Samantha Sweet Glass

Walking into a glassblowing studio for the first time is intimidating. You can feel the intense 1,000°C heat before you even see the furnace!
When this lovely family walked in, I could see a flash of doubt in their eyes. But they were here to support their niece, who was 100% ready for an adventure.
I love watching that exact moment where apprehension turns into absolute focus and by the end, they walked out with a massive boost of confidence—and some gorgeous handmade glass to show for it!
Want to surprise someone with an unforgettable creative day out in London?
Tap the link in my bio or head to samanthasweet.com to book a private session here in East Finchley!
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Is glass actually metal?
If you’ve ever hung around a hot shop, you might hear glassblowers refer to that glowing, molten stuff in the furnace as ‘the metal.’ No it’s not a joke and we haven’t forgotten what material we’re working with!
Glass and metal are very different. True metal has a strict melting point and turns into a runny liquid instantly. Glass doesn’t have a melting point at all; it’s an amorphous solid that just gets progressively softer and stretchier like hot honey. The nickname comes from early industrial history when ‘metal’ was used as old-school slang for any molten material fused from raw rocks, sand, and earth. The terminology stuck!
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There is a long history of making glass birds, and the glassmakers on the island of Murano became world-famous for them
While they didn’t invent them Murano glassmakers took the concept and elevated it to high art in the 15th and 16th centuries. They used their incredible sculpting skills to create delicate, free-blown decorative birds, popping them onto the stems of goblets and the frames of mirrors to show off their absolute mastery
I love how these historic little details connect to what we do right here in the studio. One of my wonderful guests sculpted this from scratch during their 1:1 private session
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I’ve been diving into the historical archives on the Conciatore blog, and the story of the Murano masters is interesting. Because they held the secret recipe for clear glass, glassblowers were treated like royalty—they could even marry into noble families
But the catch? Leaving the island was strictly forbidden. If a master tried to defect to a rival country, the government would send bounty hunters to track them down and break their arms so they couldn’t work for the competition. Nice!
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heritagecraft

The magic of molten glass hasn’t changed a bit in over 500 years!
During the Renaissance Pope Pius II was completely captivated by the way a glassblower could draw the glowing material out of the furnace with a blowing iron and shape it “as if it were wax”
My beginner students certainly weren’t comparing glass to wax but look at what they made, these beautifully organic, fluid shapes
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Are you team “blowpipe” or team “blowing iron”?
If you’re in the US, it’s almost always a blowpipe. But here in the UK, old-school tradition means we still call them blowing irons. Which is a bit odd... because they are actually 100% steel
It makes zero sense until you look at the history. Centuries ago, they really were made of wrought iron. But iron gets way too bendy and soft when it’s exposed to furnace temperatures. The moment modern steel was invented, glassblowers made the switch so our pipes would stay straight for longer. We changed the metal, but the name just stuck!
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Chemically speaking, adding color to glass is incredibly similar to mixing paint on a palette. It’s all about the metal oxides and ground-up minerals!
Around 3,500 years ago, ancient makers in Mesopotamia and Egypt discovered they could intentionally tint their glass by melting in these exact same powdered minerals
These gorgeous blue and amber pieces on the table were made right here in the studio by guests during a private 1:2 experience, using those exact same ancient mineral reactions.
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Back in the day, European fire salamanders would hibernate in damp logs. When glassblowers tossed that wood into their massive furnaces, the lizards would scramble out to escape the heat. To a medieval maker working a grueling, overnight shift, it literally looked like a magical beast being born right out of the flames
It quickly became a glassblowing mascot. If your pots broke, you blamed the salamander. If a maker slipped away in the night to join a rival studio? The crew would tell the boss, “He was eaten by the salamander.” Luckily this hasn’t been the fete of any visitors to my studio!
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I can manipulate molten glass but give me a simple houseplant and it’s game over 😭
You may have noticed the studio decor leans heavily into the “permanently dried” aesthetic... but luckily, my students brought the green fingers this week.
Their greenery will look even better in their gorgeous glass!
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This technique goes right back to 1550s Venice, where the Murano masters created vetro ice glass. Back then, real alpine ice was the ultimate luxury status symbol at elite banquets. So, they pulled off a sparkling optical illusion - using glass to mimic frozen ice.
The physics of thermal shock are brutal. You plunge a bubble into cold water for just a split second to fracture only the outer skin. Stay in the water a millisecond too long, and you’re sweeping up a pile of frit!
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