Glass City

I believe there is a glass blowers guild at Toledo Botanical gardens I've watched people blow glass there quite a few times, thats where I would start.

blowing glass is VERY cool, and a lot of fun, but as you said, it's also HIGHLY pricey. If you want to get into a glass hobby that's a bit less expensive, right next to the glass blowers guild in the TBG that roy spoke about is the stained glass guild.

I know for a fact that they give lessons - and you can go there and use their equipment till you decide that you want/need your own.

There is a glass blowing place on Front St. right in the Villgae of Holland, just over the railroad tracks. Take Holloway north off of Airport and go just over the tracks. Never been there but the stuff in the windows is incredible and they have regular "doings" of some sort.

It's called "Fire Nation".

I'm not certain, but I don't believe the Guild offers classes. Unless you befriend a local blower willing to take you under their wing, your only real option is the Museum.

As for the expense involved, it's a very costly operation to maintain. Back when the Museum's old hotshop was in operation, when fuel prices made the first big jump, they were spending over $10k a month on fuel bills for just the hotshop.

The class pricing is on a par with or lower than other studios in the country, and independent studio rental is about as cheap as you'll find anywhere.

The Museum offers scholarship monies for students which often allows them to take classes at no cost whatsoever. Additionally, classes are offered to at-risk and marginalized youth at no cost to the student.

The Museum is funded by the Libbey endowment and private donations, and recieves no city or county tax money.

It's not limited to the elite, in fact I know of few, if any, people in the hot glass community that I perceive in that category. It's more a matter of desire, commitment and just a little obsession, heheh.

From a personal perspective, I spend about $28 an hour for studio time at the Museum and can make between $125 and $200 worth of art in that hour's time.

Although more expensive than the Museum's classes, Matt at Firenation is an awesome teacher, an exceptional artist, and one helluva nice guy.

funny enough, me and some friends had a studio tour at Baker O'Brien's glass studio (at the labino studio) this past sunday in Grand Rapids.

We asked her about museum classes, and she mentioned they offered a discounted program.. like instead of signing up for official classes they had some sort of cheaper shorter length programs for people looking to get their feet wet. you might want to call them and find out!

thank you all very much :)

For those of you who aren't familiar ... here is the link ....

http://www.firenation.com/about_us.php

very cool