Blog & Reviews

RachelEscoeGlass is offering Private Party Glassblowing Events

Good morning Saturday buddies!

I have been receiving a ton of amazing interest on private party glassblowing events! So here is some info on what I will be offering at this moment in time and what future offers will be available once I can raise enough money to purchase a trailer and a truck for mobility purposes!

Private Party Workshop Inquiries : Great for wedding parties, team building work events, birthdays, bat/bar mitzvahs. You name it!

  • Group Sizes - RachelEscoeGlass is able to take group sizes of up to 10 - 15 people max at this time.

  • What You Make - Groups get the options to make an ornament or a paperweight. You pick your own colors and I help make it! (Wedding party options are different. Please feel free to contact Rachel if you are looking for specifically wedding party info.)

  • Duration - Workshops range from 3 hours to 4 hours depending on the size of the group. Roughly 10 minutes for each person to make their work with me! (We can set-up a snack/hang out table while everyone is waiting to make their work and watching hot glass!)

Where -

- Evening workshops are held in Vancouver, WA at a community glass studio.  

- Morning workshops are held in Portland, OR at my home studio.

When -

- Evening workshops are SATURDAYS - WEDNESDAYS starting at 6pm. 

- Morning workshops are SATURDAYS starting at 10am.

For more information on my hands-on workshops for smaller groups please take a look at my workshops page. Link below!

Beginner Glass Workshop for 2
$428.00

During this 3-Hour private beginner workshop, you will experience a preview on the art of Venetian Glassblowing.

This unique hands-on workshop will allow you to both learn how to use a variety of tools and equipment for furnace work glassblowing. As well as techniques like how to blow a bubble through a hot stainless steel pipe. With these tactics I will guide you through the processes of making a beautiful piece of artwork. We will start out making an ornament and move on to making a small drinking glass!

WORKSHOP DETAILS PLEASE READ

When: Thursdays + Fridays Weekly

  • Morning Workshops Thursdays - Fridays 10am-1pm

  • Afternoon Workshops Thursdays - Fridays 2pm-5pm

For info on scheduling please feel free to contact me at 5413997304 OR Rachelescoe@gmail.com

Where:

Workshops are held in Portland, OR.

Address : Home Studio

97230

Cost: $428.00 for 2 people

IMPORTANT INFO

  • Once you purchase the workshop, next step will be to book your date! You will receive a confirmation email with a link to my online calendar for scheduling! Workshops tend to fill up quickly. We ask for you to kindly book your workshop within 3 months of purchase!

  • When finished making your work, the glasswork has to sit in a hot oven overnight and slowly cool down to prevent cracking. Your pieces will be ready for pick-up within a week of the workshop.

    Cancellation Policy

    When you have a date booked, you must cancel more then 24hours before the Workshop date. A fee of $100.00 will be applied to re-schedule if canceled within the 24 hour window.

    The workshop will be non-refundable after 30 days of purchase.

    COVID-19 Vaccination Policy

    Wearing our masks during the workshop is optional at this time. It is to your comfort ability. Thank you!

So, in the meantime, I am able to host 10-15 people group events at my home studio and small workshops are held Saturday mornings. Weather permitting of course because they are held outside. We will be under a canopy. This will provide shade from sunlight and shelter from the rain/wind. Schedule changes will apply according to weather. If you are a night owl. I will be holding my workshops in the evenings at a community glassblowing studio in Vancouver, WA.

In the future, once I am completely mobile; meaning once I have a truck and trailer, I will be able to the take the glass workshops and private events to your space of choosing. I will be able to host large events and small workshops in peoples driveways, at public school events, courtyards, festivals, outside markets, breweries, wineries, wedding event spaces. You name it!

Please stay tuned in. I will be starting a crowd funding campaign in September where you will have a chance to help me become a fully mobile glassblowing studio!! There will rewards and fun things honored in your name if you help back my endeavor to become a mobile glass shop!

Thanks so much for reading and have a relaxing Saturday folks! Much love.

