18 : : Lampworking

A very enjoyable morning...

After meeting Vic and April from Lighthouse Glass during the Worcestershire Open Studios, my daughter and I booked a session with Vic to learn some basic lampworking techniques. We thoroughly enjoyed our morning - Vic starting with a demonstration and then supervising whilst we both had a go at our own work station.

I think it helps if you're a bit ambidextrous as you need to coordinate both hands to manipulate the molten glass. And it's tricky! I'm sure it get's easier with practice but after just a couple of hours we were quite pleased that we had a few blobs of glass - with a hole in the middle (well, nearly in the middle 😉) - that resembled beads! Vic was a patient teacher and he taught us a few extra techniques that he thought we could handle, adjusting the class as we got the hang of the basics. Just enough to make it interesting, but not so difficult we couldn't manage. 

It's another one of those crafts that, having tried it myself, I have a huge respect for people with the skills that are needed to create tiny glass works of art. 

I would recommend Lighthouse Glass for classes. Check out their website for more information...