Glassblowing - Week 3

This time we were missing one person, which made up for having an extra person last week. With only 3 people in class we were able to make a lot more stuff. I think I made 3 more paper weights, 3 more glass balls, drinking glass, and a bowl.

This week we got to learn how to transfer the glass blown object from off the blow pipe and onto a smaller pipe in order to open up one end to make a glass/bowl type thing. This process is called punting.

next week we get to make suck bowls I think. I'll tell you more about them next week.

I decided instead of filling up my flickr account with glass blowing pics I'd start a Gallery on my website for them. Below are some of the results of last week's glass. Click on the pic to see the rest of the gallery.

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Glassblowing - Week 2

I think I forgot to mention that we had a substitute for our first class and I'm glad our regular instructor is back. She is much more helpful and doesn't try to do everything for us if we mess up.

We were actually a few mins late so by the time we had gotten there everyone had already picked out their paperweights they made last week so we were stuck with the leftovers. I guess it doesn't matter too much I don't remember which ones I made anyway but I don't really think we made the ones that were left. Oh well. I talked to our instructor and she marked this week's work with a colored pencil thing so we can tell them apart. I also made a note of what I made and what colors I used so I could tell which are mine more easily. I think it's also a good idea that we show up on time or even early next week.

So this week we actually got to blow glass. We did it in teams where one would blow while the other turned the blow pipe so I wasn't able to get any pics of that. I suppose I could have asked someone to take our picture but I didn't. We made a few clear balls and then a colored ornament one. We found this week was much easier than last week. Maybe taking a week to let everything soak in and think about what we could do better helped. Below is a pic of the paperweights we made last week. Click on it to see the other glassblowing pics Doug and I took.

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Glassblowing - Week 1

As some of you know Doug and I are taking a Glassblowing class at SGS in Seattle. It's a 6 week class, every Saturday afternoon for 4 hours. Let me tell you, it's way harder than it looks. Unfortunately the class started the exact same time the Seahawks playoff game against the Redskins so we would miss the whole game. Lucky for us they had a big screen tv in the studio which we kept glancing at to see the score. Doug also recorded it on Tivo and we'll probably watch it next weekend. At least we'll get to fast forward through the commercials.

So anyway, on our first day we learned all about safety, some glassblowing terms, and all that jazz. We were givena syllabus that says what we'll be doing each class, but of course we forgot them a the studio. We did get to make some stuff on the first day. We made paper weights woo hoo. I don't think I've ever actually used a paper weight. Maybe cuz I've never had one... We each ended up making 3, we even got to use color. After making a couple I asked how we tell eachother's apart and they basically said they don't. You have to remember which ones you made and hope that no one takes yours. Geez. I'm pretty sure I won't remember which ones I made. I did make a clear one for practice that might be the only clear one so that one will be easy enough to tell it's mine. Will find out next saturday what I end up with I guess.

I'm going to take my camera with me next week and see if they will let me take a couple pics of people blowing glass. We didn't actually blow any glass on our first class the paperweights were just solid glass so it didn't require any blowing. Next week we'll be making glass balls which there will be actual blowing involved.

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Lake Titicaca Song

misterjustin found my flickr account via my blog and mentioned that he couldn't get the lake titicaca song out of his head after seeing my Lake Titicaca pics. I didn't know what song he was talking about. Apparently it's a song that has been played on Animaniacs and it is quite a catchy little tune and now I can't get it out of my head, you can listen to it here if you have a song in your head that you want to get rid of, this will surely do the trick: http://laketiticacaanimaniacssong.ytmnd.com

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Starbucks news alert!

Starbucks is pulling Chantico from its menu next month, only a year after it launched the rich chocolate drink.

Audrey Lincoff, a spokeswoman for the Seattle-based coffee retailer, says the company will start selling two new chocolate drinks in mid-February, although details about them aren't being released yet.

Mmm can't wait to see what the new chocolate drinks will be

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