L ife contains many mysteries. There are the big questions, such as "Is there a God?" Then there are smaller ones, for example, "How do they get the non-stick lining to stick to a non-stick frying pan?" One that has long puzzled me is this: "How do they get the coloured swirls inside of a glass paperweight?"
Thanks to a trip to Stowford Manor Farm caravan site, I get to find out the answer. On the site is a place called Liquid Glass. It is one of the few places in the country where you can blow glass to create your own vases and paperweights. If you are the sort of person who likes dipping a spoon in golden syrup and watching it run off, you'll like glass blowing. Tom Atherton, the tutor and director at Stowford Manor Farm, says molten glass is the texture of honey. I and my fellow students on the course watch him 'play' with the glob of glass on the end of a metal pole. We later learn that the pole is called a bit iron and this is what you use to gather the molten glass from the furnace.
Tom opens the furnace door to reveal a picture of hell. White hot and angry, the fire burns at 1100?C. Ten feet away, the heat still feels intense. Now I understand why the information we received the day before said we could bring sunglasses if we wished.
After a safety briefing, Tom gets us stuck in. The first lesson is on how to 'gather' using a bit iron. Gathering is the process by which you get molten glass on the end of the bit iron. The ends of the irons are heated by gas jets until they are red-hot, to ensure that they don't cool the molten glass too quickly when they're dipped in. Tom takes one of the irons, opens the furnace door and dips the bit iron into the glowing abyss. He pulls out a small globule that has adhered to the end of the tube, then turns the iron constantly to stop the glass from dribbling onto the floor.
Next it is our turn. I find it hard to judge the level of the liquid glass, and get an uneven blob on my iron. Tom shows us how to find the level by looking for the iron's reflection. It is like dipping a stick into a pond by just looking at the reflection on the water. After a few attempts I improve and begin to get quite a good consistency of glass on the end of my iron. Now for the next stage: drop stopping. "This is a skill you must learn because it is the basis for blowing glass," says Tom. He explains how to use gravity and timing to shape the glass into a teardrop shape.
I pick up another iron to get more glass. My gathering up is uneven, so it is back into the furnace to gather over the top. I pull the iron out of the fire and start twisting it one way, then the other, to even up the shape of the glass blob. When the glass is the right consistency, I hang the iron down to allow a drop, rather like a drip from a tap, to form. Tom tells me to swing the iron to force the drop down more. This sounds crazy. Swinging an iron pole that has red-hot glass on the end could be dangerous. But the blob doesn't come off, and, to my amazement, a piece of glass as pure as a raindrop has formed. Tom says I am a natural, but it is just beginner's luck.

See the May 07 Issue issue of the magazine for this feature in full.