It's always amazed me to watch an artist create. To watch the individual components come together to make something beautiful, to tell a story, give the piece depth, character and value, to see chaos come into purpose is absolutely inspiring. One of my favorites is blown glass.
The skill, patience,lung power, strength, and strategic planning that goes into it reminds me of how God transforms us. Although we we made from dust the actual process is much the same... glass starts from dirt as well.
The artist begins with a chunk of molten glass.. nothing spectacular, pretty much shapeless and without design. But before there's ever one breath blown into the rod, the artist has a plan for the blob of glass... it's purpose has already been determined and it's destiny already established before it was ever formed. Once the molten glass is gathered on the pipe it begins the process of being made into the artist's vision (reminds me of Jeremiah 1:5). The next step is adding color.
One of the most intricate ways to add color is the Murine technique. It's where slices of colored glass cane (sometimes plane, sometimes patterned) have been laid out in an intricate pattern before hand and the molten glass is then rolled over it to embed the pattern. The molten glass doesn't know what the pattern of the cane slices will look like, where it will lead, where it will go or how it will turn out (Jeremiah 29:11). Once the color has been added the chunks of glass go back into the fire.
This fire is known as the glory hole. It's funny that it would be called this especially since it's usually about 2250 degrees,which is hotter than the original furnace the molten glass is taken from. The piece is placed in the fire to melt the colored cane slices into the original piece which is starting to take shape. As the artist blows breath into the pipe the glass is expanded and begins to blossom into something beautiful. Just like God breathed the breath of life into Adam, the artist breathes life into the piece being created. Then it is shaped and molded using various things.
So the process looks something like this..
Vision --> Furnace --> breath --> add color --> glory hole --> breath --> shaping --> glory hole --> breath--> shaping -->glory hole--> cut off from the pole--> annealing
OR
God declares your end from the beginning --> you're born --> you live a little, walk the path He's laid out for you --> you're tested and tried --> God renews you, restores you, elevates you --> He breaks you again so that He can continue to mold you into His original vision --> you're tested and tried again --> God renews you, restores you, elevates you --> He breaks you again so that He can continue to mold you --> you go through a period where you don't hear God, where you feel alone, like He's left you... but He's requiring you to pursue Him --> back in the fire you go for more testing, almost to your breaking point... where God shows you how strong you really are by working out your issues away from public eyes --> release into purpose and destiny
Isaiah 42:16 says And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.
Be encouraged in knowing that everything that seems ugly right now will be beautiful in the end. The fragments of your life is what creates all of the beautiful colors that His light shines through. It's what makes you an original. Just know that no matter where you are in the process, He's creating a masterpiece.
(Complex Murrine Foglio glass by David Patchen)
The artist begins with a chunk of molten glass.. nothing spectacular, pretty much shapeless and without design. But before there's ever one breath blown into the rod, the artist has a plan for the blob of glass... it's purpose has already been determined and it's destiny already established before it was ever formed. Once the molten glass is gathered on the pipe it begins the process of being made into the artist's vision (reminds me of Jeremiah 1:5). The next step is adding color.
One of the most intricate ways to add color is the Murine technique. It's where slices of colored glass cane (sometimes plane, sometimes patterned) have been laid out in an intricate pattern before hand and the molten glass is then rolled over it to embed the pattern. The molten glass doesn't know what the pattern of the cane slices will look like, where it will lead, where it will go or how it will turn out (Jeremiah 29:11). Once the color has been added the chunks of glass go back into the fire.
This fire is known as the glory hole. It's funny that it would be called this especially since it's usually about 2250 degrees,which is hotter than the original furnace the molten glass is taken from. The piece is placed in the fire to melt the colored cane slices into the original piece which is starting to take shape. As the artist blows breath into the pipe the glass is expanded and begins to blossom into something beautiful. Just like God breathed the breath of life into Adam, the artist breathes life into the piece being created. Then it is shaped and molded using various things.
- Gravity- or natural forces, the equivalent of just living and walking through life
- Direct Heat- tests, trials, adversity
- Hand Tools- sometimes God has to put us back on the potter's wheel
So the process looks something like this..
Vision --> Furnace --> breath --> add color --> glory hole --> breath --> shaping --> glory hole --> breath--> shaping -->glory hole--> cut off from the pole--> annealing
OR
God declares your end from the beginning --> you're born --> you live a little, walk the path He's laid out for you --> you're tested and tried --> God renews you, restores you, elevates you --> He breaks you again so that He can continue to mold you into His original vision --> you're tested and tried again --> God renews you, restores you, elevates you --> He breaks you again so that He can continue to mold you --> you go through a period where you don't hear God, where you feel alone, like He's left you... but He's requiring you to pursue Him --> back in the fire you go for more testing, almost to your breaking point... where God shows you how strong you really are by working out your issues away from public eyes --> release into purpose and destiny
Isaiah 42:16 says And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.
Be encouraged in knowing that everything that seems ugly right now will be beautiful in the end. The fragments of your life is what creates all of the beautiful colors that His light shines through. It's what makes you an original. Just know that no matter where you are in the process, He's creating a masterpiece.
(Complex Murrine Foglio glass by David Patchen)
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