Archives of Romancing the Studio

The furnace, on for 24/7, keeps the hot glass in working temperature (2020F). Loading the tank happens from the same opening as the glass comes out.

A puffer is used to inflate the blown piece once it’s already transferred onto the pontil rod. It fits over the mouth of the blown object and you blow through it.

Touching the glass with metal tools cools it down. A glory hole is used to re-heat your molten glass as you work at the bench. Leaning the rod on the ball bearings in the yoke allows you to move your piece in and out of the glory hole easily.

The glory hole has doors that accommodate a small or a larger piece.

Pipes and pontil rods rest on the decorative holder while being heated for gathering glass from the furnace.

It takes about an hour to get the glory hole up to temperature after you light it up. A cover at the opening speeds up the heating process.

A decorative lid covers a hole which allows a ceramist to peek into the kiln and check the cones. The annealer is one of the glass studio equipment converted from ceramic studio equipment.

A piece is separated from a puntil rod and lifted up into the annealer for cooling down process starting at the end of the day.

Round pincetti and bricks on the crack off bench. Bricks can be used to elevate shelves in the annealer to fit more glass work in.

Calipers can be used to create free formed objects to proper measurement.