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October 27th, 2021 
Awake Goy The fine art of glassblowing is every bit as intimidating as it seems. From impossibly detailed crystalware to the idea of shaping molten glass from a furnace burning at thousand-degree temperatures—imagining anyone making/working with that is just mind blowing.
But artists do.
And watching them do it is just as amazing as you’d imagine.
The craft of glassblowing is ingenious—and old, harking back millennia, to masters of the art perfecting their craft in workshops (in places like Italy) and handing it down to apprentices over the centuries, all the way up to today.
On the island of Murano, Italy, Maestro Pino Signoretto (commonly known as the “world’s greatest glass sculptor”) performed molten glass magic making his glass horses. One of Signoretto’s students has made a name for herself: the young Brenda Baker, who started glassblowing at the age of 14 in Corning, New York, and now performs her magic glassblowing art on the top decks of cruise ships.
At just 34 years old, Baker has been glassblowing for 20 years, and also has her own glass blowing business, Hollywood Hot Glass, based in South Florida. Watching any of her numerous videos on YouTube or Instagram allows one a glimpse behind the curtain of that “impossible” craft to see how it’s done. But that reveal doesn’t make it any less impressive. If anything, it makes it more amazing.
Baker uses honed, traditional techniques to shape superheated glass—twirled and dipped into frit (glass color), pinched and twisted with iron tongs, fused with other molten bits, and spun again, before being sheared and allowed to cool.
The results are perfection itself: marbled translucent sea turtles, delicate lotus flower petals, glowing conch shells, the Statue of Liberty, and even hummingbirds—all made from what was once just a hunk of glass.
Baker offered The Epoch Times a glimpse behind her glassblowing work: “I take inspiration from life and nature and my mind is always creating. When it’s time to make a piece, I usually sketch it to visualize how I’ll create it.
“I blow glass with an assistant who helps me, and we shape, sculpt, and inflate the molten glass. Once finished, it has to cool down slowly overnight in what’s called an annealer.”
Baker added: “I love the creative process of coming up with ideas and executing them.”
Watch the artist in action:
(Courtesy of Hollywood Hot Glass)
(Courtesy of Hollywood Hot Glass)
(Courtesy of Hollywood Hot Glass)
(Courtesy of Hollywood Hot Glass)
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Epoch Inspired Staff
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Epoch Inspired staff cover stories of hope that celebrate kindness, traditions, and triumph of the human spirit, offering valuable insights into life, culture, family and community, and nature.
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