GLASS-BLOWING IN THE ZORN VALLEY

I've always been fascinated by glass. The way it can be manipulated, melted, fused, blown etc. I think it comes from my Chemistry Lab days when we needed particular tubes or flasks for our apparatus and we had a chance to do a bit of experimenting with glassblowing. We are now in the Zorn valley, west of Strasbourg, an area where there is a history of cristalleries and we can see the glassblowers making beautiful glass pieces. We watched the whole process. Fascinating!

It started with a molten blob of glass.

Intermediate phase, having been dipped in a red powder.

Final shape, still too hot to handle.

The result was beautiful. This piece was hollow and had to be cooled slowly overnight. Once cooled it was made into a lamp which showed off the fantastic colours and shapes.