Thursday, June 12, 2008 | midnight
“Crimp and release,” instructs glass blower Jim Sammarco, of the Hot Glass Works studio. We’ve already rolled a small nub of molten glass on a table and dredged it across a blue powder for color, and then thrust it into an open furnace called the Glory Hole, which keeps the glass hotter than 2,000 degrees. It looks like glowing honey.
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Now, with a pair of crimps, I grab the glass and give it slight tugs, making petals with nice grooves. “Crimp and release!” Sammarco repeats, his voice a bit more urgent. Because, amazingly, despite all this heat, the glass is cooling and hardening fast. And I’m working too slowly. And did I mention that this is, um, really hot? Like, “This is going to melt my hand off!”
Moments later, Sammarco has effortlessly teased a curling stem from the end of the glass, and as my flower “cools” in a kiln at 900 degrees, I’m pretty well convinced that glass blowers are about as cool as rock stars.
Glass blowing demos, 6-9 p.m. on Mondays, Hot Glass Works, 5115 Dean Martin Drive, 739-9955
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