It's all Dale Chihuly's fault. His amazing show at the V & A in London in 2001 and then his equally amazing show at Kew Gardens in London in 2005!

Regardless of possessing no previous knowledge of blown glass, I couldn't help feeling that his spectacularly inventive installations were something very unique, created by many skilled people. When I saw the Kew Garden show I promised myself to get a really good understanding of this thing called blown glass by giving it a go somewhere, somehow. A quick internet search in December of 2005 discovered Peter Layton's London Glassblowing Workshop here in London. My first class was so fun, I spent the whole of 2006 going glass mad!

In total I did about 10 lessons, mostly 3 hours long, but one session was 4 days in Northern Denmark! I reckon it adds up to about 100 hours. In that time I succeeded in making around 55 "things". I owe a great deal of thanks to the patient tutoring of the experienced teachers who were always very instrumental in any success I had. Glassblowing is a very refined craft requiring a great deal of time and practice. For a beginner to actually make even the simplest paperweight, an experieced tutor in a studio filled with an array of specialist kit, from a scorchingly hot furnace to a scorchingly hot oven, is absolutely essential.

I would like to thank mostly the three teachers at Peter Layton's studio who suffered through a grand total of eight of my visits. They are : Bruce Marks, Louis Thompson and Anthony Scala. At the Liquid Glass Centre, where I did a weekend group class, I would like to thank Thomas Atherton. Lastly, I would like to say a special thanks to Jonas Staehr at Livingglass in Lonstup in Jutland, Denmark, who taught me for a whole 4 days in his very nice studio/shop. It's a great way to get a grip on some of the difficult skills that make up this captivating craft. Have fun browsing!