Masterclasses

Pix: laying out murrine; blowing them into a vase; my first attempts at using a footboard and a cup and stem that broke at crack off.

For the last two days we have had masterclasses in Venetian techniques - goblets, murrine, cane and so on. All morning, demonstrations; both afternoons, we tried out goblet-making for ourselves. Right up my street - what a joy! Loved every minute of it, and we who were there were very lucky -- just three and sometimes four of us with two tutors there to help. This was such luxury compared to my usual working alone - though I did ask for (and got) lots of tips for solo working. I have to say, most of my 'goblets' were 'floor models' - but we were all pretty much in that boat. And I learned such a lot. These are going to be my first ones with a foot using my new foot-board, and two were blown. Very wobbly, probably won't stand up - but I had such a good time. Slightly shocked that only 3 out of a pool of about 40 glass students took up the opportunity.