Tools Needed for Glass Blowing
The first tool you need when learning glass blowing are glasses to protect your eyes. Didymium lens are used to protect the eyes from glass debris and light. It’s surprising to think that glass blowing can hurt your eyes. When you think about it, glass blowing is the art of taking a blob of molten glass on the end of a hollow metal tube, called a blowpipe and making it into something beautiful. The blowpipe is one of the tools you need in this craft. The standard size for these tools are about four and a half feet long but just an inch wide.
To keep the glass you need for glass blowing hot enough to use, its kept in a special furnace at over two thousand degrees. When the glass is removed it’s rolled on a mavering table. At the same time tools that have been dampened are passed over the glass to assist in shaping it.
Another one of the tools that is used in glass blowing is the pontil rod. This is used to make the rim of the item being made. Other tools you will need are forceps. These are used to shape the rims, as well as generally to shape the item you are working on. The final step is to slowly cool your project in a special oven.
Interestingly, the art of glass blowing has not changed in hundreds of years nor have the tools used. Things may be made of different materials, but glass blowing and the tools used are a long held tradition that looks like it will be around for a long time to come.
