Inspired by the simple beauty of these Ray Guns
as revealed in this [thread=476071]thread[/thread], I promised to go to the glassworks and investigate things further, which I did today.
My family (me, Ms. Attack, Attacklass and Attacklad) traversed the city in our elderly borrowed Bronco. We managed to transit the ‘bad’ part of town repeatedly, passing over, under and around the tracks to every wrong side until we found the glassworks.
The Attackkids were clearly told of the dire allowance consequences of any form of messing around in a place that had fire, fragile objets d’art and molten glass; suitably impressed, we went into the shop. The interior wass filled with machinery and gear, glass furnaces and glass samples, as well as Santana on the stereo. Inside we met the muscular head glassblowing guy (Mr. Head Honcho), who had a excellent sense of humour, and his willowy blonde assistant (Ms. Glassblower), both of whom were wearing flipup sunglasses. You could feel the heat from the furnace from anywhere within the large yet crowded industrial space. Today they were making hearts with wings, about 8 cm height.
Ms. Glassblower would take a blob (gather) of glass on the end of a long tube, molten and radiant from the furnace, and roll it in coloured sandy stuff (frit), to provide colour. She’d pass it to the Mr. Head Honcho, who would shape it with tongs into a rough shape. Meanwhile, Ms. Glassblower would arrive with a second blob, which they’d cut in two and fuse to the main heart shape. They would snip the second attached glass bits into wing shapes with shears, reheating and reshaping as necessary. The head honcho would spin the tube upon which the glass was attached like a baton - perhaps to cool it down. When they were happy with the piece, they’d score the base and snap it off in an insulated chest. Later they’d polish it.
Overall, it was really cool - nice people, friendly, interesting process, smoking hot glass being blobbed around, craftsmanship and artistry. The Attackkids were on their best behaviour, and were transfixed by the process, and we had a nice physics discussion about solids and liquids while we were huddled there watching. The Ray Guns were there on display, and they are just as awesome as in the pictures. I hadn’t appreciated that they are FULL SIZE, ready to pick up and hold. The price however is a little high for a casual purchase or Xmas ornament, at $600 per Ray Gun.
:smack:
