Glassblowing Demonstration

We took our water taxi from Venice over to the island of Murano for a glass making demonstration. This little island is one of many known for its beautiful glass and the rich tradition of glass blowing. They moved the glass factories in the 12th century because it was not safe to have hot ovens so close to the wooden buildings in Venice. They moved all of the production out of the city to Murano to keep the fire risk down. Today, this glass is world famous for its bright colors and use of different techniques to create beautiful glass vases, jewelry, and more. 

Inside the showroom we crowded around to watch one of the artisans make a vase and then a beautiful horse while they demonstrated the various steps. 

Our glass blower has been blowing glass in his family since the 14th century. His family photo is in the table. Our glass blower has been doing it for 40 years and that’s considered young, with masters having 70-80 years of experience. 

He was finishing a vase when we first arrived. He heated up the glass in what looks like a large pizza oven and rolled it in the colored material which is made from different minerals. There are no molds so every piece is completely unique — no two pieces are the same.

To show us how hot it was they put in a piece of tissue and it immediately caught on fire. 

When he finished the piece he moved it to a special oven that is programmed to bring down the temperature gradually so it won’t explode. It takes about 24 hours to cool down. 

Next he started a fresh piece that would eventually turn into a horse. He put it in and out of the oven to warm it up to be able to shape it. He used the power of gravity to pull and stretch the glass quickly into shape. It’s almost like working with melted marshmallows to make rice crispy treats! The piece went in and out of the fire to heat it and then he used a variety of tools, some like scissors others like knives, and some just blowing on it, to form the shapes. He rolled the glass over bronze topped tables which helped shape the glass into shape.

Here are some videos of it in action!

After he finished we all moved into the showroom to see more beautiful pieces, and of course to shop!  Then enjoying the sunshine outside on the dock as we waited for our water taxi. 

After our stop it was back on the boat, with a farewell from our new Italian friends and off to the next island!