Today I went to my old high school to do lampworking and glass blowing demos. I managed to not set anything (including the kids) on fire. I did get a little carried away on one of my pendants, however, and managed to give myself a little “tan” from the torch. We had kids from 6th grade and up coming into watch. Of course, the 6th graders were more interested in my water jar and the fact that the water bubbled when I threw a piece of hot glass in it than what I was melting. The students had watched some videos on Chihuly an another large scale glassblower so I was trying to give them a little taste of what can be done with glass on a smaller scale. I started with boro, since that’s what I’ve been working on lately. Unfortunately, when I attempted to move on to soft glass and pull a stringer, my gather dripped right off the rod! So embarrasing, but they didn’t seem to mind too much.
I did some implosion pendants, hearts, basic beads, a little glassblowing, and some sculptural pieces. I attempted to take requests until someone asked for a monkey! One of the first requests was for a blown vessel. Of course! I haven’t done those since I took Tink’s vessel class. The first one was a total disaster, but the second was wasn’t too bad. I almost blew the end right out of the first one! I also did a witch face complete with creepy smile and froggy eyes, fish and a turtle pendant.
It was a pretty fun day and I hope the students got a new appreciation for smaller sculptures and bead making. |
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6 responses so far ↓
sleeky // February 13, 2008 at 6:35 am
Dianna, that is just terrific that you volunteer your time like that. How cool. I bet those kids had a great time viewing our art. Your pics look great and you look like you were really enjoying the day. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Jo
Jennifer // February 13, 2008 at 7:54 am
You rock Dianna! That’s so cool!
debkauz // February 13, 2008 at 9:48 am
Sounds like so much fun! I bet the kiddies loves it.
Patty // February 13, 2008 at 5:03 pm
That’s very cool, Dianna!
ptbeads // February 13, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Is it weird to comment on myself??? Anyway, I already got some feedback which was nice. One of the Jr. High boys evidently went home and told his parents all about the demos and wanted to know if he could buy something from me. Turns out, his dad works with my dad, so this guy came to work and told dad that they really thought it was cool.
I was worried, you never know about teenagers. I didn’t mention this in the blog, but it was funny. Every time I mentioned blowing and how big my rod was, there were a few snickers…..
artwhim // February 14, 2008 at 4:03 pm
What a cool thing to do! I’m sure the kids were fascinated.
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