About the Hot Shop
You can see live glassmaking in the Hot Shop whenever the Museum is open, except for when the team breaks for lunch—usually 1-2pm.
Hot Shop from the ground up
The Hot Shop Amphitheater, housed in an imposing 90-foot-tall stainless steel cone, includes a hot glass studio, cold glass studio and accomodates over 200 visitors. The cone itself is 100 feet in diameter at its base. It narrows to a 15-foot opening.
Furnaces
We keep molten glass in 2 large furnaces which run 24 hours a day. Each furnace holds approximately 1,000-pounds of glass and reach temperatures up to 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Glory Holes
As artists blow and shape hot glass objects, they must continually reheat them in one of four glory holes where temperatures range from 2,100-2,300 degrees Fahrenheit. The reheating process keeps the glass malleable.
Annealers
A total of five annealers, which are insulated boxes similar to electric kilns, are designed to cool glass slowly at a specified rate. Glass will crack and shatter if left to cool on its own at room temperature, so annealing ovens are very important pieces of equipment.
Cold Shop
The Cold Shop is adjacent to the Hot Shop. There, as part of the finishing process, cooled artwork is ground, polished and/or cut to add surface details and remove imperfections.
Next Steps
You might also be interested in learning about our Hot Shop Team and Visiting Artists, the talented people you can watch blow glass—or Learn About Glass and experience the interactives in the Virtual Hot Shop.
