Things You'll Need:
- Annealing oven
- Mandrels
- Glass beads
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Step 1
Wear proper clothing. Wear long sleeve shirts with natural fibers. Wear comfortable toe shoed shoes. Wear protective glasses.
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Step 2
Choose to do your glassblowing with a glory hole or torch. A glory hole will work best for glass ornaments since the ornaments are larger than what is usually made with a torch. Torches work best with smaller creations like making glass beads.
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Step 3
Visit a local artisan that teaches glass blowing with a glory hole. There are several costly pieces of equipment involved in blowing ornaments with a glory hole. You will need an annealing oven, Mandrels, glass, and several other pieces of equipment; an established studio will have all the equipment available for your use. Sign up for a class or ask for rights to use the equipment.
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Step 4
Prepare the glass. Heat the glass to the required temperature and add your colored glass beads. Choose whether you want the pattern to swirl or be dotted. If you want a swirl, use pliers to pull the cooling glass with the glass beads in a clockwise direction. Reheat the glass until pliable.
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Step 5
Blow one end of the mandrel while slowly rotating the rod. Start by blowing slowly and increase over the next several seconds. Once your glass ornament is the proper size, move it to the annealing oven where the ornaments must cool slowly for several hours. Leave there overnight.
