The Motlow Buzz: Glass Melting

By Chad Phillips

Getting Started

When someone says blowing glass, what comes into your head? One of the things many people think of when they hear that is probably someone making a vase or a nice chandelier. The techniques used in all the processes can be some of the most strenuous movements that you repeat again and again until the piece is completely done in his or her eyes. There are many objects in our day-to-day life that many people do not realize were handmade by a person blowing air through a tube that is heated up with a flame.

The Necessities

When starting out, you want to get a torch that will be easy to work with at first. The smaller style torches would be the easiest to start out on, because of how small the flame is. There is not much to the torch except the mechanic parts. Second, you will want to have plenty of clear tubing to be able to practice as much as you want to. Many people will want to buy sample packs of glass tubing because then they can get multiple different colors and see what colors they want to work with the most. You will need to have a kiln. A kiln is the most important part of glass blowing. The kiln will heat the piece up to unsafe temperatures, which makes the piece stronger and more reliable when handled by someone. Most people think when someone is in the process of melting the glass down it is extremely easy. I do beg to differ, this is probably one of the hardest hobbies someone could possibly throw themselves into doing.

Hoping on the Torch

There is a lot that goes into making something out of glass, especially with the techniques and how to maneuver the glass tubing into a work of art. This is where many people will give up on their dreams to make a glass object into a piece of their own art. Glass blowing can be and will be one of the most intense hobbies someone could have, not because of the open flame but because of the amount of molten hot glass and sharp shards of glass. It is a dangerous hobby, even if you blink wrong, you can really mess yourself up. You will want to keep practicing till you have made it what you want to do.

I've selected links to show you more insights into about glass blowing, you will learn the starting techniques on how you can melt glass into certain objects you want. Glass blowing is probably one of the most intricate hobbies someone could have. Having to do many steps just to get a simple piece can take hours all the way to a couple days. It all the depends on how complex the piece is. Many people would not even attempt to create anything with glass, due to the risk factors. You are using a torch that reaches over 1,500+ degrees. I have seen first hand what a torch can do at that temperature. That is probably one of the main factors that detours people from doing it as a hobby.