Handblown Glass Ornaments

We had a wonderful time today at Vetro Glassblowing Studio in Grapevine. Stuart and Nicholas helped in making their own handblown glass Christmas ornaments. Isn't that neat? Nicholas made his ornament for me as a Christmas present and Stuart is going to give his to his parents. What a unique Christmas gift!

There were quite a few people going through making ornaments so they already had the bowls ready with the four color combinations to choose from. To make the ornament, the Vetro worker, Kevin, got some molten clear glass from the furnace on to the end of the wand. Then Stuart rolled the glass into the colored glass chips.


He made a purple and gold ornament for his parents in honor of the LSU Tigers.


Kevin then heated the glass in the furnace and rolled it to blend the colors.


Next, Kevin used tubing to blow air through the wand to expand the ornament into a globe.


Nicholas used my camera to take pictures of the whole process too! I love that he is so interested in photography.


After the glass was blown, Kevin cut it free from the wand and added a loop of glass at the top for hanging.


Next it was Nicholas' turn. Kevin showed him how to roll the glass to pick up the colors.


I was a little worried about Nicholas getting too nervous or acting silly. But I was very proud of him. He realized the need to be calm and careful and did a great job making his ornament.


Kevin did his magic with the furnace and blowing.


Then he added the molten clear glass to the top.


And then Curled it over to make the loop.


This was a fabulous family activity and the guys made two beautiful and unique Christmas gifts. I highly recommend making your own art glass at Vetro. I'm sure they will do the ornaments again next year but they also have other holiday workshops throughout the year. For more information, please visit the Vetro website.

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