Interning at Zen Glass, St. Petersburg, FL

I have started interning for Zen Glass in St. Petersburg, FL and so far I have been observing several glassblowing techniques from assisting Christian Zvonik in the hot shop. For the first few weeks we focused on production skills. So far, I have helped Christian in making chandelier parts, wall plates and bird sculptures. I have learned how to be quick and efficient in working with a material that requires constant heat and conforms to the laws of gravity. Each chandelier and wall plate were made one after another, and placed in the annealer (oven designed to cool glass) to cool slowly overnight. I have also learned glass mold-making skills for production purposes as well. We have made well over 700 glass pucks for mason jars. These pucks are used to keep foods and liquids in the mason jars air tight. I was also responsible for packaging them into boxes and shipping them out the following day.

Every second Saturday in St. Petersburg is an Art Walk for the local art community. This previous second Saturday, June 14^th, I assisted Christian in providing demonstrations in the hot shop. We made several chandelier parts and a few owls for the audience. In assisting Christian, I am responsible for gathering the molten glass with a hollow steel tube, or blowpipe, from the furnace. The molten glass in the furnace is about 2,025 to 2,125 degrees. Gathering glass requires continuous rotation of the blowpipe in the furnace, in order to gather the glass steadily and evenly. I then take the glass to a steel table, called the marver, to begin shaping it. Even once I’ve achieved a cylinder, constant rotation of the blowpipe is extremely necessary to prevent the glass from dripping off. We have to create an even-walled bubble as we blow the first bubble to keep everything centered. Constant rotation and heating of the glass in the glory hole (oven that reheats the glass to keep it malleable) is extremely important. I set up frit (crushed up glass) on the marver for Christian to roll the glass on to achieve color. After Christian shapes the piece on the bench, I blow air through the pipe and into the glass. As Christian starts to shape the piece, I use a wooden panel to square up the shape of the lip and block his arm from the heat. I am responsible for opening the glory hole doors as Christian heats up the piece. Once the shape is achieved, we transfer the piece to another rod called the punty. After the final shaping and gathering of heat, we crack the piece off the pipe, using a wet tool to etch a line across the neck. This weakens the glass and we are able to tap the pipe, releasing the piece. Wearing special heat resistant gloves, I catch the piece and run it over to the annealer to cool down. Now that the pieces are finished, they are ready to be coldworked. I will be introduced to the basics of coldworking which is the grinding and polishing of the glass in preparation for assembling work. I have learnt a lot this previous month about how to keep the glass centered and the steady consistency this material requires.