Day 28 of 365

Today’s adventure was HOT!

I realized as I was driving to my class tonight that my 49th year is going to be really big. For as long as I can remember I have been fascinated with blacksmithing and glassblowing. I can thank my youngest child for introducing me to blacksmithing almost 6 years ago. It has become a passion and perhaps one day it'll become a lifestyle. I’m hoping time will allow for that.

So on the 28th day of this 365 day adventure I’m heading to my very first glassblowing class. I put on the clothes I usually wear at the forge. I know how to work with heat and hot metal so that part isn’t scary but I also understand how to move hot metal and we don’t usually move it in liquid form.

The studio is absolutely clean, so unlike our forging area. When we heat steel it leaves little pieces of scale, impurities in the metal, every time you hit it with a hammer. When you're working with glass there isn't anything on the floor unless you dropped your project. I didn't drop my project.

After our mini lesson in safety we started to discuss colors and what we were going to make. Tonight's choices were ornament or table orb. I did the orb. I wanted something that we could build a blacksmithing project around. I just love being creative but I also wanted something for my meditation space that would be out all year round.

I was the first person to work which was great because I was very scared. I can't explain it other than I didn't have my creative partner there working with me. We're a great team and I didn't realize how much I'd miss him on this adventure. I took a deep breath and dove right in. I selected my colors purple, pink and blue with a translucent affect, I wanted to be able to see inside it.

This was a guided workshop and what was most difficult was maintaining constant spinning motion on the blowpipe. The instructor was excellent at keeping my creation from becoming a blob of floppy glass, and getting this project to the finish line. The actual project took about 25 minutes but it went very slow. Once I got over the nerves of working with a stranger this experience became a dance of blowing glass.

It was completely different than what I was expecting. There is a lot of finesse and gentle skill required in this art. Aside from the temperature of the furnaces this is not at all like blacksmithing. It was a great first experience with glass blowing. I might do it again. It is so much fun to watch other

people do this.

Day 28 was wonderful.

Love & Light

I'm adding the picture of my final project. If you're interested in visiting their shop. The website is HERE.

I also planted my #365rockdays rock too. Glassblowing was the 28th adventure