What is in involved in the process of glass blowing. Trying to figure out how Dale Chihuly does it?

Answer 1

Hey KC,

Traditionally, the glass was melted in furnaces from the raw ingredients of sand, limestone, soda ash, potash and other compounds. The transformation of raw materials into glass takes place well above 2000°F (1100°C); the glass turns into a burnt orange color, the glass is then left to "fine out" (allowing the bubbles to rise out of the mass), and then the working temperature is reduced in the furnace to around 2000°F (1100°C). "Soda-lime" glass remains somewhat plastic and workable, however, as low as 1000°F (550°C).

Glassblowing involves three furnaces. The first, which contains a crucible of molten glass, is simply referred to as "the furnace." The second is called the "Glory Hole", and is used to reheat a piece in between steps of working with it. The final furnace is called the "lehr" or "annealer", and is used to slowly cool the glass, over a period of a few hours to a few days, depending on the size of the pieces. This keeps the glass from cracking due to thermal stress. Historically, all three furnaces were contained in one, with a set of progressively cooler chamber for each of the three purposes. Many glassblowing studios in Mexico and South America still employ this method.

The write up above is from the site below, and there is much more:

Answer 2

Chihuly is a master at coordinating the many facets of glassblowing into a cohesive process that looks almost like dance. When he builds a big glass sculpture there are a bunch of moving parts that come together at the very end when he uses molten glass to stick the parts together. There are some great videos available -- here is a link http://www.chihuly.com/Video/screening.html
The "Venetian" video is awesome!

Answer 3

If you would like a narrative of detailed steps, go here
http://users.ticnet.com/mikefirth/glostool.htm#SESSION
There are a number of videos available showing the steps. Chihuly uses a tradtional team instead of doing it all himself as many modern glassblowing artists do. One of the legacies he leaves behind is a great many gaffers who have extended their ability to do large pieces from working on his teams.