Getting Gather Ready for Glassblowing

"Hi! I’m Jim McKelvey with Third Degree Glass Factory in St. Louis. You can check us out on the web at www.stlglass.com. Today, we’re going to learn about glassblowing for expertvillage.com. Fern’s piece, which is the color, is going to be very hot. She’s going to heat it up; we’re going to drop it on. We’re going to try and drop it on evenly, but it doesn’t have to be perfectly even when you drop it on, because I’ll even it out on the marver in a minute. Fern’s going to heat up that piece, and as she’s heating it up she’s looking for any signs of contaminates, little chips of ceramic, bubbles, or anything that doesn’t look right she’s going to pick off that piece. Meanwhile, I’m going to let this get cold. Maybe not so cold that it breaks, but you want it almost so cold that it doesn’t have any color. If you have trouble telling whether or not the piece is cold, you can hold it up in a dark area. It’s a little darker here under the hood, let’s see if it’s glowing. If it’s glowing, you’re fine."