We were invited by the Czech Embassy of Singapore to participate in a glass blowing activity at local maker’s studio Tombalek. Here is a look at what we did.
TGIFriday: amazing experience of glass blowing with the artisans
We were invited by the Czech government, via their embassy in Singapore to participate in this amazing activity. The reason behind the invitation is that CzechTrade Singapore is participating in a collaboration with Singapore glassmaker as part of Singapore’s SG60 celebrations. This collaborative work will feature the master glassmakers Jiři Pačinek and Guangjun Kung.
Their collaboration will result in the creation of a unique sculpture, featuring Singapore’s national flower Vanda Miss Joachim. Two glassmakers from two different backgrounds. Jiři is a Czech master glassmaker, creating works by freehand.
And Guangjun is a Singaporean glassmaker who is the founder of Tombalek. He is a self-taught craftsman who learned his skills from online videos before starting Tombalek.
The work will be presented today at the FIND Global Summit. As I am not attending the event due to a schedule conflict, I will attach the official photographs of the sculpture when I receive the Press materials.
We attended the media activity session, held in Tombalek.
Creating the Vanda Miss Joachim glass sculpture
The furnace, where the glass is in molten form. The artisan picks up a portion, sufficient for making a component of the sculpture and manipulates it into place.
Hands on experience to blow a glass vase
The furnace for our project vase is, of course much smaller. And instead of coloured glass used by the masters to create their sculpture, the glass we use is standard glass, which is mostly transparent with a hint of green.
Other than the furnace, here are the tools we used to create our simple object.
The instructor first showed us how the vase is made. The process starts with picking up a bob of molten glass with a steel blow pipe.
And using the glass blower’s breath, an air bubble is created in the glass. The bulb is rolled on a steel stand, to ensure the the molten glass is evenly spread through.
It is surprisingly easy to blow into the pipe to create the bubble. I had first thought that it would require a powerful breath, but when I tried it, just normal breathing made a nice bubble inside the molten glass. During the blowing, the steel pipe is rotated to ensure that the bubble formed is even.
As the glass cools and hardens, it is returned to the furnace to be reheated, and the blowing is done a few times to create the bubble size required.
After the desired size is achieved, the bulb is returned to the furnace, and it is time to manipulate it into a vase. First the neck is scored to ensure that once cooled, there is a weak point to cleanly break the object. This is done by using a scissors like device called a jack.
The glass bulb is then shaped by the use of the jack into the desired shape. We were creating a small vase, with a sloping neck. So part of the bulb needed to be narrowed and the shape of the neck flowing into the base is created by manipulating the jack. The base is then created by flattening the bulb.
A punt is then created.
At this point, the vase is already created. But it is still attached to the pipe. A quick, decisive blow is delivered to the neck, and the glass snaps at the weak point which is the scoring we made as the first step. The top is then blown with a blow torch to melt the shards which may form during the break.
The vase is then placed in another oven, kept at a much lower temperature to cool slowly. Glass may shatter if the tensions within the material which is made during the blowing process is not allowed to release slowly. After cooling, the vase is ready. The piece I made will be engraved and presented to me later.
We record our thanks the Czech Embassy and CzechTrade Singapore for their kind invitation. And to Guangjung and his team at Tombalek for this amazing experience. Tombalek offers classes in various crafts, including Glass Blowing and others.
