Been There/Done That

Glass Sampler Class

by Lisa Tauber

Sat., March 10, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., $150, registration required, Hot Soup Studio, 26 S. Strawberry St.,

(CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Upon arrival, studio director Maura Shenker hands me a name tag and sends me upstairs to join my fellow samplers, all four of whom are female. We start off designing a tile by cutting up pieces of glass and overlapping them; this will later be fused in a kiln. We're told not to fear the glass, but as I gingerly scoop colorful shards from the bins, I cut my finger and have to reach for one of the Band-Aids preemptively sitting on a nearby table.

We spend the next two hours learning how to make beads using torches, steady hands and fire-resistant glasses. The process is frustratingly tedious, and I finish feeling artistically inept.

After an hourlong provided lunch (cold cuts, egg salad sandwiches), we head downstairs for the final project: three hours learning how to make paperweights by sticking a long, molten-encrusted pole into a 2,000-degree furnace christened the "glory hole." A different instructor hands us protective shades, and guides us one-by-one as we burn our hands, struggle to keep the glass on its pole, and attempt some sort of colorful pattern. Since I am the first to make a paperweight, I have to wait over an hour for each student to complete hers. By 6 p.m., everyone is literally and figuratively burnt out. It'll be a few days before I can pick up my pieces, but something tells me they'll turn out well; imperfections tend to look cool in glass.