Glass, Bronze and Clay (in short Art)

Today (in case you hadn't guessed) was the Art Day. It was an opportunity for us to visit artists who make their living in Wallowa County. First we went to watch glass blowing, then to the Pow-wow grounds for lunch, off to the Valley Art Foundry for a tour and finally to Ted Juve's house for a pottery demonstration and a chance to try it ourselves.

Russell and Lori Ford own Moonshine Glass, the glass-blowing place. Russell has worked with and blown glass for twenty years, and he taught Lori about two years ago. They also have two workers, Jake Kurtz and Brent Wydrinski. Russell taught Jake about glass nine years ago and they are in the process of teaching Brent, who has been working with them for two weeks.
At Moonshine Glass. Lori met us outside and told us that we would have to be quiet and to ask her questions, not Russell, Jake or Brent because they were working and needed to concentrate. Janet, one of our leaders split the 18 of us into three groups and took six kids inside while the rest of us stayed outside and talked about the last WREN trip.

When it was my group's turn to go inside, we went in and started asking questions like crazy. What's that? What's that going to be? How hot is that? What's that going to be used for? How much does it cost to learn how to be a glassblower? Lori answered all those questions and many others. She told us that the glory hole was 1200 degrees F. That is hot! The glory hole is where, in between shaping and and blowing, the glass gets spun inside and pulled out to make a bowl, cup, plate, vase, ornament, or anything! Jake was making a bowl with warped edges so it looked like a flower, but the bottom was too thin and the bowl broke.

To start with, Russell used clear glass pellets that look like glass ice cubes. He put the pellets into the furnace, which is kept at 2025 degrees F when they are working with the glass. To pick up the melted glass, Russell took a tube and rolled it in the hot glass. He pulled it out and kept spinning the pole with the melted glass to subjugate (conquer, Vocab. word) the forces of gravity. Then he picked a color and rolled the glass in the color, which in this case was wine. After that, he stuck the glass in the Glory Hole, spinning it the whole time and taking it out many times to shape it or blow it, and to get the shape or size he wanted it to be. At the end he had to hammer it off the metal tube and put it in the cooler, which is 950 degrees F. It is supposed to cool off the glass! Russell said the next day is like Christmas morning when they get to open the cooler and get out their glass creations.

I will write about the other two places we visited later. This is probably enough for now.