Have you ever wondered how people shape glass? If you bend glass, it will break. Glass used for glassblowing is melted in a furnace. The solid glass becomes a soft, hot liquid called molten glass. The molten glass is kept at a temperature of 2,000 degrees. That’s as hot as lava from a volcano! Glass blowers use a long steel pipe like a straw. It is called a blowpipe. Glassblowers use the blowpipe to get melted glass out of the furnace. After they take the blowpipe out of the furnace, they blow air into the pipe. The air creates a bubble. Glassblowers shape the warm glass bubble into art forms. Then the piece of glass art is put into a cooling oven called an annealer. The glass stays in the annealer for several hours to slowly cool and to prevent it from cracking.
Glassblowers are artists. They work in a studio. Glassblowers take precautions from the intense heat of ovens and glass by wearing protective eyewear. They follow safety guidelines every time they go to work. Glassblowers create delicate structures, colorful vases, jewelry, and many other beautiful objects.
What Can You Do? How can glass be recycled and reshaped for a different use? Check to see if you have glass recycling in your area.
Reading Response Click on this link to respond to your reading. Print out the response page or upload it to your classroom site.
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