Storm Glass

Research: The Study of Fire

I thought I would relate a little of my own sizzling adventures in the world of molten glass. In order to write the scenes with Opal, I signed up for a class in glass blowing (gotta love this job).

The first day of glass class, the teacher made it look so easy to gather a slug of glass. But when it was my turn—yikes! It was HOT! The big cistern of molten glass is kept in a rip roaring furnace at a toasty 2100 degrees Fahrenheit. I held a metal rod, and, while squinting through an eye-melting orange light, I dipped the end into the thick goo and spun it, gathering a glob of glass onto the end. The incandescent glob glowed as if alive.

Once acquired, the slug then needed to be quickly shaped. Glass cools at a rapid pace, and, even though heat waves pulsed from the slug, it didn't stay pliable for long. With glass you need to keep re-heating it in the glory hole – which is another furnace that's empty and hot – but it softens the glass so you can try to get the lumps out while making a whole new set of lumps. Did I say you have to keep turning the metal rod? If you don't your lump becomes lopsided and you don't want a lopsided lump.

Eventually we made paperweights—which the insides look great because you want that first gather of glass to be lumpy but not lopsided. You get to pinch the blob with tweezers and twist it—fun stuff. You also dip it into powdered colored glass which colors the glass. Patience is required when working with glass—you get a few seconds to twist and tweeze before having to get up off the bench and reheat everything again.

My first paperweight was a misshapened blob. But after hours of practice, my ability improved, and I created a paperweight worthy to hold down my next novel's manuscript pages. All the time spent in class helped me in writing about Opal.

I learned that working with glass required deft coordination, arm strength, tons of patience, and a good partner—it's a good thing I have a day job!