Kids get glass blowing lesson

A group of home school students took a short field trip last week to watch a glass blower in action.

Gary Olson showed 45 children from the Clark Fork Christian Home School Co-op the art of glass blowing at his workshop in Plains last Thursday. "He did an excellent job getting that many kids through to get that type of education," said Susanna Feiro, who heads the co-op school board and whose daughters, Solveig, 11, and Soren, 8, were part of the first of three groups at the glass blowing demonstration. "They had an excellent time," said Feiro, who added that the kids talked about it on the drive all the way to Superior afterwards.

Olson gave each group a mini lecture on glass blowing, including information on the materials and tools, keeping the glass clean, as well as safety measures when doing it. Feiro reminded the kids to periodically look away from the flame. She told them that it was similar to a "welder's flash," which can happen when looking at a welder's torch. Feiro told them that if their eyes felt hot that night, they could cut a potato and put it on their eyes. " It pulls the heat from your eyes," said Feiro, whose husband, Benjamin, was a welder.

Nine of the kids had the opportunity to make a glass product themselves with Olson's guidance. Each took about eight minutes to make their glass piece, which were about an inch and a half long. Olson doesn't do the traditional blowing air through a tube, but instead uses rods of colored glass that he heats with a torch. He heats the glass to around 2,000 degrees when making the forms. Once done, he places the piece in a kiln, where the temperature was almost 12,000 degrees. He told the kids that the kiln bakes out the tiny air bubbles and seals the pieces, which keeps them from cracking. The kids' pieces had to remain in the kiln overnight, but one of the parents would later retrieve them for the kids. Olson first made a glass knife for the demonstration. It was used to cut a red velvet cake that he got for the kids.

Each student that was selected to make something first practiced turning the two rods, just like they would be doing in the flame. Elsie Meyers, 12, was the first to form her piece, a pendant. "It was super fun because I got to see the glass change colors," said the 12-year-old Meyers, a Plains resident. Solveig, also from Plains, made a yellow and clear pendant. She also loved making her jewelry and wanted to do another.

All but Gideon Hitchcock made pendants. The 6-year-old Paradise boy made an icicle for his Christmas tree. Gideon, the youngest at the torch, was a little nervous and wanted his mother, Naomi, to stand with him, but when Olson got him ready with the glass tubes, he was fine. The kids that made pieces included: Soren Feiro, Clara Palmer, Moriah Champneys, Luthien Bennett, Annaliese Sapp, Dillyn Doble, Daniel Warnes, and Hannah Warnes.

Olson has been a glass blower since 1999 in Minnesota where he was born and raised. He has given countless demonstrations for kids and adults since he started, but he said he has more fun showing kids the glass blowing process. He's made a large variety of different pieces over the years from dragonflies to entire chess sets. He likes working with glass because when he breaks a piece he can heat it up again and reuse it. Olson doesn't do his glass blowing as a full time job, but he will be getting a Facebook page for selling his products.

"That's the neat thing about glass, you start out with one thing and finish with something else," Olson told the students. He also told them that he's basically a welder, but with glass instead of metal.

He said the session with the home schoolers went great. He said the kids and parents asked a lot of questions. "I think they were in awe and were flabbergasted with it," said Olson.

The students ranged from kindergarten to 10th grade and were comprised of kids from Trout Creek, Thompson Falls, Plains, Paradise, St. Regis, and DeBorgia. The students at the school come from 34 families, said Feiro, who has headed the co-op for the last three years. The co-op has been in operation for several years and for the most part parents teach their kids at home, but they meet at the Plains Bible Chapel for 10 classes each Tuesday. This was the first field trip of the year for the home school co-op school, said Feiro.