Glass

website: www.kuyglass.com
email: kuyglass@gmail.com
phone: 206-780-0700

​Kuy teaches glassblowing at his studio on Bainbridge Is.
Contact him for a class schedule.

I think you could categorize my relationship with glass as a love affair... or perhaps as a marriage at this point in time. From this perspective you could say that it was love at first sight – or more accurately, “love at first feel”. The feel of hot glass is incredible! It is so hot & gooey; so sticky and alive and moving, not to mention glowing intensely, that it is impossible to put the feeling into words. Red hot glowing, molten, flowing, glass is dancing through the air... Try as I might words just don't cut it, they're too cold and inflexible.

You have to experience it.
I was about ten years old when my older brother Mundy brought hot glass into our home. He had gotten enamored at a crafts fair my Mom took us all to. (She was a textile artist participating in the fair: my brother watched the "glassblower" all day and “got the bug”) When Mundy was about fourteen the artist from the fair, Paul Geyer, gave him some glass rods to try melting at home - and thus I was exposed, and experienced my first crush!

In the beginning we worked on torches that were made of glass... we would take little propane plumber's torches and make a “T” out of neon tubing. One side of the “T” would be turned into the pilot flame, the other to the main jet. These torches were hotter than the plumber's torches but they were very fragile and on occasion would shoot off of the propane tank and destroy themselves. All very exciting for a group of young boys! (Just like my first kiss!) I made a lot of animals and jewelry on those torches. I especially remember wrestling with snakes! It is hard to get the curves right...
Eventually we graduated to forced air/propane crossfire torches similar to ones used in the neon industry. These torches were hot! They melt a tube in less than a minute. Looking back I can now say that it took years to get good on them. (Our dating period?) Luckily at the time I was in love and thought I was doing well! My crossfire is still the maintorch I use today for my lampwork; earrings, flowers, beads and ornaments.

(Lampwork is the technical word used in the glass industry for work done on a torch)