Hot Glass

This is where we work with glass in its hottest form: as a thick, gooey liquid. Our glass furnaces, each containing a crucible full of molten glass, are located in this intense studio. We divide our hot shop classes into "blowing" and "sculpting." In the blowing classes, you will blow air into a pipe to inflate your artwork. The sculpting classes involve making things that are solid glass. You will touch, poke, twist, and cut the glass in these classes using tools.

Torch/ flameworking

In these classes, you will make glass beads and embellishments. We Work with small, table-top mounted torches. Using small rods of glass (about the size of a pencil), you will use the torch to get the tip of your glass molten and then twirl the molten glass around a small steel rod to make your bead. You can add dots, stripes, and textures to make your bead unique. 

Kiln/ Kiln Forming 

These classes involve a variety of techniques with cold sheets of fusible glass. You will use special tools to cut sheets of glass into shapes and arrange them into your custom designs. You may also use crushed glass, stringers, and powders to create unusual effects in your piece. You may combine any number of these cold glass components to create jewelry or plates, which are then heated to the desired temperatures to melt the glass together. The melting, or fusing, is permanent.

Cold Glass

This is one of the oldest ways of working with glass. In our stained glass classes, you will cut and grind pieces of cold sheet glass to fit inside a pattern. Then you'll learn the process of foiling and soldering pieces together. In mosaic classes, you arrange small fragments of glass on a tile and then apply grout to keep all the pieces in place.