Tropical Glass Design

At Beverly's Tropical Glass Design we use several different methods for creating our glass work. Here we show you the process for our blown glass, and our carving/etching process. Select any image to see a larger version, and use back on your browser to return to this page.

Blown Glass
	The first step we use to blow a piece of glass is called Gathering. Here Beverly is collecting glass from the furnace onto the metal pole. The glass furnace is extremely hot operating at 2000 plus degrees.	Here we see excess molten glass drips off the blow pipe.

	During the Marver stage, the glass is rolled onto a steel table to gain an on-center cylinder. In ths particular photo, the hot glass is being rolled in materials to add color to the piece that is being created.	Here the hot glass is put back into what is called a Glory Hole. This is used to remelt the glass to the proper temperature.

	In this image, you can see that the material put on the glass has melted and is now ready for another color to be added.	Here another color is being added. This will be added back into the Glory Hole to melt again.

	One more color is added to the piece before it is ready to Cap.	During the Cap process we blow into the pipe and cover the hole with our thumb to trap air inside the pipe. This causes the bubble to begin inflating. Here we see our piece being reinserted into the glory hole to warm up the glass.

	Raul shapes and inflates the form.	Bill transfers the piece onto a punty for finishing.

	Raul adds hot glass to the lip of the piece while Bill rotates the punty.	Here Beverly spins the piece on the rolling yoke to flare it open.

	The piece achieves its flared shape, and is ready to be knocked off the punty.	A protective suit is worn to put the final piece in the annealer for slow cooking. If the glass is cooled too quickly it will become unstable and break.