Hostile Traveler

After traveling quite a bit over the last few months, I’m home now for a few weeks before I head out to San Jose, CA yet again.  Well, that’s the plan at least…these things change.  One of the problems with being away from home so much is that it’s hard to stay on top of those things that make your life…well, a life.  While I try to balance things out, the constant interruptions make it difficult to establish any sort of routine.  For the most part, I’m used to it, but there are times where it gets to me.

I’m an engineer (and an all-around geek), so my left-brain tends to get a lot of activity while my right-brain stagnates.  To try to balance that out, I put some effort into doing those things that I enjoy that also happen to be music or art related.  I’ve been a guitarist for 20 years or so, and a drummer for slightly less, and escaping into the music for awhile is something that makes me very happy.  Well, that and hitting things with sticks is juts plain therapeutic.  I’m way (WAY) out of practice these days, but I’m trying to fix that.   With some luck, my callouses will come back soon and it won’t hurt quite so much.

About 4 years ago, I started taking classes in glassblowing, which is something that has always fascinated me.  Glass itself is such an interesting medium to work with, and it changes constantly as it cools.  It starts as something akin to thick honey on the end of a pipe, cools to something you can pull with tongs or cut with scissors, and finally becomes a solid that doesn’t move at all.  Artists make incredibly beautiful objects by playing with form, translucency, and optical properties…there’s really nothing else like it.

This past Sunday, I attended a workshop at a glass studio I had never been to before.  The theme of the workshop was pumpkins, which I suppose is appropriate given the time of year.  It’s been awhile since I’ve done anything with glass, so it took me a bit to get back into the swing of things.  Glassblowing is a very physical thing, mostly due to the massive amounts of heat.  It’s very very easy to burn yourself if you’re not paying attention, and simply standing too long in front of the 2000 degree furnace is enough to scorch you.  Most people walk out with something akin to a sunburn, and it takes some effort to stay hydrated enough.

At any rate, I spent about 6 hours in the shop along with some other students.  As with most projects, you make one out of clear class first to get the hang of the shape.

Once that goes successfully, you can start adding color, in the form of ground glass that you add onto the clear base.  This changes the consistency of the glass itself, and you have to compensate to deal with it.  My first one got too thin, so when I gathered glass over it again, it started to deflate and I had to force the form out with more air.  So, it’s a mutant.

Attempt number two went far better, though the color isn’t as consistent as I would have liked.

My last one was what I was looking for -  symmetric form, nice translucent color.  I know it doesn’t look like much, but it’s hard to explain just how difficult this is…especially for someone with the coordination of a retarded chimpanzee like me.

And a group photo…

I’m hoping my schedule normalizes a bit more so I can get back into doing this regularly, but I guess we’ll see what happens.  All I know is my right-brain is content for the first time in awhile.