12 July 2007
Day Ten at Bristol
I spent most of my day in the glass studio today. This is my fourth summer to benefit from the tutelage of Shannon Morgan of Girl Glass. Shannon is the resident glassblower at the Bristol Renaissance Faire, where I am all summer, and I am one of five or six “baby apprentice” glassblowers learning from her. She is a great teacher–completely open and selfless in her sharing of the art as she knows it. We are beyond fortunate!
This season, Shannon is here at Bristol without a regular full-time apprentice, so we are all sharing that responsibility. One guy is able to work two or three days a week, and weekends. Each of us girls, is able to put in a day, or a few hours here and there. Today, I assisted on a number of pieces, and then had some time of my own to refamiliarize myself with how the glass feels, how the pipes handle, etc. It felt great! And I did pretty well. Unfortunately, the little tumbler I was working on dropped from the punte before finishing. I was working a little too cold, and the punte was a little too small, and obviously way too cold. Live and learn. Hopefully, next time I’ll get to put a piece away!
I must go and do some serious sewing, now! It is easy to fall victim to “proglasstination”–the fine art of using glassblowing as a procrastination technique, when you really ought to be doing something else entirely! 
~MB
