Glassblowing

Our Troop took the train from Chicago to Indiana to camp out on the sand dunes and learn how to blow glass.

After a hearty breakfast we needed to first learn safety. Molten glass is between 1,800°F to 2,400°F so its is really important to be safe.

First we had to gather some molten glass out of the furnace’s glory hole. Even standing back it was really hot.

Then we could roll the glass on the marver to shape it into a cylinder. This let us add some color to the glass.

From there is was blow, rotate, reheat, repeat. After a lot of hard work we got our blown glass bulb. Oh, and did we mention the glass is hot? We could roast marshmallows with a bit of leftover glass.

At the end of the day we all had a unique glass ornament to bring home for the holidays.