At Horizon Glassworks we use traditional “off hand” techniques handed down through the years by European master craftsmen. This is the most common style of glass blowing in the world today. “Off hand” or “hand blown” glass work should not be confused with mold blown, kiln formed or machine made glass. In our process we have a pot furnace filled with molten glass that runs 24 hours a day at 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. To start we dip iron blow pipes into the furnace to gather the glass. Successive gathers are taken until we have the desired size for the work. We use clear glass as the base medium. Color is added during the gathering process in a variety of techniques. The piece is re-heated in the “glory hole” furnace until the work is completed. The hot glass is manipulated and expanded using hand tools and blowing techniques by the “gaffer” (aka glass blower) and his team of assistance. Once the piece is to the desired shape and size it transferred to a punty iron using a break off method. Thus the piece is turned around so the neck and lip of the piece and be finished. The piece is then tapped off the punty and placed into and annealing oven to cool slowly usually over a twelve hour period.