admin Well we’re done! We promised our kids a day away to do a Blown Glass Project, and we finished it last weekend with our son and his soon to be lovely wife / girlfriend, so for now … we’re done, at least with family members doing blown glass.
We left town about 6am Saturday and headed to Cumberland Center to pick up our son and his fiancé. We stopped at a local corner store to get a bite to eat, then head the car towards Manchester VT. for our 1pm class to blow glass. The trip took a bit over 4 hours and had us in town early enough to stop and let the fine folks at Manchester Hot Glass know we were in town and would be back after lunch for our class.
On the way into town we passed the local diner, Bob’s Diner, https://bobsdiner.business.site which is where my wife wanted to eat, so back out of town we headed. When we got there, it was pretty smokey in side, so smokey in fact, my wife asked if they could turn on an exhaust fan or 2 (her lungs didn’t deal with the smoke very well at all), which they did, and it did 2 things. It cleared up the smoke, which was HUGE for my wife and it got REAL cold fast, which is ok with my wife as well.
She had half a Reuben sandwich and a cup of squash soup, both of which she said were Awesome! Our son had a Monte Cristo sandwich and soup, his bride to be had a half of a BLT, and some French Onion Soup, which they both loved and I had a French Dip au jus which was good, but for me the roast beef was sliced a bit thick, yeah, I like it paper thin or thinner and yes, I can be a pain in the ass. NO I didn’t say anything I eat it they way they serve it, and did so with a smile on my face.
After lunch we headed on down to Manchester Hot Glass so the kids could do they thing.
The kids had a blast and our soon to be daughter in-law, had so much fun, she is looking forward to going back with her parents.
We will be going back (My wife, me, Leo and his lovely wife), as we didn’t get to tour Abe Lincolns Son’s Estate yet.
Here are a few pic’s of pieces we’ve done so far, along with ones from this past weekend.
Oh, this is for my friend Leo
Caitlin’s Vase
Khristopher’s Bowl
My good friend Leo doing his thing. He made a Wine Carafe
Leo doing what Leo does – blowing in one end, to make the other end bigger
Andrew, Leo and Alex cutting the piece, so they can get it exposed and he can make the opening
Leo, rubbing his glass bulb, doesn’t Andrew look excited
Leo’s lovely wife, working at making her project fit into the mold. This is step 5 or 6 in a 15 or so step process.
Wine (orange juice) Carafe I just made
My 2nd piece, a candy dish
My wife’s first piece, a large drinking glass, or Vase?
My 3rd piece, my Ice Cream and Pasta Bowl
My 1st piece, single flower vase
Alex, Andrew and me, opening the end for my Ice Cream / Pasta Bowl
Our daughter’s Candy Dish
Our other daughter, shaping her pumpkin vase
Here she is, putting the molten glass into a metal form to get the shape she is wanting
Wrong order, but this is in the beginning. Blowing air into the molten glass bulb to get things started.
Daughter coming in from outer space:)
Alex heating up daughters soon to be candy dish
Daughter making the opening for her candy dish larger
and bigger still
and almost done
Andrew heated it up, tips it down, then flips it over, and
this is the ending results
Caitlin having a good laugh, while making her vase
Ok, so you can see, but you can’t tell, it is a blast doing this. Andrew and crew are awesome and it’s something everyone should do at least once.
So we left here and headed downtown to look around. Before we parked and looked around, we headed out to Dorset Rising Bakery, which turned out to be a quaint little coffee / pastry shop in Dorset.
We proceeded back to downtown Manchester to the local book store which is just to freakin cool of a book store. A place you have to see and visit to believe. From there we hit a few other shops including a small but big Italian shop, were we ended up getting some pastas, sauces, cookies, olives and more
From here we went a cross the street to a few outdoor companies, and Christmas shop (closing), walked down towards a small park, then over to Evelyn & Crabtree :), that is going out of business so the ladies stocked up and some of their favorite things.
From here we drove up the street to show the area off and stopped at the Campus of Orvus, and hit the outlet sales store building, and picked up a few shirts and some pajamas
This is Vermonts version of LL Bean, but older, smaller, but they sell some REALLY nice stuff here folks.
For those who like to shop, there are plenty of shops here, food, candy, donuts, clothing, jewelry, furniture, cars, books, antiques, kitchen supplies, specialty shops and so much more.
Manchester, VT a bit out of the way, but worth the trip!