Crucible's World

Crucible's World, 2008

An 8 inch (I think) blue-green blown glass "Witch Ball "sphere hanging in the window of Naomi's apartment in Belleville, Ontario. This globe caught my eye with the light coming through the window just to the right and out of the frame. It looked really cool so I shot a few frames without flash. 1/80th sec at f5.0, iso 800, and focal length of 82mm.

When I worked at Harbourfront Centre Toronto during the late 1980s and early 1990s, one of my favourite places to warm up in the winter (and least favourite in August) was the glass studio in the York Quay Centre. Even when closed to the public, you would often find one or more artisans working with blown glass. They made pretty much anything depending on who was working in there. Some really awesome stuff as I recall. I really wish I was into photography as much as I am now, I would have loved to shoot them working up close. I wonder if there is anywhere around here like that?

Oh and a crucible is the first of three furnaces involved in glassblowing. The others being the glory hole where soft glass is manipulated while being worked, and the lehr or annealer where the finished pieces are slowly cooled down. The last bit was from the glassblowing entry on Wikipedia. I had no idea what the last furnace was called till I looked it up. :)

The glass was made by a local artisan in Barry's Bay, Ontario - Just South of Algonquin Provincial Park.
Mike

Mike Wood Photography