Eileen Hull

Three dimensional art... with heart

Blown Glass Reveal

I wrote in a post a couple of weeks ago about my adventures in glass blowing at the New Orleans Glassworks and Printmaking Studio. Well, yesterday the box of my projects arrived! I was so excited to see how these pieces turned out since when I last saw them, they were still glowing red from the heat of the fire. As soon as they were done, they were whisked into the annealing oven to cool down slowly.

Are you ready? I will give you a little narrative since you may not be able to guess exactly what they are. 🙂 The piece below is a paperweight. And let me tell you, this thing is HEAVY.  I love the aqua blue glass embedded inside. Not sure about the green stripes but I think this was more of an exercise in how the different effects are achieved than making a “pretty” paperweight. Overall the shape was pretty good so that means my twisting and twirling was satisfactory.

Next we did the vase. This involved blowing glass gathered on the end of a long hollow stick until a bubble formed and caused a hollow in the middle. Then we pulled it out and shaped it into a bowl. I like the colors and ripply edge. And I know it’s not perfect but I still am amazed that I made that (at least a good portion of it).
Then it was time for this octopus. It is ever heavier that the paperweight. I am considering putting it on my bedside nighttable. Not sure I could lift it to hurl at intruders though.
If you angle it just the right way, it seems that there’s a little fish hiding in the water complete with eye and everything… Can you see it?
Now for the tough question. Which of these two do you think I did? No question about it, mine is the stumpy little one. I was too slow and let the glass cool down so when I went to pull the stem into the nice curlicue shape that Drake had done, that stuff would not move for anything!
So what, I’m still happy I did this class and urge you to step out of your comfort zone once in a while and give a new craft a spin! It’s inspiring…

Comments

  2. Laura Bray says

    Is there anything you can’t do? These are amazing! I love how it’s a totally different medium, yet it looks like “you”.

  5. Eileen Bergen says

    Yes, I see the angel fish! It is lovely.

    I’m so impressed. Are you sure this was your 1st time working with blown glass?

    I’m inspired and ready to move outside my comfort zone.

    So thank you, Eileen 😉

  6. Eileen Hull says

    @Grbriela- wow- love how you used the teacup die! Thanks for posting 🙂 And yes, this definitely was my first time with glass. I love the look of it but was slightly afraid of stuff that HOT! And the fish was a total accident 🙂 but hey, that’s art- yay! Thanks for the nice comments- I recommend it if you ever get the chance- very cool. @Madeline- saw Dale Chihuly’s stuff in Corning NY-wow.

  7. Ann Butler says

    Eileen,
    These turned out fabulous…I did see the fish even before I read there was one….what a cool class to have taken! Thanks for sharing!

  11. Karen B says

    Wow! You were way too modest on the phone, Eileen! These are amazing! That fish inside the octopus is fabulous! Love it all!