One of my favorite artists is Dale Chihuly. I have been been a self proclaimed Chihuly Groupie for at least 6 years. Here is my Chihuly Groupie Collection.
At the end of October, when the weather cooled down in Arizona, I started a glass blowing class at the community center. We spent the first 4 weeks learned how to handle 2000+ degree molten glass.
Glass studio
Here is the glass blowing shop. You will notice a huge fan. Even though I picked the last class of the year it was still so hot.
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|---|---|---|
| The Glory Hole | The bench | Me-The Gaffer |
My first blow!
Colored frit
Our teacher, Ethan, at the furnace
The temperature was reading 2050 for the furnace!
Here is our teacher, Ethan, marvering and blowing a piece.
My glass pieces
So the first four classes we were making glass objects, learning out to handle the molten glass. Sadly when we got to blowing I was sick and then in the hospital, so I only blew one time.
I love to see the my improvement!
Clear glass projects:
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|---|---|---|
| #1 Caterpillar | #2 Snowman |
Colored glass
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|---|---|---|
| #3 Green duck | #4 rainbow fish |
#5 and #6 Blue and green flowers
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#7 Yellow flower
Color inside glass
#8 and #9 and #10 Paperweights
#11 by first blown piece, a wonky cup that I use on a daily basis!
It was a great class. Would I take it again? I don't know. I really liked the stained glass class they offer at the community center and want to take that class again. It was super interesting to learn about glass blowing and I am super glad I did it.
Wow, what an interesting class! And you made some really amazing pieces there. Great work :)
Thanks so much. It was really cool to learn how to work with the glass.
Glass blowing is mind-blowing 😁
A shame you got sick and spent those days in the hospital, but what you did is also awesome. The green, blue and yellow flowers are lovely!! 💚💙💛
Thanks so much @mipiano I agree, it was really sad I got sick. I did learn a lot in the classes I got to attend.
You made so many pieces over four classes, and they're all so pretty, especially the flowers. I was watching this American glass blowing contest the other month, it looks very hard work but the contestants were amazing and so creative. Maybe if you do another course, you'll pick up more techniques and make some Chihuly inspired pieces
Thanks so much. I have ideas of what I want to make. We'll see if I do the class again. Maybe I would, with a different teacher.
I noticed he didn't seem very energetic, almost like he was forced to be there
He is a really good glass blower. Not such a good teacher. Being a good teacher is really a skill.
Passion was the adjective I meant to use. You need that a teacher to learn otherwise you might as well watch a YouTube video
The glass work is super amazing
It is really looking so shiny and beautiful. It is giving this crystal vibe and that is one of the the things that make it so beautiful also. I am just trying to imagine the number of hours of effort that was put in making it
Thanks @successwrite. It took me many hours to make these pieces and for those that do more intricate pieces so much longer. It is really a specialized form of art.
these are one of the things i wish my fine art school would teach, sadly this is not one of them, ahaha I also want to experience something like this making glasses, shaping, I think its very interesting, I wish there's something like this in our place for me to enroll on and apply on work, I've been seeing this kind of things a lot in short videos in youtube and tiktok, I always get amaze, also the one you created looks nice, a masterpiece, Imagine friends coming over wondering about it and you tell them you're the one who made it, telling story how it was made, the value of experience so nice..
you should take it again and make some more glasses once you fully recover
Agreed, it would be great to have more people exposed to more type of art. I have really enjoyed the classes I took at the community center and they have others like welding and ceramics too.
You should be careful while blowing glass. In the video I saw that the molten glass does not fall out, it sticks to the stick. There is a lot to learn, keep going. Hope for a beautiful life
Oh, that must have been such a cool experience!
So cool!
Nice works, this all reminds me of the Murano glass masters, in Venice
Well, thank you very much. I do love Murano glass. I have some great pieces I bought there.
I bought some stuff there too! Very good stuff but so expensive! and that was before the pandemic too, i can't imagine how it is now