BY: Eileen Catalano English/Social Studies Teacher

Ocean Academy students recently had the unique experience to work with master glassblower Nick Emeric and his associates Samie Dingfeld and Alex Raptis at Hot Sand of Asbury.  Each student worked one on one with a glassblower to design and blow a glass egg.  They were given the opportunity to pull and twist molten glass using giant tweezers or “jacks” as students learned was the technical term. After the glass was heated to 2100 degrees in the furnace it was shaped using a cherry wood block.  Simple folded and damp newspapers were then used to finish shaping the glass as it is most like a hand. At this point the glass was ready for blowing.  Students took their best breaths to inflate their bubble using a blowpipe and thus the transformation from glass shards to glass egg began to take its final shape!Student’s creations will cool down in the annealer or kiln for a week before they can take them h ome as a remembrance of this wonderful experience. To date, many students found this to be one of the best trips they have been on; it’s definitely going to be difficult to top!