Breath and fire
A morning at the glory hole, where molten glass becomes a fish in under ten minutes.
Glass at working heat behaves like honey - thick, slow and always trying to fall. The glassblower's job is to keep it turning.
A gather is taken from the furnace on the end of the pipe, rolled on the steel marver to centre it, then given its first breath. Everything after that is heat, gravity and timing.
Turn, breathe, reheat. Repeat until the glass agrees with you.
Small pieces like this fish are made in one heat if the glassblower is quick. Then it goes into the annealer to cool slowly overnight, or it'll crack by morning.
