To be clear, and from what I gathered, this teaching studio is inside of The Vinery Stained Glass Supply Company. There are no signs for or any indication on the outside of the building that this is the spot for the "Madison Glass Academy" - Ok. Luckily, my spidey-sense told me it was the place though... glass-glass. I'm sharp.
I walked in and went right over to my "professor" for the night, who I had all to myself for the duration (I was the only student, but they can have classes up to 6 people and are usually full). It was pretty evident that my instructor made a living not only from teaching, but making glass "pipes" on his own time. That being said, he was very personable and pleasant to learn from.
This class was basically a "monkey-see, monkey-do" type of lesson. He showed me one time how to make a glass ornament, then I made about 8 of them over the one-hour course.
The process is pretty simple. They have pre-made glass tubes that you place crushed, colored glass, called "frit", into. You then heat it all up, melting the outer glass "bulb" and frit at the same time. They melt "together" and turn into a single substance. Once it's melted and red-hot, you blow through the tube on the end of the "pipe" and make a circular shape, hopefully.
Below is a look at the torch with no safety glasses on first, then with a blue-tinted safety glass in the second image. The glasses protect your eyes from any glass explosions and also allow you to see the glass heating up much more easily (though it is harder to see the flame... getting close to your fingers, for example).
When the glass gets to that hot-pink color (above), depending what frit color you place inside, you know it's time to blow. The blowing is a lot like blowing a bubble with gum, but more forceful, and it could explode molten glass all over you (ha!).
Once the blown glass cools down (maybe 15 minutes time), you score and then snap off the blow tube, add a ferrule for hanging an ornament string, and you're done. Viola!
To be honest, it was pretty interesting, semi-remedial, and fun too. If my first foray into glass blowing was a 8 or 9 out of 10... I'd give this a solid 4 to 5, and perfect for a beginner. For me, the "experienced glass artist", it wasn't amazing or Earth-shattering. Then again, for the $49 price on Groupon, it was a fun way to spend an hour and I came away with almost an entire Christmas tree worth of ornaments (or presents for the whole family - hint, hint).
