Last week I went to a local brewery for a Christmas ornament glass blowing class with my parents, my Aunt Reen and our neighbors Perry and Susan. We signed up for the class back in July, so we have been looking forward to it for a while now. None of us have ever done glass blowing before, so we didn’t know what to expect.

After getting a briefing on the process, we were handed our three glass bulbs that we were instructed to fill with little pieces of colored glass that would melt into the glass bulb. Once we were all done with that step, we moved on to the next step. This step involved a blow torch, so we had to pay close attention to the instructions for safety reasons. Once we got the lesson, it was our turn to try.

We had to introduce the glass to the heat, so we were instructed to wave the glass back and forth over the flame for about 30 seconds. After that we were able to keep it directly in the flame. While the glass was burning, we had to keep a close eye on it in order to pull the glass out at the right time. Once it was heated, we were instructed to pull it out and blow into the tube for it to expand. My first one, I blew a little too hard and the glass actually exploded, but I kind of got the hang of it with my second and third ones.

My ornaments could have turned out better, but it was my first time trying something like that, so I’m not too upset about it. I am hoping to have the chance to try again!

— Mary Melnick, social media and editorial coordinator