6 essential skills for a (future) glassblower
/Even though glass art can seem delicate and fragile, glassblowing as a career choice is not for the fainthearted. Manipulating molten glass requires quite some endurance and a specific set of techniques, all while feeling comfortable in a hot and potentially dangerous environment. So what are skills needed for glass blowing?
Keep in mind this list is for someone who would like to make larger objects with consistency. Complete beginners can make smaller pieces like beads and ornaments with only a short introduction class.
High level of manual dexterity and eye-hand coordination
Glass is essentially a super-cooled liquid, not a solid. So when heated up, it acts as a pure liquid would and the only way to keep it all together is to spin it with constant speed. Here is where a high level of manual dexterity comes in handy.
Eye-hand coordination is crucial for manipulating glass into various shapes while controlling the heat source. Practice makes perfect they say, and the same is valid with glass blowing techniques. Practicing basic shapes as cylinders, cones and spheres will help you to adopt and develop these essential skills for a glassblower.
2. Strength to lift heavy objects
Depending on the type of glassblowing you would like to work on, it will require you to regularly lift heavy equipment, tools and pieces of glass. And if you are in the middle of a project, you might need to lift heavy objects a few days in a row.
All that can strain your body, so keeping yourself fit is the best way to prevent injuries and ensure you are protecting yourself. What a motivation for staying in shape, right? Also, as the artist develops more glass working techniques, it will be easier to protect the body from injuries.
3. Good color vision
There are a few reasons why good color vision is so important to glassblower. To distinguish different glass types glassblowers use (you have guessed it) - color. Noticing subtle differences between shades and hues will help you identify these different types of glass and that will inform you on how and for what to use it.
Also, when working with molten glass, you want it to be at precisely the right temperature, where it is easy to shape and still very stable. And the best way to notice that moment is by pinpointing the right color of molten glass.
4. Heat tolerance
Needless to say that glassblowers spend a lot of their working hours next to extremely hot temperatures. Whether it is a furnace, torch, kiln, or molten glass, in a glassblowing studio, everything radiates heat. And depending on the project, a glassblower might need to spend extended periods of time in that hot surroundings. Not only that it can be unpleasant, but it can also affect your body if you don’t take breaks.
Remember that glassblowing requires a lot of protective gear such as goggles and gloves. And while they keep you safe, they don’t help you to cool down. Throughout time and with developing your glassblowing skills, you will be able to escape the heat before it really hurts you.
5. Endless Creativity
With a flood of mass-produced glass products, glassblowers must get creative to make unique pieces that will stand out and grab the audience's attention. But no matter the creativity, whatever the artist imagines, his or her hands need to be able to produce it. And with making new types of objects from glass, it’s all about repetition, practice and developing specific glass blowing skills, until hands fly by themselves and pieces are made with ease.
So no wonder many glassblowers have their unique artistic expression that is recognizable throughout their work. In Jonathan Michael Davis work, themes of aquatic life, viruses and molecular structures can be found.
6. Abundant Patience
Even though glass needs to be shaped quickly while it’s molten, glass blowing procedure requires time and patience. Just shaping the exact piece that the mind imagined can take hours in front of the torch, and then all the pieces made need to stay in kilns overnight to harden. Sometimes some pieces may break, so the entire procedure needs to be done again.
Making a glass piece can’t be rushed.
Do you still think you have what it takes to become a glassblower? Join us in one of our glassblowing classes and put your skills to the test.
