About glass, because someday I will get to it not only in theory; and everything I do now leads to it, although not directly.

There are three universes: blown glass, molten glass and thin glass that is worked directly with fire (chemical glassware, bongs, some goblets).
I love hand-blown glass pieces very much. Its qualities cannot be reproduced in any other way; it requires a lot of hard work and skill. To become a blown glass master, you need to study thoroughly for a very long time. It also slowly kills your eyesight, back and lungs. The good news is that if you know what you want to make, a workshop can make a product based on your sketch or mould. This is a fairly common practice.
Who I am following:
Jeremy Maxwell Wintrebert
Tanja Pak
Masaki Kusadax ?
Robert Comploj
There are others, maybe later I will make a list with comments.

I won't write about working with fire yet, because I don't know much and I'm not interested in it. Maybe I'll get to the neon (tubes) and light side of it someday. But I follow Johen Holz—he most likely combines blown glass and a gas burner in his works.

But fused (or molten, or cast) glass that is fired in the same kilns as ceramics is my goal.
To do this, you need to learn how to make moulds, understand how the material behaves, have access to sufficiently powerful kilns and, of course, the material itself. You can order glass of a certain brand, but some types of industrial glass are also suitable. Reduce, reuse, recycle, so to speak. It's strange, but I don't have a selection of masters so far, I just like some of the works. But I have a clear idea of the kind of work I will try to implement when it comes to that.

There's a wonderful Richard Whiteley from Australia though, and there's a video with him that I really love: it's a demonstration with blown glass, an experiment for him. My favourite moment is when he explains the key difference in processes and approach to glass. His normal pieces are fired and then cooled for weeks, sometimes months. Then there's the surface treatment. Blown glass means minutes, a few hours at most of very fast, intensive work. Then a few hours in the annealer to cool down—and that's it. If you watch the video, don't miss the part about the telescope lens (start here).

YouTube

Bring the Heat: Richard Whiteley Live Streamed Demonstration

Watch glassmaker Richard Whiteley bring the heat as he blends elements of mold-making techniques with the processes of glass blowing. He contrasts the simplicity of the cylinder form and the inherent beauty of glass with a process of distortion, which involves…

Дихання, ритм і спокій так само важливі для роботи з гончарним колом, як для плавання. Нервую, злюсь — нічого не виходить ні в басейні ні в майстерні; сам процес допомагає заспокоїтися.
За останню сесію підготувала до кінцевого випікання першу роботу, і почала нову.
По ній от поки видно, що спочатку було нервово. Але слухаю Ріка Рубіна (де ти був все моє життя?) і бачу цікаве в неідеальності. І також бачу, що як мені часто зле, сумно, хижо, то і роботи будуть такі. Ну то і добре, хай будуть.

—

Breathing, rhythm and calmness are as important for working with a potter's wheel as they are for swimming. I get nervous, angry—nothing works out either in the pool or in the studio; the process itself helps to calm down though.
During the last session, I prepared the first piece for the final firing and started a new one.
It's quite obvious when you look at it, and see the disbalance, that I was nervous at first.
But then I listen to Rick Rubin (where have you been all my life?), I see the beauty of imperfection. And I also see that as I often feel angry, sad, unsettled, my works will also be like that. But so be it.

Я мріяла працювати зі склом більше декади, і поволі починаю це робити: з кераміки, глазурування, створення форм.
До безпосередньої роботи зі склом як матеріалом як до неба рачки, але якщо не почати зараз, то це не станеться ніколи, n’est-ce pas?

Тож я вирішила піти шляхом доволі класичним. Знайшла португальського скульптора, готового вчити мене тоді, коли я можу вчитися, бо здебільшого я працюю. Із ним ми плануємо поступово від керамічних глечиків дійти до складних молдів для скла і десь знайти достатньо потужну пічку.

В його майстерні пічки старі і втомлені як він сам, але ще щось можуть (цитата). Йому 70, виглядає на 54, спілкуємося англо-португальською, в майстерні я дитина: всі студенти приблизно віку майстра. Звати його Жоао, інакше бути не могло.

Перед вами початок першого глечика, востаннє працювала з гончарним колом років 10 тому, але руки памʼятають.

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I've been dreaming of working with glass for over a decade, and I'm slowly starting to do so: with ceramics, glazing, and creating molds.
It's a long way from working directly with glass as a material, but if it doesn't happen now, it will never happen, n'est pas?

So I decided to take a rather classical route. I found a Portuguese sculptor who is ready to teach me when I can learn, because I work most of the time. With him, we plan to gradually move from ceramic jugs to intricate glass molds and find a sufficiently powerful kiln somewhere.

The kilns in his workshop are old and tired like him, but they can still do something (quote). He is 70, looks 54, we speak English-Portuguese, I am a child in the workshop: all his students are about the same age as the master. His name is João, it couldn't be otherwise.

You are looking at the beginning of the first jug, the last time I worked with a potter's wheel was 10 years ago, but hands do remember.

Це не просто проект моїх друзів, це крутий проект, який має жити і квітнути (чи нести яйця, якщо ми тут про метафори).

Happy Independence Day of Ukraine!
For this occasion online cinema takflix showing «Земля»(Earth) by one of the greatest Ukrainian cinematographers Alexander Dovzhenko. Made in 1930 it have all, beautiful nature, hardworking people and magic of automation. Also jealousy, murder, religious vs atheism tension and much more.
Silent film with soundtrack by Daha-Braha.
10% of tickets proceed goes to StayAlive charity and 50% to Dovzhenko-center.