The Older Maker Teen and I headed into the city for a morning of glass blowing instruction and practice at Chicago Hot Glass in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. Since making a paperweight in 2008 at Patterson Glass in Mundelein, he’s been asking to do more glassblowing. I thought we were in for something similar, but the ornament-making workshop was different. Instead of heavy, solid weights we made delicate hollow orbs. Perhaps if we celebrated Christmas, the appropriate image (hello, ornaments!) would have come to mind in the first place.
No matter, I’d already rebranded our end product as light catchers. Plus, during our class we used fire and coloring and got to blow glass, so it was still a good time. Our group was small enough that we got plenty of instruction and extra coaching. I can’t say I felt like a pro by the end, but I do sense I moved my needle from beginner to nearly amateur.
Participants pay $65 for the one-hour workshop (ours lasted nearly 1.5 hours) and walk away with 5 pieces plus an interesting experience. It was well worth it. To be clear, this wasn’t a blogger freebie. Rather, it was an early Chanuka gift for my son (and for me).
Now I have to figure out to to string and display my works of art. They look good from a distance, whereas up close it’s apparent they are flawed and misshapen. Is that a metaphor for my life? At any rate, I’ll post a picture when I figure out my display.
Check out the play by play below.
WOW! So cool!
Even though it wasn’t *exactly* what you were expecting … those are SO cool! You guys look like pros to me.