Glass Blowing in Seto

I went on an outing with parents from the international school to do glassblowing.  

This cat was a sight to see! It was right next to the parking lot. 

No riding the cat! 😹

This is the shop where we did the glass blowing.  

This was interesting.  It's covering up the meter.

These are pictures I took of other people's glass blowing projects. 

This wet newspaper is all that was between us and molten hot glass.

Fire!

Someone got a picture of me taking pictures.

The next set of photos is of my glassblowing experience.  There were a couple of different people who sent me pictures, so they might not be in order, but I did my best.  

This is where you get the molten glass.  

He is a very gregarious and animated man. He always had us laughing.  

I was trying to keep it from sagging.  

Actual blowing of the glass. 

I put glass pieces in the colors that I liked on the table in the designated area to use on my wind chime.  This is rolling the glass to pick up the color.  

Blowing the glass was hard.  I have trouble holding my breath for a long time and as a child I had trouble blowing up a balloon.

Getting ready to make the hole at the bottom of the wind chime.

Making the opening in the bottom of the wind chime.

Ta da!

After glassblowing we went out to lunch.  I had cold soba with cherry shrimp. The tea was soba tea.

Afterward they brought me the water they used to boil the soba noodles in.  It's supposed to be good for health (and it makes for less waste!) 

We walked around the shops some. Many were closed because it was a Monday.  Most businesses in Japan have a rest day and many choose Monday as that day. They were decorated for Halloween!

Maneki neko, or lucky/welcome/beckoning cat.

The girls I rode with and I stopped at IKEA.  We got a dessert buffet and did some shopping. It was unanimous thar the top three pictured were the best!

The wind chime had to cool slowly for 24 hours, then two of the girls went back to pick them up for all of us. 

They added the finishing touches with the string, glass beads, and homemade paper that is blue on one side and white on the other.