An American Glassblower in the Kingdom of Crystal

I thought that it was about time for me to post some pictures of the school and some of the work that I have been making. For the most part I have been mold blowing in the hot shop and engraving in the cold shop. I don’t save a lot of the work that I make because I am here to focus on technical skill and don’t really want to pay a load of money to ship things home, so I recycle most of things I make. It is too difficult to take studio pics during class time, so the pictures of the studio I do have are a bit stagnate. I will try to take some pics of the mold blowing process soon. For now, here are some pics of the school studio and some work, it’s all engraved stuff because I don’t save the mold stuff. And of course! I have some new exciting forest pictures. Kirstin and I had a hot dog grill party in the forest. Well, I guess that it wasn’t a party really, considering it was only the two of us. They have disposable grills that you can buy here, for one time use only. They aren’t environmentally friendly so you shouldn’t use them too often, but once in a while is okay. I was surprised that they even sell them here since they are a pretty green country in general. They are super convenient though and they weigh nothing. I was also surprised that I have never seen one in the States, but then I realized that there would be no reason for me to look for one before this because it’s not like I go grill hot dogs in the forests of Chicago.

Not to keep going on about the forest, but I also went on a night hike the other day. It was really cool. There are lights on the trails that you can turn on at different points. The weather is getting cold and it is getting dark by seven. We bundled up and went right when it got dark. It was a clear night with a perfect half moon and stars of course. I didn’t go alone obviously because I was too scared. I’m mostly scared of possibly seeing elk. I asked Kirstin and Eirene if they would attack. Eirene said “Only with child.” I said, “Oh good, I don’t have any kids.” She said, “No stupid, when they’re with child.” After the light bulb in my head turned on I decided to be quiet for a little while. I guess that I talk about the forest a lot, I think that it is because we are completely surrounded by it here in Orrefors. I also learned some interesting facts the other day in my glass history class. We stated talking about mideval times and forest glass. Glassblowers, typically monks, would use mobile hot shops and go from forest to forest cutting down trees to feed their furnace. Glass art from this time is easy to identify because of the green and brown colors of the glass and simplistic forms. The reason that the glass was always green and brown was because of the chemical process that occurred when burning the forest trees, materials used from the forest were rich in iron which made the glass those colors naturally. So it is natural that Orrefors is in the middle of a forest. Simon Gota is an artist that arrived at Orrefors in 1916. He was a pioneer who brought the factory to a new art producing level. He wrote in his personal diary upon his arrival that the trees surrounding Orrefors were no more than 2 meters high as far as he could see. So we know for certain that the forests surrounding Orrefors are no more than a hundred years old. Okay, that’s enough forest talk for now.