Living It Up: Glass Blowing

Jackie: "So, Jim, what got you into the profession of glassblowing? It's kind of a unique profession, why do you have such a passion for it?"

Jim: "The challenges, the immediate reward, the excitement that accompanies it, and also the physical exertion that goes along with it."

Jackie: "So, obviously, the temperatures have to be extremely warm. How hot are the temperatures?"

Jim: "The furnace is currently at 2050 degrees."

Jackie: "How do you work with the colors on the glass?"

Jim: "The colors are all added on in layers. We can enjoy the freedoms that painters do, we have a full palate of colors to choose from."

Jackie: "So what are you guys doing right now?"

Jim: "We are getting ready to do a color overlay, this is the primary bubble, this vessel, the main color is this blue that I'm applying here."

Jackie: "Now what are you doing here?"

Jim: "We are just peeling the banana here, we're just rolling the color onto the surface."

Jim: "You are dipping quite a few times in the furnace, and every time you dip over some glass, you get more glass to work with."

Jackie: "So he just told me that some students actually put sunscreen on because they can get a heat rash from the heat, I think I am, I think I need to go apply some sunscreen."

Jackie: "So this sort of shapes it right?"

Jim: "Yeah cools and shapes."

Jackie: "How hard was that to blow?"

Jim: "There's limitations, it can only go so far, so you try to blow hard to get a good defined edge."

Jackie: "Wow, beautiful. Wow, that is amazing."

Jackie: "This is pretty cool, I'm making my own dish."

Jackie: "Well it's definitely been a unique experience glass blowing in Fort Lauderdale. Big thanks to the Crystal Vision Studios."

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Contact: jjohnson@wsvn.com