How to Build a Glass Blowing Studio

 

 

Exciting Changes at the Glass Academy!!

After 20 years of dedicated equipment management, we’re thrilled to share some transformative updates that will enhance our glassmaking process going forward into the future.

Just like Fonzie from Happy Days could make a jukebox play with a little love and a few quirky moves, our older furnaces have required similar quirky care over the years. However, as we progress into the 21st century, things are changing rapidly and it's time for some upgrades~ so upgrade we are!

New Furnaces and Technology

Our existing furnaces are getting replaced and we are installing two new, larger furnaces.  Designed to reduce how frequently we need to charge them, these larger pots mean less labor charging and filling the pots, and more focus time on the craft of glassmaking. Ya hoo!!  The new systems operate using advanced technology, including an online app for easy maintenance. That’s right—welcome to modern glassmaking! 😃

In addition to upgrading our furnaces, we’re also changing the raw materials we use, particularly our cullet (crushed glass we use to melt in the furnace). This transition will allow for even better melting capabilities. 🔥

A Studio Overhaul

The learning curve is substantial. For instance, imagine how a baker adjusts when trying a new recipe with different ingredients and equipment. Similarly, we’re adapting to these new furnaces and glass materials, it's going to be really fun to see how these furnaces operate and if the qualites of the glass changes when we are blowing.  Stay tuned for those updates, we'll be talking about them next week on the Gathering Point show as it will be our first week to use the new furnace!!

Initial Challenges

We’ve already begun melting our first batch of glass using these new furnaces.  It's taken over a week to slowely bring them up to temperature and we starting filling them on Friday of last week.  Given the adjustments needed, our initial results have been amazing and it's so fun to use an app to navigate as needed!!

As we transition to using only this new glass, we’ll be discontinuing our older furnace, passing it on to an aspiring hobbyist. (If you are interested, give us a call!  It is for sale!!🙂)  The excitement of these changes is palpable, making us feel like things are 'state of the art'!!

A Comprehensive Learning Experience

One significant adjustment is that our new crucible, holding 250 pounds of glass, is 100 pounds larger than what we previously used. This increase in size will change how our glassblowers work with the furnace, making it an exciting challenge of how to work with this larger size and deeper pot.  More on that during our live show so stay tuned for that conversation during the show.

Looking Ahead

Something else interesting that just happened was the current company that we were buying our cullet from just announced they were closing.  This is super fascinating, because we made a move to a new supplier without knowing any of that was coming down the pipeline.

So for all the private, independent studios that were using this cullet from the closing company, they're all kind of scrambling now figuring out what to do.  Meanwhile, we are getting the new company shipping their glass to us as I type this!  Lucky us! 🙏🏻

Join Us Online~ Every Tuesday night to keep updated!

To share our journey, we’re launching a series of how-to videos on our YouTube page. These will be more technical video's and not released weekly, but rather as we can attend to our subject manner.

Our Tuesday shows, the Gathering Point, (6pm ET live on Youtube) will continue to feature entertainment content, paired with educational content as it arises, accessible for free to everyone. In three months, we’ll roll out a series of detailed classes for those eager to dive deeper into glassblowing techniques, this will be a great course to invest yourself in.

Feel free to share your feedback! Share your thoughts in the comments on this blog or on our YouTube channel to help us shape future content, we can all grow together in this way.

Thank you for being part of our community. We’re excited to share our knowledge and experiences with you as we move forward. If you have questions or need support, please reach out via our contact page at glassacademy.com.

Follow us here for more updates!