How to Center Glass in Glass Blowing

The art of glass blowing is a brand new art, only open to the general public of artists since the '60s due to technological advances with kiln systems. Glass blowing is very technical and precise and takes much practice to master. Use the tips below to get the glass centered, which means it is even.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Glass
• Furnace
• Pipe
• Marver
• Wet newspapers
• Blocks
• Safety goggles

1. Gather the glass carefully from the very hot furnace.

2. Rotate the glass slowly while it is heating up. It is a common mistake by novice glass blowers to rotate too fast. If rotation is too fast, then the shape can get deformed. If it is not rotated fast enough, then the hot glass simply drips off.

3. Speed up the rotation as the glass gets hotter and hotter. As it gets hotter, it gets more fluid and moves much more easily like most matter.

4. Roll the hot gather on the marver, or the flat surface made of steel, to even it up more and make the surface of the glass smooth. Wet newspapers work as well, but the paper must be wet and contain many layers.

5. Use a block to center the glass as well. This is the easiest and most efficient way to center the glass if the studio you're working in has blocks. Balance the pipe on the top edge of the block just below the gather, and roll it back and forth along the block from edge to edge until the glass cools a bit.

Tips & Warnings

• Always use safety goggles around hot glass.
• Only try glass blowing in a well equipped studio under supervision.