What is Glass Blowing

Glass Blowing by definition is the technique of shaping glass by blowing it with the help of a blow pipe. It is a relatively lesser known creative art but one that takes a lot of effort to master and gives equally immense satisfaction to the one performing it.

Glass blowing made its roots in the Roman Empire in the first century before Christ. The Roman Empire being one of the strongest empires at the time spread the art far and wide. And today, it is a hobby practiced by many right in the comfort of their homes. A lot of credit for this goes to a certain Harvey Littleton, a ceramics professor, who along with Dominick Labino (a chemist & engineer) held an experimental workshop in 1962 wherein they played around with molten glass and discovered the amazing possibilities that studio blown glass could lead to. This was the start of what is known as the 'studio glass movement' and what eventually led to glass blowing attaining such mass popularity.

The process of glass blowing involves blowing molten glass to give it unique and intricate shapes and designs, and takes a lot of effort indeed. It is more common than one would normally imagine. In fact, a lot of the glassware we see in our homes, including vases, glass figurines, and lamps are made through blowing glass only.

Through the ages, glassblowing has earned its reputation as a full-fledged creative art form with an ever increasing number of people taking it up as a hobby despite the risk. People are often discouraged from taking up glass blowing as a hobby because of the risks involved (you are dealing with fire after all). But the fact is that with a bit of care, glass blowing can be one of the most satisfying forms of art, besides being a lot of fun!