LIFE DANCE: THE EXCITING WORLD OF GLASS BLOWING

I love trying new things and today I took a Glass Blowing Class. Weird right? Indeed. This is an uncommon class that I never imagined I would take.

The owner of the studio, Robert Shield, is a friendly and talented guy from Australia that has been into glass blowing for over thirty years. Master Shield, and I don’t call him “master” lightly, is a well known artist and on one occasion he gave a gift to Prince Andrew and Lady Sarah for their wedding anniversary. For this, he received a thank you letter from Buckingham Palace.

Robert's Gift from Australia to Prince Andrew and Lady Sarah on the occasion of their wedding and letter of thanks from Buckingham Palace, London, England.

He started by giving us a brief demonstration of his work and I felt like watching an act of magic. It’s one of those things that look easy from the surface, but you know it really isn’t.

The class is hands on under Robert’s directions. The cool part is that you get to keep the two small pieces of glass that you worked on. I didn’t get to blow, but I was able to play with the fire to create a pendant and a little ornament to place on a wine bottle cork. I will cherish those little pieces forever. After all, it’s MY creation, and considering that I am not creative, for me it has even more value.

Glass blowing is an amazing art and the fact that I was able to take a class with master craftman Robert Shield was an incredible privilege.

I encourage everybody to try it at least once. Maybe a treat to yourself or for a loved one.