1The use of glass as an artistic medium dates back to ancient Egypt.
2Despite the obvious fragility of glass sculptures, this art form has an enduring appeal.
3The transparency of glass often has a ghostly quality.
4They're tangible works of art that are skillfully crafted.
5With this glass sculpture of a horse, the artist's two passions come together: art and horsemanship.
6The artist takes inspiration from her horse, observing the swell of his muscles as he romps,
7in order to create the same sense of movement in glass.
8She then draws a series of sketches of the horse in different stances.
9These sketches are an artistic study.
10They help her work out the sculpture's form before actually creating one.
11She cleaned solid glass rods to prepare them for sculpting.
12This is borosilicate glass, which is more resistant to thermal shock than other kinds of glass.
13She brings the glass into the flame of a torch to soften it.
14Once softened, she can fuse two of the rods together.
15Then, using tweezers and flat knife-like tools,
16she sculpts the glass into the shape of the horse's hips and legs.
17She works quickly so the glass doesn't have a chance to cool and fracture.
18She adds a smaller piece of glass and forms it into a tail.
19She constantly turns the glass as she works it to make sure it looks good from all angles.
20She melts glass in front of the hips to build up the body
21and shape the horse's belly, back, and chest.
22This is intensive and precision work.
23The piece must be exposed to a well-adjusted flame and constantly moved
24so it doesn't become too hot and melt too much.
25She adds glass to the front and sculpts the shoulders and part of the front legs.
26She removes a little piece of extra glass.
27She deposits this sizzling unwanted bit in water to cool it down...
28and dispose of it safely.
29She does more work on the front legs.
30She'll refine them and form hooves later.
31But now she bakes the partially sculpted glass horse in a kiln.
32This is the first annealing, which realigns molecules to prevent cracking.
33She forms the head and mane separately from the body.
34This is more intricate work.
35The features are much more detailed, so she uses smaller tools.
36Once she shaped the eye sockets, she melts little blobs of black glass into them.
37She sculpts the eyes with a flat knife.
38She carves creases above them to create an eyelid effect.
39She adds glass for the ears.
40Then, using a tool called a masher, she pinches the ears to squeeze them thinner.
41She heats them again.
42This process can cause the ears to stick together, so she cuts them to separate them.
43She curls the ears using tweezers and tweaks their position on the horse's head.
44She melts the base of the head to the body, and they become one.
45She fuses more glass to the back to craft a mane.
46After another annealing, she returns to the legs.
47She softens them with a flame again and adds definition to the fetlock joints.
48She cuts the tips to create a more level surface.
49She melts black glass onto the ends of the legs and sculpts it into the shape of hooves.
50With a series of tools, she tweaks each hoof
51until she's satisfied this glass horse will stand the way she wants it to.
52After another annealing, she shines a polarized light through the sculpture
53and examines it for stresses that could compromise its structure.
54Finding none, this galloping work of glass art is complete.
55It's been made with great care and caring.