Mobile Glass Studio Updates & New Workshop Listing

Hello all and happy Saturday! I have lots of new things happening here at Rachel Escoe Glass.

First, I have received my glass furnace that I ordered to be made about 3 months ago and it’s here!!!!!! I will be getting some of my last ducks in a row and making sure everything is dialed in here at Rachel Escoe Glass before being fully hot and running. I am hoping to have the NEW Glass Current Studio open and ready for business by August or September.

Once the shop is running I will be offering morning and afternoon workshop time slots on Saturdays every week. Evening workshops will continue to be held Saturdays THRU Wednesdays.

Follow me on Instagram @RachelEscoeGlass for more photos and videos of the unveiling of my mobile glass shop journey!


I have also added a fun NEW workshop listing that a lot of my students have been asking about. It is an advanced glassblowing workshop where my previous students and others that have dabbled in glassblowing can continue to learn more advanced techniques like making a sculptural bird out of glass or making a classic handblown vessel.

I am so excited for this new workshop to take off. So check out that listing in my online shop at RachelEscoeGlass.com

Advanced Private Glass Workshop
$380.00

Have you previously taken a glass workshop with me or at another facility? Then this is the workshop for you! You learned how to gather hot glass, how to blow a bubble into it, pick up color and shape it. Now you get to learn some more advanced techniques and take it to a new level.

In this 3-hour workshop you will be learning how to make your glass vessels thinner, how to add more design elements of color and how to sculpt hot glass. Team work will also become more of an important part of this workshop.

You will have the option of making a fun wavy vase or a classic vase, further your experience with drinking glasses and learn how to make a sculptural bird. Birds are a symbol of wisdom, enlightenment and elevation. So let’s take this up a notch!!

WORKSHOP DETAILS PLEASE READ

When: Thursdays + Fridays Weekly

  • Morning Workshops Thursdays - Fridays 10am-1pm

  • Afternoon Workshops Thursdays -Fridays 2pm-5pm

For info on scheduling please feel free to contact me at 5413997304 OR Rachelescoe@gmail.com

Where:

Workshops are held in Portland, OR.

Address : Home Studio

97230

Cost: $380.00 for 1 person

IMPORTANT INFO

  • Eligibility for this workshop requires you to have taken one fully hands on glassblowing workshop before taking this one. Whether it be with me or at another facility. Please feel free to e-mail me or call with further questions.

  • Once you purchase the workshop, next step will be to book your date! You will receive a confirmation email with a link to my online calendar for scheduling! Workshops tend to fill up quickly. We ask for you to kindly book your workshop within 3 months of purchase!

  • When finished making your work, the glasswork has to sit in a hot oven overnight and slowly cool down to prevent cracking. Your pieces will be ready for pick-up within a week of the workshop.

    Cancellation Policy

    When you have a date booked, you must cancel more then 24hours before the Workshop date. A fee of $100.00 will be applied to re-schedule if canceled within the 24 hour window.

    The workshop will be non-refundable after 30 days of purchase.

    COVID-19 Vaccination Policy

    Wearing our masks during the workshop is optional at this time. It is to your comfort ability. Thank you!

There is an eligibility requirement before booking this workshop. Please read all info above carefully to make sure you are eligible. Thank you!!


A fun video of my workshops is in the works right meow. Where you can watch me teaching glassblowing and talking about my new adventures with starting a mobile glass shop! This video and project will be unveiled in mid to late September via an online crowdfunding campaign where you can have the chance to help support my new adventure and make it fully come to light. There will be some really fun rewards if you help back my project, like getting a private party workshop for up to 10 people!

So please stay tuned in to RachelEscoeGlass. Sign up for my newsletter, follow me on Instagram and keep in touch.

Thanks for reading, much love and Happy Saturday folks.

What is an Annealer & How Will it Function in the Upcoming Mobile Shop!

Annealer Kiln

with a Marver plate placed on top of kiln!

