Glass Making in Pontiac, Michigan

My husband does incredible things and more specifically he meets (and introduces me to) INCREDIBLE people.  He just finished a class and one of his classmates has an amazing career. She is an artist and she owns a studio to make art out of glass.  Her name is April Wagner. She is amazing. Tucked away in a corner of Pontiac, Michigan her workshop is like an art museum full of fragile little master pieces. Each creation is special and unique.  The colors are so intense in some and muted in others, all the glassware she makes has its own personality. Some are functional, like drinking glasses, bowls, vases; others are decorative and just beautiful.
Randy and I were privileged enough to get to make our own art. We got to make icicles.

The kiln (the small fire hole in which the glass melts) is about 2000 degrees. The melted glass is very hot and obviously can't be touched by human hands, so there are these very long metal sticks. (I probably should have spent some time learning the lingo, but I didn't so I will try and make it sound as simple as possible.)The glass is heated and we apply some color, it looks like sanding sugar and we take the melted glass and fuse this "sugar" into it. After that the glass goes back into the fire.  When the glass comes out of the fire it is very pliable, it can be easily bent and shaped. This is where tools like metal tongs and diamond cutters come into use. First we make indents into the glass, then reheat, then we pulled it out (like taffy) and twist it to give it the icicle shape.

Randy's, of course, came out perfect. The colors he picked were great. Mine was ok, but it's largely in part to the excellent professionals we had helping us. I don't think I'm going to be giving up my day job anytime soon, but this sure was fun! They have workshops four times a year, her website is attached for more information.

This is where we went:

 https://www.epiphanyglass.com/