Lots of people ask me if I want to work with hot glass for the rest of my life. I really don’t. I do think, however, glassblowing is an incredibly interesting and fun art form. When I visited Kitengela for the first time I had never worked with any kind of hot glass before in my life, and I was already scheming to somehow get back to Kenya to learn. Before I even considered flying halfway around the world to do anything, I decided it would be a good idea to take a glassblowing class at home, to make sure it was actually something I enjoyed.

I enrolled at an intense one-weekend class at BAGI (the Bay Area Glass Institute in San Jose). For two days from 9am to 6pm I did nothing but learn how to blow glass, and it was very fun. Working with hot glass is like working with molasses - the molten glass glows a deep orange and actually cools fairly quickly. You are constantly having to re-heat your piece, so shaping work is done in short bursts of about 60 seconds. If you are thinking about starting to work with glass, I would highly recommend taking an introductory class like this.

At any rate, I was hooked. I had satisfied my answer of if I actually enjoyed glassblowing. So now I’m taking it to the next level. And, as it happens, to another continent as well.