using the marver and wet blocks made of fruit wood and is reheated several times throughout the forming process. A rod with a glass bulb at the tip, called a punty, is attached to the piece to allow the glass blower to finish the work. At the end the punty is removed and the glass is placed in a final cooling furnace to slowly cool the glass.

In this free arts and crafts video series, beginning glass blowing from expert Jim McKelvey, who has been teaching glass blowing in 1987, will teah you how to blow glass. Learn glass blowing with tips and techniques such as gathering the glass, blowing and capping, centering glass, using the marver and blocks, flashing the glass, taking glass off the punty, using an optic mold, spinning glass for waves, and placing glass in the annealer in this free online video series.

About the Expert

Contact: stlglass.com/bookdvd...

Expert: Jim McKelvey began teaching glassblowing in 1987 and has taught thousands of students how to safely use glass and fire. He is co-founder of Third Degree Glass Factory (www.stlglass.com) and popular speaker on the art of glassblowing. His textbook/DVD series, The Art of Fire (www.stlglass.com/bookdvd.html), is the standard for learning the art of hot glass.

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