Born of Fire

Hyattsville business owners reach out to teach others ancient craft of glassblowing

Thursday, Feb. 16, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Barbara L. Salisbury⁄The Gazette Above: Glassblower Brendan Kager heats up glass in a chamber kept at 2,200 degrees fahrenheit at D.C. Glassworks in Hyattsville. Kager has been glassblowing for eight years and teaches a class in the craft. Below: A sample of finished glass pieces for sale. Click here to enlarge this photo Photos by Barbara L. Salisbury⁄The Gazette Instructor Wyndell Williams (far left) helps Chris Stever of the District shape a bowl. D.C. Glassworks offers classes from beginning to advanced.

Business owners Williams of Chillum and D’Orio of Columbia Heights in the District share a passion — to teach the art of glassblowing.

Both donned in black T-shirts with ‘‘glassblower” emblazoned in white, D’Orio and Williams took art classes that whetted their appetites for glassblowing.

‘‘I was always into glass. Stained glass, for the most part,” Williams said. ‘‘And then I discovered glassblowing.”

He set up a glassblowing shop on Capitol Hill and it wasn’t too long before D’Orio contacted Williams. Soon the two were in business together.

They moved the glass shop to Hyattsville four years ago and have been building a steady base ever since, teaching classes and enlightening the masses on a fascinating art form.

‘‘We’ve built a nice little glassblowing community here,” D’Orio said.

And because most of the population doesn’t own a walk-in closet-sized furnace, D’Orio and Williams are filling a niche.

For those who are unsure, the guys said a little determination is all that is necessary. D’Orio added that people from ages 14 to 70 have taken classes.

‘‘People just need to have the will to learn,” Williams said.

To keep up the buzz going about glassblowing, D.C. Glassworks holds a open house — complete with wine, microbrewed beer, snacks, a band and of course the glassblowing demonstrations — about every six weeks.

Brendan Kager, of Bethesda, teaches classes at the shop and has been glassblowing the past eight years. He created a rectangular shaped vase during a recent demonstration and stressed the importance of having a shape in mind before starting.

‘‘I always have a plan,” he said. ‘‘Glass has a mind of its own and you have to be willing to work with it and go with the flow.”

But watching the mesmerizing and somewhat choreographed process of glassblowing — the nitty gritty of glassblowing — is what entrances people.

The process begins with silica pellets melted in a furnace with a 2,100-degree Fahrenheit temperature to ensure the molten glass stays malleable.

A blow pipe is then placed in the furnace by the person — called a gaffer — creating the piece to gather the glass, similar to spinning a paper cone around to twist cotton candy onto it.

An initial blow into the pipe establishes the bubble. ‘‘Everything in traditional glassblowing starts with a bubble,” Williams said.

FYI D.C. Glassworks is located at 5346 46th Ave., Hyattsville and offers sculpture basics, beginning glassblowing, introduction to metal casting, introduction to stained glass and more. Studio space, tools and equipment are also available for rental. Visit www.dcglassworks.com or call 301-927-1490 or 301-927-8271 for times, dates and cost. History of glass According to wikipedia.org, the Internet’s open source encyclopedia, evidence of glassblowing occurred sometime between 27 B.C. and A.D. 14 in Syria. The techniques soon became widespread and Venice in particular became the heart of high-quality glassmaking during the late medieval period. Italian, Syrian and Swedish style of glassblowing are the main forms of blowing. D.C. Glassworks practices the Italian style.

The glass is then placed into a smaller re-heating chamber with a 2,200 F temperature to ‘‘get heat into the piece faster,” Williams said. While the glass is hot, the gaffer uses tools to shape the piece. The assistant is at the other end blowing air into the rod so the glass doesn’t lose its shape.

‘‘You can do it by yourself but it’s a lot more difficult,” Williams said. ‘‘You want an assistant.”

If it’s color you want, the hot glass can be rolled onto a plate with bits of colored glass, which melts onto the piece. When it’s finished, it’s placed in the annealer — which drops the 900 F temperature slowly to ensure the glass doesn’t explode. But with any art form, accidents still happen.

‘‘There is no guarantee that when you open the annealer doors your piece won’t have exploded,” D’Orio said.

Although glassblowing can be a finicky process, it still clamors for attention and draws more into learning about one of the world’s oldest art forms.

‘‘Not many people think about how [glass is] made or where it comes from,” D’Orio said. ‘‘It’s quite the process.”

E-mail Sara Schwartz at sschwartz@gazette.net.