Glass-blowing at Wheaton Arts

My mom is visiting us for a few days, and yesterday afternoon we went to Wheaton Arts in Millville, NJ where we enjoyed a demonstration of the art of glass-blowing the area is famous for. Here’s the set-up in the glass-blowing center, with the large gas-driven furnace at right, the work area for the glass artisans in the center, and seats for viewing on the left.

First we watched a young artisan working on a drinking glass. He began with a large dollop of molten glass on the end of a blowpipe.

After some shaping with tools, he had to return it to the furnace to get it soft again.

These openings to the blazing hot furnace are called “glory holes.”

Then he shaped the bubble he had blown into the center through the blow pipe, opening the end of the glass with one of their many tools, while spinning the rod with the glass on it to create an even and symmetrical design.

Here’s the nearly finished glass almost ready to be removed from the pipe and finished at the bottom. Next we watched a pair of artisans, one older and one younger, create a bowl with a striped pattern. Here’s the older guy getting the glass hot.

Getting the glass shaped as he wanted it by rolling it on a steel bench.

The younger artisan had prepared long strips of colored glass that were rolled onto the large piece to create stripes. Here the older artisan is forming and shaping the opening. (I missed some of the steps, like the actual glass-blowing to create the air bubble inside, couldn’t always get a good picture.)

The bowl is further along, and is about to go back into the furnace to soften again.

Once soft, the older artisan spun the piece to open up the end with centrifugal force.

Doing the final shaping of the top edge, and here you can see the colored stripes. It was a fascinating process.

After the demonstration we enjoyed seeing other parts of Wheaton Arts like the large glass museum (everything from the first American glass bottles through art glass like Tiffany to modern glass sculpture), the museum shop and the workshop exhibits by current artists. We’d been there many years before, and it was fun to see it again. We all enjoyed it. I recommend Wheaton Arts (formerly Wheaton Village) if you’re in southern New Jersey. Here’s a LINK to their site.