The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Hot time
Glass-blowing workshop can be a fun experience resulting in keepsakes
Flowing sleeves are not the best attire for glass blowing, but the glass artists at Glass Asylum in Chagrin Falls took our attire faux pas in stride.
“We take good care of our guests,” said studio owner Chris Crimaldi, who transformed his hobby into the Glass Asylum, a full-time, full-access studio at 22 W. Orange St.
“Cotton T-shirts with jeans and closed-toe shoes are the best thing to wear,” said Jason Bauck, the glass artist leading us through our glass-blowing experience at the studio.
We chose wine when we were offered beverages, and it was served in stunning, hand-blown glasses much like those on display. The studio is adjacent to M Italian Restaurant, which caters food and drinks to groups in the studio.
Although the molten glass is at 2,000 degrees when it comes from the furnace, there have been very few burns, Crimaldi said. He grew up in Solon, spent five years in the U.S. Marine Corp and is a licensed electrician in business with his dad, Gary, as Crimaldi and Son Inc.
A group of nine celebrating a birthday was just winding up their evening at The Glass Asylum when we arrived. Most of them made hand-blown Christmas ornaments, paperweights or colorful glass flowers in their onehour workshop.
Instruction is done with one of the five full-time glass artists guiding the work.
“Most people want to come here to have fun and not really work,” said Crimaldi. “So our artists provide advice and do the hard parts.”
Bauck, a Chagrin native with a bachelor of fine arts degree from Bowling Green State University, has been a glass artist for seven years. He pointed out a yellow line labelled “Hot Shop Line” on the floor about 20 feet from the furnaces along the opposite wall, then gave us safety glasses so we could cross it.
To begin the process, Bauck gathered clear molten glass from a crucible in the main melting furnace, heated to 2,175 degrees. Reddish-orange from the heat, the blob of molten glass was first rolled on a table into an oval, then carried on the end of a blow pipe by Bauck to a table with colored glass crystals.
My friend Cathy chose two shades of blue and white for her globe. Bauck rolled the molten glass into the chosen colors and then put it into a furnace, showing Cathy how it needed to be turned to allow the colors to melt into the hot glass orb.
Although the molten glass is very hot, its consistency is like honey — it doesn’t splash.
After sanitizing the end of the blowpipe, she was shown to a low stool, where she would begin blowing the glass. The 5-foot-long tube was placed over a steel rack, and Cathy was instructed to blow 10- to 15-second puffs into the tube- while Bauck, seated at the other end, used a large iron tweezer, called a jack, to shape the molten glass.
She then carried the blowpipe back to the furnace, placing it inside to heat while turning it. The blowing process was repeated as the glowing orb began to resemble the ornament it would soon become.
Bauck carried the blowpipe toward what he told us was an annealing oven, cut the glass to separate the ornament from the tube, then blew a twist of glass on top to serve as a hanger. The entire process took less than a half hour.
Before they can be taken home, glass-blown items need to spend 24 hours in the annealing oven to slowly cool.
“Otherwise they’d crack,” explained artist Carissa Zrimsek, who placed Cathy’s ornament in the annealing oven with items blown by the group which preceded us.
Meghan Calvert, a ceramic artist who grew up in Mentor, explained how the glass workshops are priced.
“They’re priced according to what people want to make,” she said. “A vase or
bowl will cost about $100, while paperweights, bud vases, tumblers and cups cost less.”
A seasonal workshop, available through Dec. 31, creates two Christmas ornaments for $90.
Workshops typically take an hour or less. Although reservations are needed for groups, walkins are accepted when conditions permit.
Crimaldi explained that those wanting to create larger projects and learn more about glassblowing can choose an eight-week course with three-hour classes. He makes most of the chandeliers, pendants and sconces. Each of the glass artists has a specialty, and they work on their own commissions on Sundays.