Carol Loves Her Pumpkins
Self-Serving Whining
Frankly, I am starting to get a bit bothered by a reoccurring comment that I get from some of my readers. It goes something like this…”Your wife sure is a trooper to go on all those odd blog missions with you. You are lucky.” Now, please allow me to make three self serving comments to address this notion. First, I am undoubtedly lucky. I am thankful to have a great life, great wife, great kids, and a great dog. So, let’s just move on from that. Secondly, my blog missions are fun over 87% of the time. It does not make you a “trooper” just to accompanying me on a mission. Attendees usually always have fun. Lastly, some blog missions are for the sole purpose of doing something special for my wife. Case in point, I found a very special artistic endeavor for Carol because Carol loves her pumpkins.
Carol’s Dream Mission
For reasons that are unclear to me, Carol loves glass pumpkins. Therefore, I focused some blog mission effort towards this goal. As it happens, about an hour or so away, in the woods of Hocking Hills, there is just the place that I needed. The Jack Pine Glassblowing Studio could not have been a more perfect fit for Carol. This studio makes a variety of glass art, as well as features art from other local artists. But most importantly, the bread and butter of the studio is glass pumpkins. And, if that was not enough, beyond making and selling the art, the studio offers workshops where participants can make their own glass pumpkin.
Carol Makes Art
First, let’s talk cost. It’s not as bad as you might expect. The workshop was about $80 each. But, provided it does not totally suck, you do get to keep your glass pumpkin. There is not a pumpkin in the place for less than $50. So, for $80 you get an hour long, hands on workshop…with a take home pumpkin…that’s fairly reasonable. The instructor does a couple of the most difficult steps. But overall, you put in over 80% of the needed skill/effort into making the pumpkin. Enough said. Let’s let the pictures show you the fun.
Initially, the workshop starts with the instructor making a quick pumpkin so you have a good mental picture of the process. Then, the instructor hands you your very own molten, glass blob on the pipe. You need to spin the pipe to keep the blob centered. Next, you roll it on the table to cool down the outer part and get a bit of a exterior skin.
The first step in coloring you pumpkin is jamming the blob into one of the color bowls (green in this case). Next, you fire the blob in the oven for a few seconds to melt the green chips. Then, you roll the blob on the table again to pick up the accent color flecks scattered on the surface. Lastly, back to the oven to further melt the components together.
Now, the trickier parts…
At this point, you really start to think you are a craftsman…craftsperson. You need to roll your blob in that metal “thing” to give it just the right shape for the pumpkin mold. Once the desired shape is achieved, you jam the blob into the pumpkin mold on the floor. While it’s in the mold, you blow into the pipe to enlarge the blog and fill the mold. The mold gives the blob the outer ribs of a pumpkin. As we learned, the glass does not stick to any of these surfaces. As long as the metal is cold and glass is hot, the shaped blob will not stick to the mold.
With some key assistance from your instructor, a bit more blowing, and some shaping, you start to actually see a pumpkin. Now, that only leaves the final and most difficult step…attaching the stem.
You only get one shot
Up to this point, there was more forgiveness in each step than you might imagine. But, when it comes to the stem, you only get one shot at it. The instructor offers to do it for you if you want to ensure success. Carol opted to do it herself…
The instructor gathers the new blob for the stem and dabs it on the top of your pumpkin. Then, he stretches it upward to create the stem. Now, here comes the toughest part. You have grab the top of the molten stem. Spin the glass into a curly cue. And finally, drop the curly cue back on the pumpkin while creating the circular part of the stem. If you do it reasonably correct, you end up with something like this…
Wrap it up
I hope you have enjoyed this photographic tour through the pumpkin making process. If you do not like pumpkins, they also have a workshop to create a paper weight. But, who would rather have that? Anyway, I feel that I would be irresponsible if I ended this post without a serious warning. While I did find the workshop to be reasonably priced fun. There is a downside. Before and after the workshop, Carol was able to linger in the retail showroom. The last picture above is the additional, artist made pumpkins that Carol purchased. The price of the artist made, purchased pumpkins exceeded the actual cost of the workshop. But, oh well, what is a devoted husband to do…Carol loves her pumpkins. PT
I hope you have enjoyed reading “Carol Loves Her Pumpkins” on Traveling with PugsleyTonks.
Here’s another time where I sacrificed my happiness to please Carol https://travelingwithpt.com/immersed-in-van-gogh/
If you want to make your own pumpkin at Jack Pine’s Studio https://www.jackpinestudio.com/
