Glassblowing Houston

03/06/2026

I think I have been working and to death! It’s good they are heading to GAS 2026!

01/06/2026

There will be lots of postings this week from our family reunion!

We are headed to our family reunion!

26/05/2026

One of the first things kiln-forming teaches you is that the color you start with is not necessarily the color you end up with. 🎨🔥

Glass color is governed by metal oxides — copper, cobalt, manganese, selenium, gold — and those oxides have opinions about heat. Some colors are stable across a wide firing range. Others are deeply sensitive, shifting shades with every 50 degrees of temperature change. Some colors, placed next to each other in the kiln, will bleed into one another in ways that couldn't have been designed on purpose.

We think of it this way: we are not painters applying a color to a surface. We are working in negotiation with chemistry, heat, and time. We can guide — but we cannot fully control. And the surprises that come out of that process are often the most beautiful things we've ever made.

We're starting a color science series this month — sharing the reactions that surprised us most, the combinations that shouldn't work but do, and the ones that taught us the most.

Follow along, and drop a comment: what's the most unexpected color result you've ever seen in a kiln? 🧡

25/05/2026

Glass is made from sand, heat, breath, and intention — and so is freedom. This Memorial Day, we honor those who gave their breath so that we might continue to create, to live, to imagine.
To every fallen hero and the families who carry their memory — thank you.
We are not open Memorial Day, but every piece made in our studio carries a little of that gratitude in it.
🔴⚪🔵

24/05/2026

POV: you're learning that the color of your glass bead is literally ancient earth chemistry 🌋

Cobalt = deep ocean blue
Copper = electric green
Gold = ruby red at the right temp
Manganese = violet and purple

Your torch isn't just a tool — it's a periodic table that melts. 🔬🔥

Comment your favorite color and we'll tell you what's actually inside it.

23/05/2026

Something we find endlessly fascinating about kiln-forming: the firing schedule.

You don't just turn a kiln on and wait. You write a program — a careful sequence of temperatures and time that walks your glass through one of the most precise transformations in all of art-making. 🌡️

Ramp up — gently, so the glass doesn't shock.
Soak — hold the heat until every molecule has equalized.
Process peak — the moment the glass flows, fuses, becomes.
Anneal — the long, slow cooling that releases stress from the glass so it doesn't crack.

We think there's a lesson in that. The best things — the things that don't crack — take time to cool down properly. ✨

What in your life are you learning to anneal?

21/05/2026

Check out our Beyond Glass Blog in our profile links

21/05/2026

Look at the link in our profile to reach our Beyond Glass Blog on the History of Mosaics!

20/05/2026

There's a moment that happens at the furnace — a moment we witness with nearly every corporate group that walks through our doors. 🔥

Someone holds a pipe for the first time, feels the weight of it pulling on the blowpipe, sees the orange glow radiating heat, and hears their colleagues cheering them on. In that instant, something shifts. The usual office dynamics dissolve. Titles don't matter. The playing field levels. What matters is trust, communication, and the shared thrill of creating something beautiful together.

But here's what most people don't realize before they arrive: glassblowing is already a team sport before your group even steps into the hot shop.

Professional glassblowing requires at minimum two people — the gaffer, who leads and shapes the piece, and the assistant, who manages heat and assists with tools. Larger pieces need a full team of four or five, each with a specific role, each dependent on the others making the right move at the right moment.

At 2100 degrees, you cannot fake collaboration. The glass is unforgiving of miscommunication. And when a team of people who don't normally work this closely together suddenly must — something real happens between them.

This is team building the way it was always supposed to feel. If your group is ready, we're here. 🧡