For the last while I have been looking to purchase a glass pumpkin. I wanted something that wasn't your typical orange pumpkin but one that still made you think of fall. Sadly the only one I saw that I liked was in the window of a store that was closed while we were driving down to Myrtle Beach. I decided to try the internet and while looking on line I saw that the Glass Design studio at Harbour Front was offering a course on glass blowing and they were making pumpkins.
Wow, I thought! What a great idea. I can make one or at least try. I quickly signed up for the course and waited with great anticipation. I watched video's all week to make sure I knew what to expect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njF_E527mVk
It didn't appear to be that hard and I felt confident that it was something that I would enjoy. A few years ago I had taken a course at the Panorama Ski Resort where I learned to make glass beads. I really enjoyed that and figured it would be something similar. I was quite wrong.
Friday night, I couldn't stop thinking about the course. How many people would be there? Would I enjoy it? I hope they aren't really small. What about colours - will it be one colour? Needless to say, sleep was a long time coming as the much anticipated class raced in my mind. I knew it wouldn't be a long class as the email that they sent indicated that it only took about an hour and it was a personal one on one session. What a great way to learn.
The next morning, Ralph, Jordan and I enjoyed a nice breakfast together. Ralph had made us French toast. Yummy! He and Jordan had gone for a run around the block and had a good appetite. I worked for while in the garden planting some bulbs and then was anxious to get downtown. Our plan was to see where the Glass Blowing Studio was and then have a quick lunch before it was to take place. When we got there, I met two young girls (in their mid 20's). They were really friendly and asked if I was taking the course. When I had agreed they asked if I wanted to start right away. Awesome!!! I was ready.
With Ralph and Jordan watching outside of the shop I was introduced to the glass blowing concept. I spied a squat - dark orange pumpkin sitting on the table and my heart sank. It looked like a paper weight and not what I was expecting at all. I was assured that this "wasn't" what our end product would look like.
Phew - I was starting to feel better already. I learned about how the glass is heated and how you roll it onto a long metal rod. After the rod is pulled from the oven it is cooled down with water so that you can grasp it further along the end for moving around. I learned the importance of continuously rolling the glass to keep the shape or it would fall off in a blob. The base glass that we used was clear (almost like picture glass). Once we got it good and hot and in a nice oval shape around the rod, we rolled it into some darker orange flakes of glass. We then returned the rod to the furnace to melt the glass into the clear glass and then back again and rolled it into the dark orange. We did this step 3 times. Then we introduced a 2nd colour which was a paler orange (almost an orange/yellow). By this point in time I had the hang of how quickly to roll and only needed to do this step once.
The next step was the get the shape. We spent some time rolling it back and forth until we were satisfied that it was ready. At this point with the help of a pair a large tweezers, we pulled the glass every which way to add character to the colours. This mixed the dark orange and yellows together and added some subtle streaks throughout the pumpkin. I started a little timidly as I was worried I would pull the glass off the rod. I was assured that this wouldn't happen. Once we were satisfied with the mix, it was time to blow a bubble of air into the rod This is very softly blown and then you hold your thumb over the hole on the back of the rod. While continuously rolling the rod, you patiently wait to see the air bubble appear in the the glass. It's pretty amazing to see this. Once the bubble appeared it was time to heat it up again. This time we added more clear glass to the pumpkin and started to reshape the glass back into the correct shape. This was done by rolling the glass in the palm of your hand with a wad of water soaked newspaper print. A little intimidating. No squeezing... just gently let the glass form as you are rolling.
Once we were satisfied with the shape - we heated it up again and brought it to a rudimentary mold which would add the ridges down the pumpkin. It was in this mold where the first amount of air was added to help form the pumpkin. It was pretty cool. During the entire time I was working - I had no idea what colour it will turn out like.
Once the initial shape was made with the ridges, we heated up the glass again and proceeded to roll and blow in air. This is a slow gentle process with very light puff's of air - lighter than blowing a bubble with bubble gum. I decided to make my pumpkin more oblong as I like this shape. Once we were satisfied with the shape we heated it up again one last time and then "cracked" the top off and added the stem. I chose a dark green colour for the stem. This step went really fast and before Ralph could get a picture it was placed in another kiln where it would slowly cool down. This is a required step or the glass would shatter.
Ralph picked up the pumpkin today after work. I am quite pleased with my first attempt.
