Today I tried glassblowing for the first time. It was in a beautiful studio in western Massachusetts. The brown autumn leaves outside were illuminated by the sun, fire tinged. Red, orange, like the glow of the glory hole. The day was perfect, the northeast holding its breath before the Frankenstorm.
I swung a long metal pole, preheated, its tip glowing into the glory hole. The glory hole was so hot that at first I could not differentiate the surface of the molten glass from the orange glow of the crucible containing it from the heat of the burning propane. I felt it through the pole first, as a blind man taps the earth before him with his cane: the treacle tacky resistance of the molten glass.
I pulled some of the glass out, forgetting to turn the pole, so that I glopped some of the glass onto the lintel of the portal — a huge chunk of fire brick on rollers, guarding the entrance — where the orange liquid instantaneously turned into recognizable glass. As if chocolate sauce had suddenly frozen onto ice cream.
Relative temperatures. Earlier I’d asked a glassblower how much he could expand a glass bubble. He’d obliged, and exploded one for me. The superheated glass popped in the air, where it instantaneously solidified and broke further into pieces on the ground. I was reminded of stories of people urinating in very cold places — so cold that the urine freezes into a piece of ice midair and breaks into pieces on the ground. The glassblower was able to pick up the superthin shards immediately. I was surprised to find they were flexible and springy.
The first day, all I did was watch, and then play with a solid piece of molten glass — making a ring, a marble, and a “snowman.” A “snowman” is a solid piece of glass that you practice rolling out into a rotationally symmetric head, body, and abdomen.
The next day, I watched again. This time a glassblower with 22 years of experience. She produced ornament after ornament in a choreographed dance.
Finally, my first attempt: at first I could not even produce a bubble in the molten glass, blowing as hard as I could. But then I did produce a bubble. I produced a shape that looked like a cross between a condom and a pear. This shape then collapsed into a crinkle like a mashed up candy bar wrapper, or a Frank Gehry. It’s a start!
You will blow and you will blow and then, someday, you will still blow. But you won’t need to blow as hard because you will understand better the heat energy and the forces involved.
You will understand when to apply a force and how. To gain this understanding, you must watch, read, and make mistakes. Then, instead of blasting away at what has already cooled, you will catch it when it is hot, and it will be ready for you.