Decatur Glassblowing — Attraction in Decatur

Taken 3 classes now with them. All have been date night activities (leaving the 3 kids at home with their grandparents moohahahaha). Obviously it's a very hot activity. Believe the furnaces are running above 2K degrees. Classes are generally smaller. Maybe 12-20 people. Just depends on who signs up. Parking is limited but more available around the corner. They of course have a large showroom of premade glasswork if the class is not your thing. Worker with few different instructors now. Did a class that was actually glass blowing. Other 2 classes were just hot glass work. They run through an example prior to bringing you up to do yours. They give you as much control as they can if you are comfortable doing that. Have 2 stations generally going simultaneously. If you go as a couple as it seems has always been the case in our classes you can watch each other go or separate if you just like but dont love that date. They let you pick your colors. Have finished samples of what the colors should look close to when done. When done you have to leave your work for 24-48hrs for annealing (they slowly bring it down from 1000 or so degrees). If you are not local and would rather have it shipped it's been a reasonable rate to do that everytime for us. Shows up at our door lovingly packed. I've worn t-shirts, jeans and they require closed toe shoes for sure. Cotton us suggested. Most classes are set up for beginners who may have never attempted this before. We certainly felt more comfortable the repeat classes. They seem to enjoy repeat students and while they may not remember names seem to know they have seen us before. Classes change through the year. Pumpkins in the fall, flowers in the spring, ornaments in the winter, egg paper weights around Easter. Outside of the classes they can also do custom work for you as well. We will...

All of the people here are super nice, friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable. You get to decide how much hand holding you get in their workshops. They'll make sure you don't mess things up badly (or help you restart if you do) while still letting you give your work unique quirks.

My friends and I made pumpkins there recently and it was a blast. Making the pumpkin only took about 10 minutes and you were free to leave after making yours. Only two people can work with glass at a time and they tend to go in order of sign in. They're flexible though and will let you move in the list to watch/take pictures of your friend. They also give you some choices in making your pumpkin like base and stem colors, how large and fat to make it, and you can make the stem by yourself if you want. I'm sure they offer similar choices for their other workshops.

The people are also happy to answer any random questions you have about glassblowing like how certain techniques are done. They also offer private events if they aren't busy with sign ups for their seasonal stuff.

The only really negative thing here is the parking. It's terrible. I highly suggest carpooling if you're going with multiple people. They have a tiny lot that can hold about 3 cars and a handicap spot. You can also park on the little side street it's on but it's not long so it could easily run out at a popular time.

That said it was a great experience and I really...

This was on my bucket list but I have to admit I was nervous and a bit intimidated. Nathan put those fears to rest immediately. He is the owner, as well as one of the guys who helps teach classes. He let us know that he was willing to help as much or as little as we needed.

He began by demonstrating step by step what the procedure was. He then let us know if we wanted to skip our turn and come back that was fine as well. We skipped our turn and let two people go ahead of us so we could watch. Nathan is very patient with the class. He tells you what to do next after each step, instead of assuming you would remember. He explains that the color you chose won't be vibrant until it cools completely. All colors appear orange at first. I'm posting the before and after pictures so you get an idea of what they looks like in both stages. I chose the blue and my girlfriend chose the multi color. They have to cool overnight and get the base sanded so they are not available to be picked up immediately. If you live close by that's not an issue but if you don't, they do offer shipping options. We just ran back up the following weekend and picked ours up.

The experience was hands on and a lot of fun. They offer different classes for each holiday or you can book a private class to try making more difficult things. I would recommend that everyone try this at least once. We will...