Kiss My Glass

During our stay in Massachusetts, Chieko and I took a trip down to Newport, Rhode Island. My friends Mike and Kristen are getting married at the end of the month, and since we won't be able to attend the wedding, we wanted to at least get down to have dinner with them while we had the chance. Mike owns and operates Anchor Bend Glass, whose link you can find to the right, with several of his buddies. Before dinner, Chieko and I stopped by their new studio to watch them ply their trade for a while, after which Mike gave us a chance to make some glass of our own! Here are some pics.


The place from whence all glassy goodness comes. This is the furnace in which the molten glass is kept. The first step in making anything out of glass is to gather a glob of it on the end of pole. It's friggin hot.



Mike, Justin, and Tim do their thing, and make it look easy.



The easiest, hardest to screw up thing to make out of glass is a paperweight. I've made three paperweights in my past glass blowing forays, so I upped the ante this time and went for a cup. Here, I'm doing something, and I'm probably doing it wrong.



Chieko braves the heat and goes for some glass.



And the fruits of our labor: My severely deformed, though fully functioning cup, and Chiekos 25 lb. paper weight.



Huge thanks to Mike & Co. for not only tolerating Chieko and I, but for actually explaining things to us as they were working. Also congrats to Mike and Kristin; really wish we could be there next weekend.