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Arts & Entertainment

Holiday Ornament Making is Popular Pastime

Duckbill Studios glass-blowing workshop in Scottdale offers classes for novices

Glassblowing isn't Garry Bechdol's profession, but thanks to Duckbill Studios in Scottdale, he has presented family and friends with personally hand-blown glass ornaments for the past few years.

Duckbill Studios, which maintains equipment and space for professional glass artists, lends its ovens to novices like Bechdol in December for holiday ornament blowing. Patrons get to work with a glass artist, who helps them choose the color and style of the softball-sized ornament, said studio co-owner Susan Chin.

Jeremy Alford, who earned a college degree in glassblowing from Georgia Southwestern State University, is on hand to help clients create ornaments. He begins by inserting a hollow blowpipe into the bright orange maw of the furnace.

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Once heated, he dips the end of the pipe in another nearby furnace, picking up a glowing orange glob of molten glass. Stepping over to a stainless steel table, he adds color to the  hot orb by dipping it into one of a row of gravy boats brimming with shards of colored glass.

"It's like molasses on the end of a stick," Chin said. "You've got to keep turning it to keep its shape."

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Despite Decembers chill, the glowing ovens keep the studio space toasty.

"It's creative and I get to play with stuff," said Bechdol.

Kathy Jernigan brought her niece, Molly Wolf, to the studios to make ornaments. Jernigan said she discovered the studio while researching a novel featuring a glassblowing operation. 

Wolf concentrates intently as she works with Alford to shape her ornament. On cue, she blows into a rubber tube connected to the blowpipe, expanding the thick glob of molten glass into a shimmering ornament. After a few minutes of shaping, heating and turning, Alford trims the ornament from the pipe and adds a curlicue of clear glass to the end, to attach a ribbon for hanging from a tree.

Donning a silver helmet that resembles a moon suit, Alford inserts the new ornament into another oven, called an annealer, where it cools down slowly. After a few days, the ornament are ready for pick-up.

During the holidays, Duckbill Studios schedules $35 ornament workshops on Saturdays.

The rest of the year Duckbill offers other glassblowing classes.

Year-round, Duckbill Studios rents space out to artists. In early December, seven glass artists were using the studio space. One of the artists, Kristen Malone, has been blowing glass for 14 years.

"It makes it easy for us to come in and work and not have to worry about managing or running a shop," says Malone.

Duckbill Studios opened five years ago and is named for a tool that blowers use to create an edge -- the duckbill.

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