I Inhaled and Now I Have a Little Pane In My Stomach.

     I've become a total Groupon fanatic. I see something on Groupon, research it, buy the Groupon and do it. This post is not about Groupon though; it is about something I found there. I found a Groupon for Hot Sand, a glass studio in Asbury Park, NJ. I bought a blowing session for each of the girls and a sand cast session for myself. The weather being so hot this past weekend, we limited our outside time to the mornings and evenings. Sunday afternoon, we decided to go to the Hot Sands studio and use the Groupons. The kids each blew a glass bubble and I decided, Groupon be damned, on blowing a drinking glass.

     There was one young girl ahead of us; we and the rest of the crowd were amazed as she turned a piece of molten glass into a glowing bubble right before our eyes. Looking at all the amazing pieces they had for sale hanging from the ceiling, lining shelves and on the walls, we realized just how incredible the artistic nature of glass really was. There were spectacular examples of blown, cast, fused and slumped glass everywhere.

It was our turn and we elected Lizzy to go first. The artisan explained the entire process and answered some questions Lizzy had. To say Lizzy looked a little uncomfortable as the pipe with the molten glass on the end of it approached the work bench, would probably be an understatement. Working with 2100 degrees of amorphous silicon lava initially seemed a bit much for her. After she grabbed it, with what looked like oversize tweezers, and began twisting it, she became quite at ease with the glass. Several color adds, rolls, blows, cools and reheats later Lizzy's globe was complete. The master glassman then brought it to the cooling oven and we watched as he tapped the rod and the globe gently rolled off.

After watching Lizzy, Emily was ready to go. A crowd had gathered and was watching. Emily was a bit more confident and as I watched the process again, I truly began to appreciate the amount of work that goes into the art. Like so many other things I wondered how the first glass blowers figured out the techniques and best practices that were needed for the form. Emily looked a little bored at the work bench but a few minutes later, her globe was also in the cooling oven.

Next it was my turn. I love doing new things! Blowing glass is a much more gentle process then I imagined. More work and time is spent in the shaping, stretching, heating and cutting. I never knew that when heated, glass could be cut with metal shears, so it was amazing to watch a true artisan do so. Within a short while, my glass was in the cooling oven and the kids and I were on our way home.

 

After the relative silence, of the girls, during and after the process, I was shocked when they began telling everyone we talked to how cool the whole thing was. I'll be picking up our own little pieces of art this Friday. I can't wait to see how they came out.

     I have to give a major shout out to the staff at Hot Sand, they were friendly, knowledgeable and made the whole process spectacular. They do the lion's share of the work in helping you make amazing creations. Their approach in educating and promoting the art of glass through hands on work made this one of the best experiences the kids and I have had in a while and has set the bar pretty high for this summer. We will definitely be going back. If you are ever in NJ, go to the boardwalk in Asbury Park and stop by Hot Sand for a visual treat and a unique souvenir.  Oh, unlike me, remember to bring your good camera.  
Their website can be found here. http://www.hotsandap.com/