In a small studio on the edge of Little Italy, it churns away 24 hours a day, every day, at 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. You can hear it before you see it: a low roar that emanates from the two fire-fed kilns at Flo Glassblowing on Gladstone Avenue.
The genesis of a plate: a small molten glass bead is formed at the end of glassblower Melody Jewitt’s pipe at Flo Glassblowing.
With a second layer of glass added, the ball is formed using an wooden block, just dipped in water to prevent burning.
It’s the altar of glassblower Melody Jewitt, who practises an ancient art that dates to before the Roman Empire. Modern glassblowing has changed little in both technique and the tools used to create ornate, sometimes whimsical pieces of glasswork.
Melody Jewitt blows air through a pipe into molten glass.
Glass maker Melody Jewitt keeps an eye on the red-hot glass as it spins inside a 2000 degree kiln.
Glass maker Melody Jewitt keeps an eye on the red-hot glass as it spins inside a 2000 degree kiln.
Blowpipes for handling and inflating glass, wooden blocks and metal jacks for forming, and cutting shears are just some of the low-tech gadgetry used at Ottawa’s only urban glassblowing studio.
Smoke rises from charred newspaper soaked in water as it forms glass.
Melody Jewitt rolls red-hot molten glass over coloured glass chips.
The studio holds public teaching clinics on evenings and weekends where residents can make their own simple glass creations and gradually progress to more advanced techniques.
A glass ball is heated inside a 2000 degree kiln, fired by natural gas and compressed air.
A finished plate from Flo Glassblowing, Ottawa’s only urban glass blowing studio.
Students will learn that glassblowing, sometimes referred to as the extreme sport of the art world, can be fickle. Timing and balance are key to “the dance”, as Jewitt calls. Get off balance and you’ll see your art work snap and crack. Even after a piece has gone into the last oven to cool, cracking can occur.
So, like a Zen master, Jewitt, has grown to love the process of creating as much as the finished product, the journey rather than the destination.
Flo Glassblowing
Where: 957 Gladstone Ave.
What: The studio is a working facility open for public viewing; a retail gallery; rental space; and a venue for glassblowing workshops
Information: floglassblowing.ca
