The choice to become a glass artist is not one for the faint of heart. The work can be physically demanding and dangerous. And then there’s the fact that glass is a quintessentially fragile medium. Breakage happens. It can also be a maddeningly difficult medium to work with. Says Hotel Murano Art Curator Tessa Papas, “It’s not unusual for an artist to produce 20 or more identical pieces before he gets one that he can keep.” In Prague, one of the world’s centers for kilned glass, the artist’s patience is tested as in few others mediums. Tessa says, “The mold may sit in the kiln for up to four months” as the artist keeps constant watch, maintaining the proper temperature. “Even then,” she adds, “he can’t always predict what the outcome will be. After all that waiting, the piece may be unusable. It’s an art form of delayed gratification.”

Dale

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