Our expert glassblower Mark Sigafoos demonstrates the glass making process for us. He begins by melting sand to create translucent molten glass.
Once the glass reaches 2200 degrees, Mark takes the first gather of clear glass on a five-foot long stainless steel blowpipe. If color is desired, Mark rolls the molten glass through color chips that are laid out on a worktable, or he picks up a color bar, already warmed to 900 degrees.
Mark takes another gather of clear glass to encase the color decoration within a layer of clear glass. Now he’s ready to begin the glassblowing process. By blowing into the blowpipe and by rotating and other movements, Mark creates the desired size and shape of the piece. Then he transfers the piece from one blowpipe to another so he has an open end to work with.
Mark then shapes the glass with a series of metal and wooden tools.
Once Mark is satisfied with the piece, he removes it from the second blowpipe and places it in an annealing oven (or kiln).
Over a nine-hour period in the oven the glass piece slowly cools from about 1000 degrees to room temperature. Finally, the piece is finished.
