Pineapple – Blown Glass Figurine

This summer, I was obsessed with the Netflix show "Blown Away," which is three seasons of glass blowing experts creating the most elaborate glass sculptures I've ever seen, competing for cash, the title of champion, and a coveted guest artist residency at the Corning Museum of Glass in New York.

To celebrate my autumn birthday, my sweet and perceptive husband booked us a session with a master glass blower in Lombard - Mr. Robert Lee Fritz. What an amazing gift! He's the best.

In the three-hour personal class, Robert and I made two solid-glass pineapples. The first pineapple was a test to learn the skills of sculpting a solid piece of molten-hot glass, rolling it in a mixture of colored glass fragments called frit, punching divots to create texture, then adding an outer layer of clear glass to encase the final form and capture air bubbles. We bonded the green glass to the top with intense heat, and used metal scissors to cut the leafy segments you see here.

I've never had so much fun!

This pineapple figurine was our second attempt, after I had perfected my technique. He kept the original.

Next, we made two little blown glass pink Christmas trees, a different process than the solid glass sculptures. Click here to see the one I took home!