It's the glass pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

Remember our friend who does glassblowing?  She invited us to help again with her fall harvest of glass pumpkins.  I've only personally known one other person who did glassblowing, and she did it as a class; as she told it, the instructor did most of the work, but she got to make pumpkins as part of the class, and she was pretty excited about the results.  Our local glassblowing friend took a class in college, got into it, and now works on her own using rented time to produce all of her pieces (it's expensive enough to buy your own materials, but installing the kiln and other necessary appliances in your apartment would be ridiculous. And really, really hot).

The catch for her is that some of the work is easier to do when she has a little help.  Fortunately, I'd do that sort of thing for free because I like seeing how stuff is done, and I'm fascinated by learning new processes.  She's still willing to add the enticement of giving us one of the pieces we help make.  If you want your own, check out her store!

Wood forms have to be soaked in water so they don't burst into flames.  As it is, you still smell them smoking a little.

Newspaper has to be soaked, too, for the same reason.  It smokes a lot more, and ashy bits flake off and float around as she works.

This mold provides pumpkin-y ridges. 

That pinch point will be the top of the pumpkin.  Later, we break it from the blowpipe at that point, and the stem is added as a separate piece before the glass cools.

If pumpkins don't have a flat base, they roll away and shatter on the floor.

The pieces will slowly cool in this box over 12 hours.  Cooling faster will cause them to break.

Tools of the trade.