A Day in the Glass Studio

I thought you guys might like to see some pictures of our cold shop at the studio I work at. Cold working is pretty important to glass workers. We can grind, cut and polish to do a variety of things.

These pieces were made by my boss in the hotshop. After I cut, grind and polish them they will be for a local University and used as awards. You can see the tops are all broken and I need to cut them to an angle.

 Next I have to cut of the tops with a wet saw. Super important to wear safety glasses! I had to wear a big rubber smock. I swear I looked like Dexter. 

 On to the lap wheel where I have to grind the tops of the vases to an angle and smooth out the coarse cut.

You have to hang on tight when using the wheel. The first time I used the grinding wheel the glass slipped out of my hands and smashed on the wall. Luckily I was the only one in the shop at the time. Scary!

Finally I have to grind the bottoms flat so they stand up nice and straight and not lean forward or backward.

Tomorrow I have to use a finer grit on the wheel then on the the belt sander then a final polish. 
So that was my day! Hope yours was good.