Glassblowing demo debuts at Champlain Valley Fair - WCAX

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ESSEX JUNCTION, Vt. (WCAX) - The Champlain Valley Fair is known for its traditions, but there are also new things for visitors to check out this year, including a glassblowing demonstration.

It’s an ancient art, but it comes alive for fair visitors.

“I think the material itself is kind of magical, so if you’ve never seen it before turning liquid into objects. it’s pretty satisfying thing to watch,” said Ryan Gothrup with Mobile Glass Studios.

He starts crafting a bowl. It’s unassuming at first. A ball of yellowish glass. But under his expert touch, it transforms. First, with color that’s added to the outside. White to start and then blue. Each time, with heat -- just the right amount. Finesse for the fragile -- and blazing hot -- art. That furnace is 2100 degrees. But he can take the heat. And the finale -- a whirl using gravity to shape the bowl is something else.

Once the piece is finished, it’s into the annealer to finish -- a process they say takes up to 10 hours or so. Gothrup is from Nashville, Tennessee, and g to numerous fairs and festivals. He says bringing awareness to the work that goes into crafting the delicate decor is important. “It’s always good to educate the public on something they don’t see every day, because this is not something you get to see unless you go to the studio,” he said. “We make 4-H pigs and gnomes and fish and cowboy hats. We just have fun and try to make a lot of unique items in front of people and then teach them about the ancient art of glass blowing.”

Spectators “oohed” and “ahhed” and told us it’s neat to see the process up close. “I had seen glass bowling before but not like that. They usually are basic bottles or something but that was really cool. I never knew how they did the ruffle but that was really interesting,” said Kat Little of Essex.

What happens to the glassware when they’re done with it? They say they give it to the fair, which sells it. The money made from that goes back to support agriculture education for kids.

Copyright 2022 WCAX. All rights reserved.

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