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How to Make a Blown Glass Orb
by Louie Doverspike
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Overview
Glassblowing is an ancient art form that has been practiced, in many different forms, for centuries. The development of glassblowing in the modern day includes a great variety of specialized tools. While nearly any shape can be produced from glass, the simple orb is a beautiful example of glass's austere simplicity. It is also a shape that can be produced with the minimum number of tools and effort. That is not to say that even producing an orb is easy. Glassblowing is a difficult and dangerous task.
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Step 1
Warm up your three heating elements: the furnace, in which glass is made malleable; the pipe warmer, which heats your tools to a temperature adequate for the manipulation of glass; and the annealer, which is like a kiln that slowly cools your finished product, allowing it to strengthen.
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Step 2
Gather the liquid glass. At this point the glass reservoir within the furnace should be white-hot. Glass is typically manipulated while bright orange, but the process of gathering the glass is best done at even higher temperatures. Insert your warmed glassblowing rod into the glass reservoir and rotate thick strands of glass onto the tip, rolling constantly. The end goal is to have a uniform blob built up on the outside of your rod.
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Step 3
Marver the glass. The marver is typically a thin plate of stainless steel. Alternate between gathering glass on the rod's tip and marvering by rolling the malleable glass along the table. This will shape and cool the glass slightly. Make sure your cylinder of glass is centered. Reheat as necessary to maintain a bright orange.
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Step 4
Cap the end of your glassblowing rod with your thumb. Glassblowing is a delicate and sensitive process, but forming glass orbs can be significantly easier, since it requires so little actual glassblowing. Capping the pipe's end will trap air inside, then heat it. The air will expand and have no exit except into your marvered glass. This will inflate your glass, producing the beginnings of an orb.
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Step 5
Reinsert this small bubble into the furnace. Gather more molten glass around your beginning shape. Repeat this process until you have the desired amount of material on the rod's end.
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Step 6
Blow gently. Once capping has expanded the piece as much as possible, blowing will inflate the orb to the desired degree.
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Step 7
Continue shaping using the marver. While there are many special tools used in shaping glass, a simple orb should be easy to manipulate using just the flat surface of the marver. Roll either horizontally or vertically, creating the desired shape. If you want a flat surface for your orb to sit on a table, then use a paddle to gently press a flat area into the glass.
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Step 8
Pinch the neck with a jack. Jacks are similar to large tweezers and can be used to pinch-seal the connective glass between your rod and orb. The goal is not to break off your glass orb, but simply to minimize the presence of a hole, so perform this part delicately.
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Step 9
Sprinkle water on the neck of glass at your rod's tip. A few drops of water will allow you to easily crack off the end, removing your orb from the glassblowing rod. Reheating this end of your orb can reseal the lip formed when removed from the glassblowing rod.
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Step 10
Place your final orb in the annealer. Using a temperature-controlled annealer kiln will slowly cool your glass piece and allow structural elements to harden without undue stress. Annealer temperature settings vary from glass to glass, so check the specifics of the material you are using before annealing.
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- Furnace
Pipe heater
Annealer
Rods
Glass
Marver
Paddle
Jack
- Furnace
- Pipe heater
- Annealer
- Rods
- Glass
- Marver
- Paddle
- Jack
- Use colored powder, or even crushed colored glass, to add patterns and swirls to your orb.
- Use colored powder, or even crushed colored glass, to add patterns and swirls to your orb.
- Always use gloves and goggles.
- Always use gloves and goggles.
