I've always had a fascination with the manipulation of glass. I could watch someone with the medium for hours. Watching them as they pull a gather, as they put it on the table to maneuver it, rolling that glowing, glossy mass in to something beautiful. One day I googled places that made glass. 2 sites caught my attention. One was Dale Chilhuly, Vetro Art Glass. Both websites had me just in awe. Those websites were so beautiful I almost cried.
I kept both websites and would go back to them from time to time but Vetro won my heart because it was in Texas and because they offered classes. I never told anyone about the website or that I wanted to take the class because they were expensive, add hotel, drive, food, etc. there was just no way to justify the expense when I had 3 kids in school, busy with church, taking care of my mother and trying to be a good wife.
A year or two later, Christmas rolls around and my sister, who is always at a loss as to what to get me, blew my socks off. She got me a class at Vetro. My sister, who had no clue that I had secretly wanted that class got it for me. I first saw that it was a glass class then I screamed when I saw it was for Vetro!
Setting up the class was a logistical nightmare. I emailed Shannon the gallery manager to go over my options and to figure out what to do. While it is in Texas, driving it is well over 5 hours away. Its a week day class which means time off from work. Then there is the heat. Triple digits in the summer add the heat it takes to melt glass and you have a misery. I figured I would have to go in the fall or winter. Through our correspondence Shannon agreed about late fall or winter for the class. Fall in Texas is iffy at best, I've worn sweat pants on New Years so I was hoping that I would be able to use my gift certificate within the time frame.(it expired 1year after my sister got it in November) Shannon who was a life saver said that I could use it at my convenience due to how far away I was coming. I was able to get in under the radar and use it Dec 5th. It actually snowed at our house several inches which is a big anomaly. It had been 19 years since the last snow in our area and it was a slight sprinkle. As my husband and I were driving I was remembering the checklist. Gloves, check, long sleeve cotton shirt and jacket, check, sunglasses, check.... The further north we, go the more excited I got.
As we hit Grapevine, we go straight to the studio to meet Shannon. I tell her that my name is Christie and I have a class in a few hours. God bless her she remembered our emails and asked about the kids, how our trip was, etc. She was more like an old friend than someone setting up a class for me. I looked around the show room and was fascinated with their creations. One of them was the most delicate display of airy light glass bubbles meandering along the wall leading down to this hand holding a bubble wand with a bubble half blown out of it. You won't see it on their website, just close your eyes and imagine how beautiful
We left and went to the hotel, we met up with my sister and ate an early dinner. Then we headed back to the studio. We went through the show room and went in the actual studio. The blast of heat was amazing and we weren't anywhere near the kilns! I meet Travis, my guide through this fantasy and he is so patient and explains everything, he tells me that when he was 14 he and his mom showed up at Vetro and she couldn't tear him away. She went shopping in the area and after a few hours he was still there focused on what the artists were doing. He got a degree in fine arts focused on sculpture, he says that during the summers when it is so hot he moves to various places to learn from different artists, he just got back from Mureno Italy a few months ago and learned more about glass and sculpture. I asked him about the glorious bubbles and bubble wand out in the front and those are indeed his. He was a rock star in my eyes. I was like my 8yr old when we went to Disney, 'I can't believe I'm here, I can't believe I'm here,I can't believe I'm here,I can't believe I'm here!'
I learn about the process of making glass and I am dying to get my hands dirty. Finally he asks me if I need gloves, I asked him if he used them, he said no so I told him I didn't want them either. He gives me a pole and tells me to take a gather. When he opens up the hole so I can look in the heat causes me to hesitate, over 2000 degrees, its so hot that the inside is white hot. You can see the milky white of the glass swirling the bricks lining the oven sherbet colored and part of the heat source blowing the top of the glass.(Remember the first Lord of the Ring movie with the black monster that opens its mouth and it looks like a furnace? That's what the heat source looks like, vapors with various shades of white to orange. )I dip the pole in, twirl and take out. I took the perfect gather, he says to take another one and I dunk the pole in like I was pole vaulting. He hands me another pole and I go take the proper gathers.(This time I did picture perfect) I go to construct my glass and he explains the process, I use ice cold soaked newspaper to help form the paper weight and I use these graduated wooden egg cup looking things to slowly shape it in to a round paper weight also soaked in ice water. I slowly start to roll the glass, enchanted by the whole process. After I jacked both of my pieces, we put them in the cool down oven(I believe that one is 400 or 500 degrees) he is giving me a tour that shows the grinder and behind ovens piping where I smell the gas as he shows me where they put the seconds, I thank him and as I walk out, I get blasted with an arctic chill. I remember the snow and ice that we got earlier that day. I had forgotten that winter had announced its presence.
I start winding down from the class, not wanting to wait till they grind them down and send it to me and I notice that through the evening I received radiant heat burns and steam burns. They are nothing more than a light stinging sensation. I almost think I'm dreaming as I gingerly consider each little spot as we drive away.
