Studio time

This past Sunday Jeff and I rented studio time in the hot shop. Being on our own was definitely a different experience but we did really well. My goal for the day was to practice just blowing a simple ornament, making a cup (with a bottom this time!) and pushing myself a little bit by doing a third gather.

This piece was my blue and white bowl from last weeks class.

Rob asked for some scale in the pictures last week, so just for you bud. Todays pieces compared to a Lego Luke Skywalker :).

At work

A couple of weeks ago, Bryan Leighty (http://bwlphotography.com) brought his photography class in to the hot shop and took some pictures of us at work. Here are a couple of shots of me from his gallery. The full gallery can be seen here. Thanks for letting me post these here Bryan.

Assume the title

Tonights class was a big milestone for me.  Tonight I left feeling like a glassblower.  A beginner still for sure, but a glassblower.

Up until now the only blown glass pieces we have done were heavily assisted by Doug.  We've done some paperweights (solid pieces worked on the punty, no blowing) on our own (assisting each other but no direct help from the teacher), but nothing on the blowpipe by ourselves.

Tonight we learned how to punty a piece.  After a practice exercise, Lauren and I worked on blown pieces completely on our own.  Her piece was a short vase (or a large cup) and mine was a vase that I spun out to get some ruffled edges.  More importantly we did every step without help!  Pics of the piece will be up next week.

Edit: New pics from last weeks "screwup".

Classes

To get started on my journey into the world of hot glass, I started taking classes at the Morean Arts Center in downtown St. Petersburg.  Classes are 6 week sessions, meeting for three hours once a week (Tuesdays).  I'm in my second class.  The class is taught by Doug Taylor Jr. (http://www.skulldougery.com/).  In the class with me are 3 other people; Jeff, Lauren and Ann.

Kickoff

A lot of friends and family have been interested in my latest money pit...er, hobby.  That is, glassblowing!  So I figured I'd get with the times and start a blog about it.  Going forward, I'll use this as an outlet to talk about my latest pieces, how I'm doing, things I'd like to try, etc.  Basically, all things glass related!

A big part of what I'd like to get out of this is some commentary on how my work is coming along so please feel encouraged to comment / critique at will.