Halloween blows in Grapevine, Texas

Photo stolen from Vetro newsletter

            We visited Vetro Glassblowing Studio & Gallery on a trip through Grapevine, Texas, during the Christmas holidays. Grapevine is the “Christmas Capital of Texas” so we were there to enjoy some of the 1,400 holiday events that occur every year, including making a holiday ornament.

Yes, that’s 1,400!

            The folks at Vetro (means glass in Italian) offer glass ornament making sessions, where visitors can pick out colors and stick a glob of glass into flames and twirl them around until those colors turn into a fun, beautiful globe. I wish I could say that my ornament of lovely sea blue and turquoise was all my doing, but those artisans working at Vetro had a lot to do with it. And really, that’s what you want. I think it would be pretty scary sticking a poll with glass on the end into a 2,000-degree furnace and then blowing air into this sweltering blob that suddenly expands — without someone there to help.

Here I am working hard on my holiday ornament.

            The Vetro folks are offering to help visitors set fire to glass again, but this time for Halloween. For $55 plus tax, you can create hand-blown pumpkins in a host of wonderful colors, either ones you pick or a pre-selected mix. The sessions will be 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 10, 17 and 24 and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 23 and 30 and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Halloween, Oct. 31, 2015.

            Pumpkins will be available for pick-up the next business day after 3 p.m. unless it’s a Saturday and then available the following Tuesday.

            Want to see how it’s done? Check out this video of Vetro glassblowing.

Granted, making glass pumpkins isn’t that weird. But these blowhards are having a steampunk glass party that makes the weird grade for sure. Glass on the Tracks on Nov. 7 in Grapevine is a mixture of glass art demonstrations, live music and the Truth or Consequences Glass Art Auction, their twisted version of a live auction where what doesn’t sell, gets smashed in their glass guillotine.

Want to see a video of this as well. Click here.
            Want to make a pumpkin or attend the party? Purchase tickets at http://vetroartglass.com/.