Watch: Dayton glass blowing studio has ornament making classes — and it isn’t easy

Credit: Natalie Jones

Credit: Natalie Jones

The ornaments blown in the class are expected to be three- to four-inches long.

“It kind of depends on the person, too. Everybody’s pieces come out different, which is sort of cool about glass. Every piece is unique to you,” Wagner said. “It’s almost like an extension of your DNA and your thought process and how you’re actually feeling the glass...”

What it’s like to take a glass blowing class

Credit: Dayton Daily News

Credit: Dayton Daily News

Wagner invited the Dayton Daily News to his studio to give glass blowing a try.

He started the class with a brief introduction on the steps of glass blowing, how to hold the tools and how to move around with the glass blowing rod. He gave a demonstration on how to make an ornament, before I jumped in to give it a try.

Wagner had already preheated the blowpipe and cooled the rod off, before he dipped it into the furnace to collect a gather of molten glass.

“We do need the pipes and the gathering rods preheated, so they’re glowing orange on the tips,” Wagner said. “If you gather on a cold rod, you could gather a ball of glass, but what’s going to happen is that steel is actually going to suck half the temperature away.”

This means you wouldn’t be able to put a bubble in the glass or add color to it.

When asked why he takes the gathers for clients, he said it’s because the pipes are very expensive. If you gather too deep, the pipe can be destroyed.

The furnace is the “heart of the studio.”

“This holds about 400 pounds of molten glass, stays hot 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and runs off of natural gas and forced air,” Wagner said.

Once the glass was gathered, we walked over to the marver table to shape, cool and smooth the hot glass.

We made the glass into a cylinder and then I attempted to start blowing the bubble.

“When you’re blowing, it’s really not going to feel like anything’s happening, but as long as you have pressure, that bubble will slowly come out when you do start blowing,” Wagner said.

It felt like I was trying to blow through a straw that was plugged up. It took me a few times to get the bubble started.

“I’s up to you to just keep that pressure and that bubble will make its way out,” Wagner said.

Credit: Natalie Jones

Credit: Natalie Jones

The bubble is the first step to creating a hollow object.

We reheated the glass in the glory hole, before adding my first color to it. It took some nice, easy rolls in the color to get the glass coated. We then went back to the glory hole to melt in those shards of glass.

“Blowing glass is a real visual kind of game,” Wagner said. “The glass is always kind of telling you what the next step is.”

Once the glass was shiny and no longer textured, I returned to the marver table to add my next color to the glass.

We reheated the glass again and texturized the outside of it by using an optic mold. After adding a little more air into the ornament, it was finally ready to take its final form.

I sat on the glassblower’s bench ready to use the Jacks tool — one of the most versatile tools in the glass blowing world.

Credit: Natalie Jones

Credit: Natalie Jones

“What we’re going to be doing is actually holding the Jacks straight up and down like this and we’re going to be squeezing down on the glass to make a weak area, so that later when we’re ready, we can just snap it off very easily,” Wagner said.

While I was squeezing down on the neckline of the glass, he was inflating my ornament.

He then took the rod from me and was able to tap the ornament and it came right off.

Wagner then created the top of the ornament using an extra drop of molten glass — this will allow my ornament to be hung on a Christmas tree.

My ornament then went into the kiln, where it had to cool for 24 hours. Pick up is available as early as 48 hours after the class.

Overall, this class was much more hands-on compared to other holiday classes I’ve attended in the Dayton-Cincinnati area.

“I really want people to interact with the glass,” Wagner previously said. “Not just look at it, but really be able to feel it.”

That’s why I enjoyed this class. I left feeling much more accomplished than I have at previous studios.

Meet the owner

Wagner is originally from Findlay, which he described as once being known as the glass capital of the country.

He recalled family trips to Estes Park in Colorado where he and his brother were fascinated with watching the art of glass blowing at a local studio.

Credit: Natalie Jones

Credit: Natalie Jones

“There was an instant attraction because there’s such a physical part of blowing glass,” Wagner previously said. “You have to be strong and precise like a boxer, but yet graceful like a ballerina.”

His brother learned how to blow glass in college and taught Wagner the art when he was a senior in high school. Wagner initially went to California for glassblowing right after high school, but it didn’t workout. He spent his 20s playing and writing music, joining a band and working for different glass blowers.

“All the stuff in my 20s was really preparing me for this bigger, greater thing that I didn’t even think I could do,” Wagner previously said.

What really changed the direction of his career was when he moved to Springfield.

“I encourage so many people to move to a smaller town, hone in on your craft, keep doing it, save money for 10 years and then you can invest in yourself,” Wagner previously said.

In May 2024, Wagner celebrated the grand opening of his studio and gallery at 1900 E. Second St.

Since then, he has taught more than 1,000 people the art of glass making. He hosts classes, corporate team building events and open houses each month.

“I’m actually blowing all my artwork live in front of you, which is really fun, and sometimes I’m doing things that I don’t exactly know how to make,” Wagner said. “I like people to see me try to problem solve in real time. That’s what it takes to be a glassblower... to try to figure these things out because your canvas is alive, it’s moving, so you have to kind of start to understand the way that it’s moving.”

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