Day 69 – May 18 – Glass Blowing

We left South Beach State Park in Newport and drove the campers to Lincoln City for Dorrie and Mary’s noon appointment at the glass blowing studio.  We managed to find parking spaces about a block away on the street.

Mary made a small bowl and Dorrie made a glass float.  The glass is actually clear until they add colors they picked out. 

 

The glass is heated to 2100 degrees; the hopper (not sure what the actual name for it) holds about 300 pounds of glass at the beginning of the day and they take out what they need during the day.   Otto, the guy helping Dorrie, said they shovel glass pieces in at night to melt over night for the next day’s usage.

After the color is added to each side, the glass in rolled on the table to round it out and to blend the colors.  Then the color glass is heated and swirled into the glob of glass.

 

The color doesn’t get all the way to the end, so they have to trim the clear end off.

After more heating and shaping, air is blown into the center of the glass to make the empty center of Dorrie’s float.

Shaping the hot glass

Expanding the inside of the ball

The ball is getting bigger

Almost finished

The ball is removed from the rod and the top hanger was added.  

 

This is the only picture I got of Mary's bowl

The finished product is kept heated over night and ready to be picked up the next day.  Because we are on the move, we had it shipped to Kim’s home.

We headed out of Lincoln City for our 70 mile jaunt north to Tillamook and Big Spruce RV Park.  The park is a Passport America park, so the half price camping fee is $13 per night for full hookups.

It rained off and on all night and during the day, so we did the laundry and took it easy.