There are not many high school students who work with molten glass and blow torches, but the kids enrolled in Crefeld School glass studio in Philaedelphia spend hours every week working on all sorts o…
There are not many high school students who work with molten glass and blow torches, but the kids enrolled in Crefeld School glass studio in Philaedelphia spend hours every week working on all sorts of glass projects in the studio. The director of Crefeld glass studio, Josh Cole, has spent three years teaching dozens of 7th through 12th graders, and he has seen students evolve their talents over the course of the semesters and years. Students spend time perfecting their craft, attending lessons in glassblowing, lampworking and wax casting. Students use the furnace and kilns in the “hot shop” to blow glass and create everything from cups and bottles to vases and other figures. With lampworking, students use a blow torch to create intricate glass designs. And with wax casting, students mold a figure out of wax and then layer it in plaster. Then the figure is steamed until the wax melts out and filled with pieces of glass that are melted in the kiln and fill the crevices of the wax figure, leaving a glass figure as the end result. There are challenges with this art form, of course. Projects do not always survive the kiln, or glass gets dropped or malformed. There is a lot of patience needed for this type of work, and lots of teamwork. Students help each other with ideas and the process itself, from assisting with blowing to opening the furnaces. Though the studio has existed at the school since the mid 90s, when Cole arrived three years ago he completely rebuilt the studio with more energy-efficient equipment. Cole studied glass in college, and loves being able to come to work at a fully functioning studio to work with his students. In the summer, Cole will be teaching two weeks of glass workshops for teens starting 20 June 2011. The glass studio, which is a nonprofit program of The Crefeld School, also offers evening adult and teen classes as well as parent and child classes, private and group lessons and studio rental time when school is out of session.