Glass Blowing

As a Christmas present this year, our son Doug and his lovely wife Kara gave us a "Glass Blowing" class!  Perfect gift for us as we are both crafty and love to try new things.

We drove down to Norwood to Luke Adams Studio, which was situated in an old warehouse.

First we had to pick out a "simple" project.....Tag chose a paperweight and I chose a Christmas Ball.

The second project could be more involved.   Tag chose a drinking glass and I chose a vase.

You start off with putting a long metal rod into a blazing hot furnace and scooping up a big blob of molten glass.   Our teacher was Dylan, and he very wisely never strayed very far from us!

Once you have your blob on the end of your metal rod, you have to keep twirling it to keep the glass from sagging and to keep your item round.

To make it perfectly round and smooth, they have wooden cups with hands that you hold underneath and continue to twirl the rod.   We had lots of help from Dylan.  I can't imagine trying to do both things at the same time!

After a short time, you add  bits of colored glass to the outside, then add another blob of molten glass on top.  That's how they make things that look like the colors are inside....because they are!!

Then you use the tongs to score the end of the piece so Dylan can just tap it and the part attached to the rod comes off.

Use a blowtorch to heat the bottom of it just enough to flatten it so the paperweight will sit flat on a table.

For Tag's glass, he had to hold a wooden paddle against the end of it while Dylan opened up the end with a pair of tongs.

My turn to get some molten glass out of the furnace

Roll it in the wooden bowl...

Get some colored glass.

More molten glass

Keep rolling it to keep it round.

My "simple"piece was an ornament, which is hollow in the middle.....so Tag got the job of blowing into the end of the hollow rod to put air inside the glass while we kept rolling. Not an easy task!

For my vase, it was a much larger piece of glass....very heavy but important to keep it moving.

For my vase, I had to do the same thing as Tag did with his glass. I had to hold a wooden piece against the opening while Dylan opened it wider with the tongs.   We also used the tongs to make an indentation partway down to create a flaired top.

Using the blowtorch to flatten the bottom

My vase came out beautifully!

Tag's paperweight

His glass

And my ornament!

Lots of fun and, as usual, a very thoughtful gift from my son and daugher-in-law.

Elsie's 6th Birthday Adventure

For Elsie's 6th Birthday, we decided on a trip to Boston to see "Disney on Ice".   Since Elsie is a Princess, it seemed appropriate!    Noah wore his Star Wars shirt, hoping that he'd see some of those characters.  He's a smart kid who knows that Star Wars is put out by Disney.  To his dismay, there were only Princesses at Disney on Ice.   But his consolation was that he got to ride the train!

Memere said Elsie could just wear a light jacket, since we'd be warm enough on the train, so Grampy gave his coat for her to wear while we waited on the chilly platform.

Headin' Out!

And on our way!

The train ride was about an hour long.  Elsie spent the time looking out the window, while Noah spent the time talking Grampy's ear off!

It worked out rather well, because they train brought us directly to North Station, and we went up three escalators to get into the Garden.

Waiting patiently for the show to start.  Again, I didn't really think about the arena being cold  (duh!  It's an ice rink!!) but we managed okay.

Nice photo of a stranger and my double chin.

The skating and production were amazing.  It was hard to take photos because everyone was moving so fast!!

My favorite....Beauty and the Beast

Including my favorite song, "Be Our Guest"!

Lumiere dancing around

 The Beast

Belle and Gaston

Then out came Cinderella and her carriage and horses

I tried to convince Elsie this was a real horse, but she didn't agree!

I forget which characters these were, but pretty cool that they were flying up in the air!

Time for Elsa (Elsie's favorite!) and Olaf!

And the last Princess to appear was Mulan.  I've never seen this movie (gasp!!!) so I don't know the characters or the story....but it was still entertaining to watch.

 This giant crab has only one skater inside the costume

The Grand Finale was all the character coming back out and saying farewell.....which answered the question of whether all the Princesses were played by one person!

It was a very successful day.  The kids were so well-behaved.  I had told them no treats  (so expensive!) but since it was Elsie's birthday I took her to one of the vendor's and bought her an Elsa doll.   And Noah was veyr happy with a huge slice of pizza before we got on the train coming home.

Such a great memory.....Our first time at Disney on Ice!