Glass Blowing at Hot Glass Alley

I had back to back adventures this week, since they were postponed from our crazy weather earlier this year! I had done this at Dollywood, but it wasn’t very hands on, so I wanted a more involved experience.

Hot Glass Alley was definitely what I needed! I chose fire colors to go with my word of the year: Phoenix​

The pics loaded out of order 🤣 I got to blow through the tube while Paige kept an eye on my ornament.

Here is where I put my ornament when it was first forming. After I rolled the hot glass in the color crystals, Paige helped me put the ornament in the fire (maybe not the right word) to heat it up so it would melt together. 

Then we brought it back to the table to form it some more and then roll it in the color crystals some more. They are basically little bits of colored glass.

We decided on a swirly pattern, so Paige made sure to twist it in the fire to get the desired effect. Once the ornament was perfect, Paige brought it over to this table, to literally knock it off of the pipe. She did the hard part with the tools, I got to knock the pipe to make the ornament pop off. A little stressful, but I was in good hands!

Look at those swirls! It is ready for the hook! I can’t remember this nice guy’s name, I’m so sorry HGA Dude! He put the “hook” on so it can hang from my tree, or possibly from a display stand. I haven’t decided yet. She said the colors will brighten as it cools.

 Now that it’s all done, it’s put into a kind of kiln. She totally told me what it was called, and I immediately forgot. Menopause brain is real, y’all. It will slowly cool in there over a period of 7-10 days and then they will ship it to me. 

I cannot wait to see the final product! 

Have you ever tried glass blowing?