We all know Khunajawdge, he is a rider from Los Osos (near Morro Bay) and I met him once on a ride down in that area. He met us for lunch and we had a nice time with his wife Jan and him. It was then that we learned that he shared his passion of riding with me, and his passion for glass with Sherri. At the time, Sherri was lampworking (using a torch for smaller glass art) and was scheduled to take her first class for glas blowing. A year later, and we were invited to Los Osos for an open house of George's studio.
There was no question! We went. We had a great time and I took some pictures of George and Sherri working in the studio. In many of them, Sherri assisted George bringing him punties and bits for his work. A punty is a rod with a button of glass on it used to attach to the object so that the artist can break the glass free from the blow rod and work on the other side of the object. A bit is a rod with glass gathered so that it can be fixed to the object, the artist will add the glass to the object as desired and the important part in regard to the assistant is to have the glass at the right thickness, temperature and delivered at the right angle for easy application. It's really fun watching people work together in this type of setting. Mistakes can ruin an object (it's only glass) or can really hurt. Glass from the furnace is 2200 F degrees!
There are a few things that you need to know:
Glory Hole: blasting heat used to reheat the object being worked on.
Furnace: A really hot place where a big vat of molten glass is kept, this is where the glass being worked on the blow pipes, punties and bits come from.
Marvering Table: Solid smooth metal surface used to shape, position, cool, and sometimes used to hold colored frit for application to the piece. In this application, George also has rollers for the blow pipe and tools and performs a lot of the work at this station.
George explains the coloring technique for the fish he is making. The colored frit is applied to the blown bubble to give the clear glass from the furnace its color.
George adds size by blowing through the pipe
George and Sherri working the piece and bit in the glory hole
Placing the punty - Sherri brings the punty to George who places it on the piece. Sherri supports the piece as it is disconnected from the blow pipe.
George lets the molted glass from the bit drip onto the piece then cuts off the unwanted glass with diamond shears
George heats the fish back up in the glory hole
Sherri working on a vase that she made
The vase above shows the shaping provided by a mold that Sherri is using here
Then we had an awesome dinner, too much wine and finished out a great day with great friends. Thanks George and Jan!