An Annealer is a Kiln. A hot oven that is used to store your glasswork after you’re finished making it in the glass shop. The type of glass I work with is sensitive and can be shocked easily. So in order to temper the glass and prevent it from breaking or exploding, we slowly cool it down over an 8 to 12 hour period of time. I mean imagine if you cooled something down from like 1000 degrees and in 10 minutes to room temperature. That’s too fast and sounds like a disaster! I don’t think any sort of material would like that! Unless you’re metal I guess! But glass is a delicate material and needs to be eased into its next phase.

When I am done working with a glass vessel, I knock it off the metal rod it is attached to and put it away into the kiln. It sits at around 900 degrees Fahrenheit or 515 degrees Celsius and slowly cools down to room temperature overnight. Now that’s more like it right!

Normal Marver Table

The annealer kiln I have ordered from Canned Heat Glass, (Pictured above and to the left) is going to be so fun because it will have two main functions. It will be a cute small kiln that sits on a metal stand with wheels and on top of the kiln it will have a marver. A Marver table is a stainless steel thick metal sheeted table. It normally functions as its own piece of equipment in a glass studio. Glassblowers use this to shape their glass, pick up color, etc. But in my studio it will be combined with the annealer kiln. The stainless steel metal sheet will be laid across the top of the annealer. Acting as an all in one multi functional piece of equipment! That way I will have less things to haul around and it will be much more versatile. Click the pictures to check out more of Canned Heat Glass equipment!

Once I have all of this equipment finished being made and in hand, I will show you with more detail what all of this will look like. I can’t wait!!!

In the meantime check out my new workshop listing just posted last week! It’s all about you! Take a solo private beginner workshop for 1 with me. I would love to teach you glassblowing!

Thanks so much for reading this months more technical blog. I hope you have a wonderful last weekend of May. Cheers!

New Things Brewing - A Mobile Glass Shop - Whats That?!

Things are stirring at RachelEscoeGlass. A really exciting journey is coming into play that I have been dreaming about for years now. I am in the middle of getting my own mobile glassblowing studio together!

As my love, Chris Byers would say, “Hell Yeah.” Let’s do this!

For a long time it was a mere pipe dream, mostly because in reality I knew how much it would cost to build my own glass shop, but through many years of working my buns off at various day jobs, putting a little savings away at a time and realizing that life is short; I decided to do it. As my love, Chris Byers would say, “Hell Yeah.” Let’s do this!

What also helped me to get here, is being able to teach you all how to blow glass! My beginner glassblowing workshops have given me some much needed consistency in my career as an artist. I am currently teaching my classes in the evenings at a community glass shop here in town. Once I have my own little mobile shop together, I will be able to make these even more accessible by holding workshops in the mornings and afternoons on weekends.

Once the glass shop is HOT, I will be continuing to teach my beginner glassblowing workshops in various locations including the possibility of bringing the shop to your home and taking your workshop in the comfort of your own driveway! If dimensions and logistics allow it. Intermediate classes will be set in motion as well for those of you that have expressed interest in taking more workshops with me!

Having this shop will allow me to continue to make my own body of artwork from my home and have potential opportunities to showcase glassmaking at various events, festivals and markets in the area. I will be offering opportunities to book private events with me for weddings, bat/bar mitzvahs, birthdays, etc. 

Further down the line, if all of this takes off, I would like to eventually take the studio to Portland Public School events and showcase/introduce glassblowing to underserved youths. Show them something that is naturally a very expensive medium to experience and give them an opportunity to make some glasswork!



While the plans are already in motion and certain pieces of equipment are being made for me as we speak, I do need some help from you to make this studio complete.

That is to make it mobile!

In order for me to bring my glass shop to you, I need to purchase a truck or trailer and some other essential things to bring my wild glass shop experience to life! I will be starting a kickstarter with further details very soon here.

So please please stay tuned in to RachelEscoeGlass. Sign-up below for my newsletter to stay informed, follow me on Instagram @RachelEscoeGlass and help spread the word!!

I hope you are all in good health and enjoying the seasons changing right meow! Talk soon