Q: How do you get the glass into the furnace? A:This particular furnace is filled by shoveling it in. Paper bags are filled with solid chunks of glass and then those bags are shoveled in one at a time. The furnace is over 2200 degrees so the paper bag instantly catches fire and burns away. The glass chunks melt into molten glass in a big pot inside the furnace.
Q: What kind of glass is it? A: It is a glass that is specially formulated for glassblowing.
Cane is glass that has been stretched into rods. “Pulling cane” is the process of stretching the glass while it’s hot.
To see photos of this process taken at Old Town Glass in Portland, Oregon, go here.
These photos and descriptions show some of the basic processes in glassblowing as well as some of the basic elements of a hot shop—the glory hole, the furnace, the marver…
See these photos here.
