be appropriate : sand , sea , and sky , thus the amber and blue .
But what I knew about glassblowing would fill a thimble and leave room for a bag lunch ! In stepped the teacher , Chandler Snidal . Surprisingly , Chandler has six years of formal training at ... wait for it ... the Alberta University of the Arts . He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts , majoring in Hot Glass . As we all spent our careers trying to be , Chandler was the right mix of knowledge , encouragement , good humour , and skill .
Together , over the ensuing hour , we created Janet ’ s wine glass . You really would have to have been there to appreciate these steps because simply listing them makes the entire process seem overly simple . It wasn ’ t . Still , this is what we did : we first gathered some glass by dipping the end of a long steel blowpipe into a crucible of molten , clear glass and then rolled it over my two colours and melted the brown and blue into the clear glass . We rolled the amber at one end and blue into the middle and top . Trips back and forth into the oven kept the glass at the necessary 1000˚F temperature . Using tongs , Chandler twisted the glass to create our pattern design . A closer look will show you the waves twisted in about a third of the way up . We then shaped the glass into an amplesized wine goblet . Next , we reheated it , added air until it became slightly smaller than the desired size , heated the end of the glass with a blowtorch , and added air slowly until a hole popped at the end of the glass . Almost done . We heated the end , opened
Chandler Snidal and Jock Mackenzie holding Jock ’ s final piece of blown glass art .
it to our desired shape , removed the glass from the pipe , and added a base .
The entire process took about an hour and cost $ 65 . As excited as I was with the finished product , I had to leave it overnight so it could undergo the annealing or gradual cooling stage . I guess “ I blew it ” but in the most positive way . With Chandler ’ s guidance , the result was more than I could have hoped for . As with any successful partnership , we worked in harmony and , thanks to writing this article , have stayed in touch .
Jock Mackenzie , retired teacher , and Janet , retired nurse , are spending a motorhome year on the road . Leaving Red Deer , they meandered through BC and down the Pacific coast to Arizona . While in Oregon , Jock chanced upon this opportunity at glass blowing .
news & views SPRING 2023 | 27