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Learn about the possibility of blowing glass at home with this glass blowing video. Expert: Todd Hansen

Video transcript:

Hello, my name is Todd Hansen. We are here at the fire Art of Fire Temporary Glass Blowing Studio in Laytonsville, Maryland. We’re at www.artoffire.com. I’ve been a glass blower for about twelve years now. I’ve got several different lines of glass work that I work on and I’ll be talking to you about glass blowing. If you wanted to do glass blowing at home, you could probably do it on a really limited budget with a very small space. You’d have to be really careful how you handle this equipment because you’ve got a lot of heat, you need adequate ventilation. Really, you are generating a lot of BTU’s so it’s going to be, uh, it might be a little bit cost prohibitive so you want to be careful how you do it because it really does take a lot of time and take a lot of energy. You can get a small, uh, a small electric furnace, a small electric kiln, to melt coalit, which is clear glass that has already been melted, so you’re basically recycling somebody, uh, someone’s clear glass to make yours. Small glory hole, you could build that, uh, maybe 8 or 10 inch diameter but it’s going to run through a lot of propane so I’d be careful about how you handle your material and how you handle your energy. Don’t forget you need something you can also kneel with. And an electric kneeler is something you need to run. It’s not only cooling the glass down after you’ve made it but it’s going to have to run while you’re making the pieces as well. So you’re going to have to look at 12 or 14 hours of running an electric furnace or electric kiln while you’re cooling your glass. So there are a lot of factors to consider. Electric consumption isn’t the only concern but it’s probably the biggest chunk of the budget you’re going to have after you buy your equipment. So you’re going to need a lot, you’re going to have a lot to think about and people do it but it just takes a serious element to the art.

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Duration : 0:1:55

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Most of us love beautiful glass or we wouldn’t be here on a glass web site. Duh!. So in addition to learning how art or collectible glass is made (which we show elsewhere on this site) lets also learn about collecting this awesome stuff! I will be adding articles, pictures, and videos here soon on the subject of collectible art glass. For today I have this charming video about a tiny family run glass factory in Southern Ohio. Enjoy the Boyd’s Crystal Art Glass video (just below this post). They have made thousands of collectible glass figurines in dozens of colors. The video is longer that usual (about 7 minutes) but it is well worth watching the whole thing, IMHO.

Jerry (webmaster, CraftingGlass.com)

Welcome to CraftingGlass.com! Crafting Glass features videos, articles, pictures, and blogs on making and caring for beautiful glass objects. Whether it is information on stained glass, etched glass, or glass beads you will find it here. The sources for the tools and supplies you will need for crafting and maintaining decorative glass likely will be found here as well. Tips on buying, installing, and repairing window glass are provided on this web site also. For a list of categories please look in the column on the left side of this page. Please feel free to comment (blog) on any article or video. I also welcome suggestions for new articles, pictures, or videos in the broad catagory of “glass” (use the “contact us/me” page), How awesome can glass be? Well, just look at the beautiful images below for some idea of the beauty and versatility of glass.

Central Train Station R10/O5, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Architectural glass by Derix Glass Studios (derix.com). Pictured is the Glass art ceiling and glass art pillars.

Narcissus Quagliata, artist

A small stained glass window in an near 100 year old home.

A hand blown and hand cut small glass vase.

Agate glass pitcher

Today I have posted (just below this post) a video showing some of the inspiring work of glass artist Guy Kemper. Guy says that he started out in stained glass but now his work is hard to catagorize. He now sometimes calls himself an artist in “blown glass paintings”…..whatever you call it, his work is awesome! One sample picture is right here in this post. Now please watch the video in the next post. It is a little longer (about 8 minutes) than the usual short vids I post here but it is worth your time, believe me.

Jerry (webmaster, Crafting Glass)

Guy’s web site:

http://www.kemperstudio.com/