Materials for Making Glass Blown Christmas Ornaments

Series Summary

Glassblowing is the art of creating glass structures such as simple utilitarian vessels or delicate works of art. The process involves gathering molten glass on a hollow steel rod, rolling the “gather” on a slab of marble or flat piece of steel called a marver, and then blowing into the rod creating an air-bubble in the center of the gather. The glass is shaped continually using the marver and wet blocks made of fruit wood and is reheated several times throughout the forming process. A rod with a glass bulb at the tip, called a punty, is attached to the piece to allow the glassblower to finish the work. At the end the the punty is removed and the glass is placed in a final cooling furnace to slowly cool the glass. In all there are three furnaces the glassblower uses: the first furnace is just “the furnace” which is used to melt and hold the molten glass, the next is “the glory hole” which is used to reheat and “flash” the glass being worked, and the third and finishing furnace is called “the annealer”. The glass can be worked clear or with an inexhaustible array of colors added to suit the working artist.

At Christmas time, one of the most popular gifts in glass ornaments. Everybody loves and appreciates these gifts. If you are looking for something unique to give people, why not make them hand blown glass ornaments? While this may not be the perfect gift to give for the beginner glass blower, it is a great talent to learn about. Let our expert, Tom Wright, show you how to blow glass Christmas ornaments. He shows you how to make a traditional ball ornament, a candy cane ornament, and a icicle ornament. So, take some time, and learn how to blow glass Christmas ornaments today!

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Tom Wright; from Gingerbread Glass, on behalf of Expert Village. Today we are going to make some Christmas ornaments. For this, the materials you will need are one tube; it is hollow; clear. We also need our colors. I'll hold up a couple of them here. On top of the color; we're also going to need some clear rods. Together; we will blow the tube open, and we're going to color on the inside of the tube; therefore, giving it the magnifying effect of applying the clear. That way we'll just skip that step, and it will already be in there. Melt it together, and put a hole on top, and you'll be able to stick a paper clip, or something similar; to make a little hook, and you'll have your ornament."