So What Exactly am I doing in this Photograph Anyway?

Sandblasting glass is a BLAST!

So, over the February break, I got myself an overdue haircut. And over break, my husband of almost 18 years snapped a photo of me, and this does not happen often, because I’m usually the one behind the lens. And so what if I am wearing safety glasses, I finally got in a photo!

I liked this shot so much it’s my new Facebook profile picture. Which raised several questions from my funny Facebook friends. Actually, they were my friends long LONG before Facebook ever existed. I’m talking about my college newspaper friends, the original social networkers. We IM’ed one another on our ancient Video Display Terminals across the newspaper office long before the kids today were texting. Long before they were even born!

And, over the years we have reconnected over Facebook, they have historically left the most hysterical, laugh out loud (oh, I mean LOL) comments and status updates.

One asked: Is that a glove box?

Another: Ummm, Stace – are you getting a mammogram here?

No. Nope. Both wrong. Look at me in that photo. I’m smiling. Happy. Usually, when we women get our mammograms, it is something we don’t want to photograph. Because we are not smiling. We are usually grimacing in anticipation of the squish. And, I would be wearing a hospital gown and not a nice red sweater.

So, really, what am I doing?

Give up?

I am taking a sandblasting workshop at the Corning Museum of Glass.

Corning, NY is located just 90 minutes from Rochester. Not only is it a great visual museum that showcases the art and science of glass,  the museum also offers great hands-on workshops in glass flower making, glass bead jewelry making, and sand blasting.

Sandblasting, according to the workshop listing, is the process of removing glass or imparting a matte finish by bombardment with fine grains of sand that are propelled by compressed air.

It sounds very violent, but it’s not and is actually lots of fun.

First, we covered our glass with either stickers or masking tape to create a design.

My daughter was making some asymetrical design with her tape, I just couldn’t figure it out:

We then brought them over to a sandblasting machine, where the glass object is inserted, and then with a foot pedal and a hose, we blast our piece with a strong plume of sand:

And now, we have the following creations to keep forever, or at least, until they drop on my tiled kitchen floor: