Stavanger Glassblåseri

Wednesday 24 October 2012

Yesterday, I took a little field trip to Stavanger Glassblåseri with INN (International Network of Norway.)  They organise different activities throughout the month to help new arrivals settle into life in Stavanger.  Sometimes they're fun activities, like yesterdays, and sometimes they are more practical, like learning Norwegian traffic rules.  In any case, this activity was free unless you chose to pay the 300 NOK to try your hand at making a small glass fish.

Our small group was introduced to Trine Sundt, the in house artist.  Within the hour, she made 2 wine glasses and a small bowl to model the process of glass blowing.























Everything revolves around the oven - it runs 24 hours a day, 7 days of week and she typically uses 1 tonne of gas per month!  Once that small white door was removed, the room quickly heated up and the fires were raging inside.

























It's a continual process of rolling, shaping, cooling, adding and forming using a variety of tools all of which was fascinating to watch.

















































She makes a variety of pieces all of which are for sale in her shop.  (Interesting fact: The Norwegian government only considers it as 'art' if it doesn't have a specific use.  Basically, everything Trine makes is 'useful' and thus pays 25% tax on everything that is sold.)




7 comments:

  1. Such a cool process to watch - and her finished products are so beautiful :) I think it's so great that Norway has a network like INN, I wish south africa would do the same!

    xxx
    Jenna

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  2. Wow. That is incredibly! Does she have a website where she sells her creations?

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  3. I've always been intrigued with the glass blowing concept. Such a neat art and her work is so beautiful! especially loved the wine glasses with the heart.

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  4. Hm, my inner-art-school-student has a bone to pick with that Norweigan art tax rule...

    I love watching glass blowers. Mesmerizing.

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  5. What a fantastic experience. I love to watch how these artisans create and work with the glass.

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  6. I've always wanted to go glass blowing! That's so cool that you got to watch them...it amazes me how it works!

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  7. I have always wanted to take a course and learn the techniques of glass blowing. Thanks for sharing your experience!

    www.therecordologist.blogspot.com

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