The Glory Hole

Caithness Glass is an amazing place. A tourist trap, a museum, a gift shop, a restaurant & a workshop all rolled into one structure in Perth, Scotland. Although I, personally, wasn't overly interested in going there a batch of us did so nonetheless. And all because our dear friend Shannon Morgan (of Girl Glass) has been instructing Ginger, Marita Beth and several other "baby gaffers" in the fine art of glass-blowing. So, of course we had to stop at one of the largest glass blowing plants in Europe. And I'm glad we did. Caithness Glass has this workshop environment where there are 10 or so workers creating pieces at any given time. It's huge! And, like the faire environment, the spectators can be right there next to the worker as the item is being created. There is also an upper balcony allowing for a slightly different perspective of the same arena. This photo is of a piece being inserted back into the "glory hole" to be heated back to a working temperature. Ginger, Marita Beth, Larry & Denise could have stayed and watched all day. I'm a little more ADD than that and fear that after the second piece had been created I moved on. I took a quick tour through the giftshop, bought a book, then went and sat down in the restaurant and had a beer (big surprise there, eh?). It wasn't too long after that that the rest of the party showed up & we left. But, we left with glass in hand and a newly engendered respect for the craft. Long may hand-made traditions survive. Wastrel On! (Listening to: Learn to Fly by The Foo Fighters)