TACOMA, Wash. — To truly appreciate the magic that brings glass pumpkins to life, I'm picking out the colors, dressing up in a glassblower's gloves and glasses and joining Ben Johnson in the hot shop at Tacoma Glassblowing Studio.
"It just brings a lot of joy to me every time I'm making a pumpkin," Johnson said.
And that's a good thing because he and his team make 6,000 glass pumpkins every year.
Each is unique, but they all begin as a liquid molten piece of glass
"It's just like hot honey," Johnson said handing me a rod that must be consistently spun so it won't lose it's shape as it cools.
Glassblowing is an art form that involves a little bit of chemistry and a whole lot of heat.
"We're talking about 2300 degree heat in the chambers," Johnson said." So I'm going to have you stand back."
Johnson is a true artist, capable of producing beautiful works that sell for over $1000. He's been working at the studio since 2011, so of course he takes the lead while I try to follow along.
We roll the molten glass through shards of color.
"Nice and steady," Johnson advised. "Then all the way up. We're going to give this a nice little push together."
The glass wants to droop so, again, Johnson and I hand off the rod to keep it spinning.
There are molds to give the pumpkins their ridges and, rather than blowing, we pump air through the rods to give the pumpkins their shape.
Finally, the stem has to be wrapped like taffy in one single move before we set in an annealing oven for the next 20 hours. As it settles it will take on a transparent cobalt blue color with an olive colored stem.
Back home it will be a colorful keepsake that will never spoil.
This is Glass Pumpkin season at Tacoma Glassblowing Studio. You can find a full time patch at Waterfront Market at Ruston. There are also patches every weekend leading up to Halloween and beyond. This Saturday you'll find a patch at Pioneer Park Pavilion in Puyallup.
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