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Hello, my name’s Todd Hansen. We’re here at the Art of Fire Contemporary Glassblowing Studio in Laytonsville, Maryland. We're at www.artoffire.com. I’ve been a glass blower for about twelve years now, I’ve got several different lines of glasswork that I work on, and I’ll be talking to you about glassblowing. Hand blown glass has been around for, at least, 2000 years uh when the Romans started really industrializing and modernizing tools. Um re-differentiate between the glass blown and hand blown uh versus machine blown or mold blown, and it’s a big difference. Uh, if you look at the bottom of a sticker of a piece, and it says hand blown, then it should be hand formed as well. If you see something that says mouth blown, your piece is probably blown into a mold um, technically that’s correct but as far as being handmade or not is uh, that’s probably debatable. But before the advent of molds and machinery and equipment that can grind and polish uh a uh work off uh hand blown, hand formed glass was how it’s been done for thousands and thousands of years. And that’s the style of glasswork that we practice here um. We do things from start to finish by hand using heat, gravity, centrifugal force and hand tools that have been uh created and used by glassblowers for generations. And it’s just a satisfying feeling to make something truly by hand that’s actually a piece of your work, um you know if you look at something that’s got the spun marks on it or something that looks like it came from a mold if it’s uh you know the dozen’s or so behind it then it probably was. If you find something that’s got a little bit more unique quality to it, that’s probably a hand-made piece and that’s got a little more character to it. That’s the kind of glass we like, that’s the kind of glass we make.

1. Introduction to Glassblowing
2. What Tools Do You Need?
3. How to Find a Class
4. How to Find a Job
5. How to Pick a Kit
6. How to Rent a Studio
7. Where Is the Best Glassblowing Museum?
8. How Much Do Glassblowing Artists Make?
9. Is Glassblowing School Necessary?
10. How to Use a Blow Pipe
11. 6 Tips, Tricks & Techniques
12. How to Shape Glass
13. 4 Glory Hole Tips
14. How to Use Puffers & Steam Sticks
15. How to Use Tweezers to Shape Glass
16. How to Use Jacks & Pacioffis
17. How to Use Diamond & Straight Shears
18. How to Get Started
19. History of Glassblowing
20. What is Glass Art?
21. History of Handblown Glass
22. Can Glassblowing Be Done at Home?
23. Glassblowing Safety
24. How Hot Does the Glass Get?
25. How to Pick Supplies
26. How to Dress for Class
27. How to Marver Glass
28. How to Decorate Handblown Glass
29. How to Use Newspaper as Heat Protection
30. How to Handle Hot Handblown Glass
31. How to Handle Fallen Molten Glass
32. How to Color Handblown Glass
33. How to Use Blocks & Paddles
34. How to Blow Glass with Todd Hansen
35. How to Blow Glass with Ed Donovan

Learn about glassblowing from pros Todd Hansen and Ed Donovan in these Howcast videos.