2. I don’t know where I heard of it, but…
• From the moment I arrived at MIT, I heard of
the Glass Lab.
• I have been fascinated with glass making ever
since I was 16 and on my first trip to Europe. I
knew of this place in Venice, the Island of
Murano, where for hundreds of years Italian
glass blowers fabricated intricate objects,
many of high utility and fanciful beauty.
3. My Grandfather’s Paperweights
• I attribute by interest in glass and glass making
to my Grandfather Foster, who had a
collection of paperweights he kept in a
Credenza, which sat in the entryway of my
grandparents house in Detroit Michigan.
While we couldn’t touch them, the Credenza
had glass windows at just the right height for a
four year old to gaze in upon these exotic
objects.
4. When my Grandparents died….
• I inherited the collection, or rather I bid for
them at auction when my grandparents’
furniture was sold after my grandmother
passed away.
• The weights arrived in a cardboard box, which
weighed a ton. And I unpacked each one, one
at a time and replaced them in the credenza,
an object I also acquired in the sale.
5. Fast forward the tape….
• When I arrived at MIT, I was immediately dumped into a job that
most days felt like an agitating washing machine, spinning at a
hundred miles an hour.
• I knew two things quickly amidst a financial crisis in a new job, that
my Admin Officer Karen Yegian would become my friend and
regular lifeline supplier, and that I had to develop some outlet for
my physical being.
• Putting those two things together and a quick conversation about
the glass lab, whereupon Karen said, “Oh yes, I have always wanted
to take a class there.” And she and I set about investigating how we
were going to break into this living example of Mens e Manus, mind
and hand, the MIT Creed.
6. Peter Houk….
• Off we trundled to the lab, in search of the secret of
the fabled lottery. Whereupon we met Peter Houk,
master glass maker and etched glass artist.
• Upon learning my name was Glasmeier, he said, “surely
you both should be in the class”.
• And so, for the last three years we have been members
of the intro glass class. Now we have split up. Karen is
in the intermediate class, and I am not yet ready for
this level of work and instead have joined the musical
instrument class, run by Peter.
7. In a nut shell, what is glass
making?
• Three steps
– Take molten silica from the furnace,
– Shape it, put a bubble into it, and make something of
it,
– And then detach it from the punty and put it into the
annealing oven to cure over night.
– Doesn’t sound like much, but just you watch…
8. Get ready
• Lay out the colors, the jacks, diamond sheers, and scissors,
fill up the buckets holding the wooden forms or blocks
• Set out the molds
• Charge the furnace
• Warm up the pipes
• Make sure the Glory Hole and the annealer are both on
9. You are ready to begin
• Gather glass from the furnace, starting at the
right corner, rotate the puntie two complete
revolutions in the glass
• Cool your pipe or proceed to the Marver, pick up
color and shape the sides and tip. This will cool
your glass.
• Return to the glory hole and heat in the frick.
10. Now, with your glass gathered…
• It’s up to you, you can do most anything from
gathering more glass to make a bigger object,
to making a paper weigh, pulled-neck vase, or
Christmas ornament.
• As you get better, you might be lucky enough
to join a pumpkin crew.
11. So this is where I am now…
• Saturdays and Sundays crews are formed.
• Hot or cold, rain or shine, pumpkins must be
made.
• As I step out of my job as HOD, I look forward to
trying to become a glass maker.
• I am not there yet and still have the challenge to
work in a right handed lab (they all seem to be so
configured)
12. I still stand outside the Lab looking in…
• I am not quite comfortable, it is not yet my
place.
• I can see what can be made and know what
should be done, but I am still just a beginner.
• I am ok about that….
