Prerequisites:
First Lesson or equivalent, 2 weeks watching Master Glass Blowers
Required Materials:
Books, Safety Glasses, Gloves. Glass Gods will provide most necessary tools for the first 12 months.
Cost:
Scholarships available for up to four students at one time. To apply, turn in a resume and please follow up. Estimated cost of tuition without scholarship for 6 months is $5400 and 12 months is $9500.
Progam:
Our desire is to teach you not only how to blow glass, but to learn small business practices including operating a retail store. This is a very rigorous program requiring dedication and challenging work. The cost of the program ranges from $2,100 to over ten thousand depending how far you want to go and how much you want to succeed. If accepted, the scholarship is for the first twelve months and you must reapply each term. You must complete the first six months or be subject to penalty and you will be required to pay back the cost of tuition to date.
If accepted, you are required to sit in for a two-week trial period to determine if the program is a good fit. After the trial, you are enrolled for a six-month provisional position. After trial we work with you one on one, at your pace, as long as progress is being made. Like any class or job, there are strict requirements and regulations and if they are not met, we may terminate your position at any time and you will be held responsible for the cost to date. Courses do not have specific time limits but do have detailed milestones that must be met before moving on to the next lesson.
Our program is constantly changing, improving, and adding courses. Below you will find a short description of some (but not all) of the lessons available.
- Safety: bench setup including oxygen and propane gases, eye protection and the hazards of the electromagnetic spectrum as related to glass blowing, physical hazards and safety together with proper warm up stretching to prevent stiffness and pain, chemical hazards such as fumes from hot glass and incinerating chemical elements found in colored glass.
- Cutting Cold Glass: use proper tools and safety equipment to cut cold glass.
- Materials and Equipment: torch and flame types including proper gas mixture as well and igniting and using the flame, kiln use and safety, proper melting and molding temperatures for different types of glass, tools of the bench comprising but not limited to mandrels, molds, reamers, tweezers, lighters, graphite pads and paddles, and much more.
- Beginning lampworking (solid): function and use of bead release applied to steel mandrels, handling of glass in the flame and beginning lampworking, melting, shaping, and molding glass COE 96 to 104, application of color to clear, creating mandrel beads, decorating, cleaning, and display for sale.
- Lampworking Borosilicate Glass COE 33 Bead Shapes (solid): mandrel, pendant, slumped.
- Hollow Glass: flame working hollow tubes and vessels, welding, frit use and application, working with gold and silver, inside-out decoration, inside and outside embellishments.
- Sculptures: several courses on human sculpture, animal, landscape, abstract, and creative.
- Advanced Marbles: deep design in solid form using all techniques learned to date.
- Advanced Hollow: Large welds, hot glass, and lots of color to create heavy artistic pieces.
- Millefiori: produce canes and/or rods using stringers, color rod, clear rod. Learn techniques to create an image only viewable on the end of the rod. Anneal in the kiln, cutting rod into viewable pieces of glass used for decoration and other adornments.
- Sandblasting: techniques beginning with the computer program used to create the image, different ways to transfer the image including washout or photoresist application using UV light, blasting the image onto molded silica glass using an abrasive blaster (multiple types available including a gravity fed abrasive blaster with a medium of aluminum oxide or a sandblast cabinet with siphon system and pressure pot).
- Commercial Sales and Vending: Attend, assist, and run a booth at a large craft or art show in the Spokane region assisted by a master glass blower and/or business owner. Booth registration, setup and teardown, display, sales, tax registration, collection, and payments to the appropriate Department of Revenue.
- Business Loans and Financing: Create a business plan for your own retail store, prepare your finances, finding and applying for loans, grants, and funding, Business Law and Regulations (in conjunction with the Small Business Association and Small Business Development Council of Washington State University Spokane Extension). Licensing and permits, marketing your business.
- Growing Your Business: Leading your company to profit using local resources, internet, email, text, and coupon marketing, exporting and importing goods, business relations and memberships, confidential sale of business.
