Timothy C.
Yelp
I REALLY wish I could write like an actual novel for this lol. I also know I'm so far behind. Better late than never.
Luckily, I rarely forget experiences...especially one like my first experience blowing glass.
What an INCREDIBLE time we all had here.
Like so many who have recently wanted to try this...I watched Blown Away on Netflix.
For the record tho...ever since I was a kid and we went on a field trip to the Corning Museum of Glass I have ALWAYS wanted to get into glass blowing. I think I could actually create some beautiful pieces IF I actually jumped in and started doing it. I've wanted for years to do it. So when you have a passion like that...I feel like you give it your all and then some.
This past Winter I finally tried. We just made drinking glasses. Which is fine. It was a good start. Oh, when I started watching Blown Away, that show helped me confirm that I have waited long enough to try this haha.
So a group of us went. There's 5 of us in our little circle of close friends. That made it extra special for me:
Ok! The studio is very well laid out. Displays are absolutely beautiful. There is plenty to look at whether you are there to shop or you're there waiting for your class to begin.
Look at all of it. It's all so inspiring. People create those pieces! Which just makes me think even more how amazing humans are!
The people who work up front, incredibly nice. This place is run beautifully. The layout is next level, cleanliness...again, next level.
The Hot Shop is great. Totally different than I was expecting. You see them on Blown Away, online, other various studios and you kinda expect them to be these hot boxes lol. This one is very open, not hot at all.
I dressed in all kinds of booty shorts, tank bc I have neuropathy and heat makes the pain ...super intense. Even when I stood at the glory hole turning the rod (lol) to set in the colors and shape the piece, my neuropathy didn't bother me at all.
Now, I'm sure if you were there for awhile, making bigger pieces, etc that you'd break a sweat. All of us tho stayed relatively dry for the duration of our class time. Wonderful experience. I still can't get over HOW. MUCH. FUN. THIS. WAS!!
Josh was our instructor. What an amazing guy. I feel like we really lucked out getting him as our instructor. Super chill, easy to talk to, he wasn't judgey at all for all us 100% amateurs haha. Just an all around great guy. I kinda had a low key crush on him haha! He has this incredible beard too. Made me jealous. I can't grow one like that haha
Anyway! Josh has been doing this a long time. Works at 2 studios here in Boise/Garden City area. VERY knowledgeable. Explains the process absolutely perfectly. It's always fun for me to see someone like Josh and love what he does. It's very obvious how much he enjoys what he does and I believe that added to the amazing time we had there.
The pricing...well, I leave that up to yall to look up haha. It's glass blowing ffs lol, so expect to pay. Maybe that's why I haven't started it ... yet. It's an experience hobby. I hate calling it a hobby tho especially bc I'd like to get into and have it more than just a hobby.
It's one of those experiences I've always wanted to try, finally did, and felt pure joy in my soul. It just made me so happy. I'm sure when/if you try it..you'll feel the same way. There's nothing like it.
And even tho we just did drinking glasses, I look at my piece and think....damn! I created this! Green and brown are my favorite colors..:especially together. My piece was darker than the others. They give you a selection to choose from. They're nice choices, but I wanted to create my own with my own colors and own swirling type design.
So much fun! I could go on, but I know Yelp is gonna cut me off. If you have ever thought about doing this....why keep putting it off? I put it off for decades! Literal decades. One of the biggest mistakes. Seriously can't wait to go again!
Thanks for reading, Yelp'rBlowers!
Cheers!