![\"IMAG1071\"](\"http:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/IMAG1071.jpg\")
<\/a>Taglia. Paddles. Tweezers. \u00a0If you encounter this unusual constellation of tools and equipment, you’re about to work with glass. \u00a0Molten glass. \u00a0Molten as in 4,300 degrees molten. Molten as in droops off the end of the honey rod if you don’t keep rolling, rolling, rolling.<\/p>\n(Frank ready for his first gather.)<\/p>\n
You dip a honey rod into an oven, a 4,300 degree oven filled with about 350 pounds of molten, transparent glass. \u00a0Twist two or three times and get a good gather on the rod. \u00a0Pull it out, orange, heat blasting back from the oven. \u00a0Roll it. \u00a0Roll it. \u00a0Over to a table that might be an Indian spice sellers tables with small mounds of wares, dip the molten glass in yellow or white or blue, move it back and forth so the color coats the gather.<\/p>\n
To the bench. \u00a0Rolling, this time maybe pull out the tweezers and grab the end of the (Charlie with newspaper.)<\/p>\n Wet newspaper. \u00a0Thick, wet newspaper. \u00a0In your hand, against the heat of the second gather, rolling still rolling, you shape the whole, now headed toward that most mundane, but forgiving of glass shapes, a paperweight. \u00a0Back in the gloryhole for a heat blast. Back to the bench. \u00a0This time the jacks grip the molten glass at the rod’s end, making a line around it, a line that will make breaking the cooling glass off the honey rod possible. \u00a0“It perforates the glass.” \u00a0Oh?<\/p>\n (the glory hole)<\/p>\n Whatever it does, sure enough, after gently tapping the gather at the jacks imprinted line, the paper weight falls off. \u00a0A blow torch comes out, heats the rough edges and makes the bottom molten enough to receive initials. \u00a0Gotten know which one is yours.<\/p>\n Then they go into the annealer. \u00a0It gradually steps down the heat so the coefficient of What the Woollies did this Monday night at Minnesota Glass Arts.<\/p>\n (Jen releases her demonstration paperweight from the honeyrod.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fall \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Samhain Moon Glory hole. \u00a0Boil. \u00a0Jacks. \u00a0Crimpers. \u00a0Gathers. Honey rods. Annealer. Diamond shears. Taglia. Paddles. Tweezers. \u00a0If you … Continue reading You Dip Your Honey Rod in the Molten Glass<\/span> <\/a>gather, pull it, twist it. \u00a0Then maybe the shears to make a few cuts. Still rolling. \u00a0Rolling. Always rolling. \u00a0Another gather, bigger this time, over the first gather, the one with color. Rolling, rolling. \u00a0Always. \u00a0This time layers of newspaper soaked in water. \u00a0Yes. \u00a0Newspaper.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>expansion doesn’t overtake the masterpiece and shatter it. \u00a0Ready on Wednesday.<\/p>\n