Glass blowing in Kansas

   I had a great time this past week visiting family out in Wichita, Kansas. I did all sorts of fun stuff, but one of my favorite parts was when I went glass blowing. In a little town just outside of Wichita, called Kechi; there is a glass blowing shop with all sorts of cool glass stuff. In the back room there are a few guys making glass art. If you sign up, you can have them teach you how to make either a Christmas tree ornament or a heart shaped paper weight. I signed up to make an ornament. The next Monday, I came in to the glass shop and went to the back room. There I began to start the glass blowing.

   On the table in front of my instructor, there were small plastic boxes with little shards of glass in them. In each box the glass was a different color. The instructor then brought over a long metal pole with a hot ball of glass on one end. He dipped the hot ball of glass into one color of glass on each side. He then took it over to a huge oven and stuck the glass end in the oven while twirling the pole.

     When he took it out of the oven, you could see that the glass shards had formed a spiral on the hot glass. He then brought the pole over to a flat spot to keep it rolling. He handed me a tube that he had attached to the other end of the pole. I blew into the tube, which caused the glass to grow larger and form a perfect, round shape.

    The instructor took the glass ball and knocked it off the pole. He took the end of the ornament and formed a loop so it could be tied to a string. Then he put it in an oven where it cooled down from 900 degrees, for three days.  

    Early humans found that glass could be very useful to the making of beads and pots as well as other things. Sand and colored pigments we heated with other types of materials and then formed into a shape. When the glass cooled, they would be left with that same shape and color. This was proven to be very useful to the making of art and became an item often used in trade.  When glass is put in a oven it reaches about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.  After it is done being formed into as specific shape, it is put in a cooling oven that is 900 degrees and it cools down from there.

   I had a awesome time glass blowing in Kechi, Kansas and learning about the making of certain kinds of blown glass art. I enjoyed getting to learn about the history of glass and  the processes it goes through.