Glass Blowing: How to Gather

Glass Blowing: How to Gather - as part of the expert series by GeoBeats. These pipes are in what we call a pipe warmer. This heats the pipe to a reddish glow at the tip of the pipe. And the reason for this is that glass loves to stick to hot metal. Glass really likes to stick to hot metal. So I take this pipe from here, and this pipe is hollow. I can blow into this end. I always check that it is not blocked. Then I can go into the glass crucible to the furnace. And let me give you a view of what is in there. And I just turn around, turn, turn. And here, if the pipe gets hot, we have got a pipe cooler. We just place it on. I turn slowly, a nice piece of ribbon. And I have got my first glass gather. First golden rule of glass blowing is placement. That means I need the glass off the front of the pipe. It is only the glass off the pipe that will be of any use to me. So, the angle I hold the pipe at, which is slightly down, allows the glass to flow off. And that gives me what we call a good gather.