Glass Blowing

About a month ago, Brad and I attended the last Art Walk of the year here in Toledo.  For those of you that don’t know, Art Walks are held on the last Thursday of the month, usually during spring and summer months and take place in downtown and uptown Toledo.  Local vendors line the streets selling art, jewelry, clothing, etc. and many of the shops open up their doors as well.  One of the shops we entered along the way was Gathered Art Gallery, a glass blowing gallery and workshop.  We looked around the shop and stopped for a while to watch as they did a demonstration.

I went home that night and like Gathered’s page on Facebook.  I’m so glad I did!  It was just a few weeks ago I saw in my Facebook newsfeed that Gathered was offering glass blowing classes!  I saw a class to make pumpkins and I signed myself and Brad up immediately.

The class consisted of approximately 20 people and 3 instructors; Ian, Mike and Adam.  They first made their own pumpkin, demonstrating what they would be doing as instructor and what they would be asking of each student.  Then they took students one at a time and created glass pumpkins. 

You get to choose from the selection of any color you want to use; I chose vanilla for my pumpkin and amber for my stem.  After the instructor gathered the hot, clear glass from the container I got to step in and help; adding color and helping shape the pumpkin using different tools to make the glass round,  adding ridges, blowing air into the center, and affixing and curling the pumpkin’s stem.  It’s quite actually a pretty interesting process.

Brad adding color to his pumpkin

Brad blowing air into his pumpkin to shape it

Ian shaping my pumpkin

Adding the stem

 Ian, Mike and Adam were great instructors! They were helpful, patient and extremely knowledgeable.  Don’t be afraid to ask questions about any part of the process!

Once the pumpkins are created you have to leave them at Gathered to cool down overnight.  I picked our pumpkins up the next afternoon. 

I love my pumpkin and plan on taking more of these classes in the future! 

You can sign up for a class or get (at least) 8 of your friends/family together and book your own private workshop.

Here is a list of upcoming classes (All classes are from 6-9 pm)

Oct 30 - Ghosts $45

Nov 6 - Pumpkins $45

Nov 7 - Mini Pumpkins $30 or Snowmen $40

Nov 13 - Mini Pumpkins $30 or Snowmen $40

Nov 14 - Pumpkins $45

Nov 20 - Pumpkins $45

Nov 21 - Pumpkins $45

Dec 4 - Ornaments $35

Dec 5 - Snowmen $40

Dec 12 - Ornaments $35

Dec 13 - Snowmen $40