After a chat with Mark and Jeannine Sigafoos at last week's William Traver Gallery artists' reception, I felt inspired.  I would, I decided, take Sigafoos up on his invitation and blow glass.

The Tacoma Glassblowing Studio offers "The Glassblowing Experience" where you work through making a float or a paperweight with an instructor.  My guy was new employee Brian Farmer, who cut his glassblowing teeth at Wilson High through the Hilltop Artists in Residence program.  Farmer also makes a darned impressive rose - a mesmerizing process to watch.

While it was very cool to be walked through a simple piece, to feel the taffylike consistency of the molten glass as I gathered the colors I chose, for me the fun was watching the others in the studio.  One family was all involved in the process as they made lamp shades to sell, renting studio time from Tacoma Glassblowing.
Then again, it's awfully sweet to blow the hookah-like pipe and feel your glass expand into a delicate work, aware that at any moment you can completely screw it up and lose your piece.

But with the help of Farmer, I never did lose my piece.

[Tacoma Glassblowing Studio, Feb. 6-March 13, 5:30-9:30 p.m. Tuesdays, $575, 114 S. 23rd St., Tacoma, 253.383.3499]