A Tulsa Glassblowing School instructor assures a visitor that now is the time to “harvest” her souvenir flower. Image by Tom Adkinson

TULSA, Okla. – Old-style souvenirs – a Golden Gate Bridge keychain, a miniature lighthouse from Maine, or a spoon with a picture of Mount Rushmore on it – were good for momentary recollections, but souvenirs with real stories behind them could become family treasures.

Visitors get to see the bold colors they can incorporate into the glass works of art they are to make at the Tulsa Glassblowing School. Image by Tom Adkinson

Consider a piece of multi-colored glass art from the Tulsa Glassblowing School as family treasure material, but not just any item. Your potential treasure is one you made yourself, with a bit of expert help, of course.

The Tusla Glassblowing School (TGS) is the workplace for serious glass artists, but it is a place to show visitors the complicated and intriguing work that goes into pieces of glass art.

Kilns that heat up to more than 2,000 degrees are the engines that turn everyday materials into memorable art. Image by Tom Adkinson

What you take home from TGS isn’t some little tchotchke that might have come from a third-grader’s field trip. Nope, you will you go through all the steps to make a piece of art that likely will surprise you and almost certainly impress your friends. Come alone or in a group, and select what you want to make. The cost of your souvenir varies.

Through TGS’s Hot Glass Experiences, you can make a paperweight or a flower for $35, an ornament for $45, a bird for $65, a snowman for $75 or a drinking glass for $95. If you want to really show off, you can make a wavy bowl or a flower vase for $125.

A Tulsa Glassblowing School instructor guides a visitor on the technique needed to create a flower’s wavy perimeter. Image by Tom Adkinson

Instructors guide your every move and explain what’s happening as you bask in the glow of kilns radiating from temperatures of more than 2,000 degrees. The process starts with a translucent glob of taffy-like molten glass that an instructor/coach has swirled onto the tip of a long steel pole.

You sit at a workbench, roll the pole and assist the instructor/coach as he gives the glob shape.

You use a variety of tools, add color to your creation, poke the molten mass into a kiln multiple times and pray you don’t knock the darn thing off the metal pole. In one step of making a flower, you select a variety of colorful shards and then tamp your molten lump onto them.

Two serious glass artists work together to shape a piece that could end up as a utilitarian vase or a purely decorative piece. Image by Tom Adkinson

“Watch the sharp pieces melt like chocolate chips in a cookie,” one instructor/coach observed.

Momentarily, your previously transparent flower takes on hues of orange, red, yellow or blue – whatever you choose.

TGS, a 501(c)(3) organization, has been providing art education and promoting glass art in Tulsa residents through extended courses since 2007, but Tulsa’s leisure visitors with just a little time to spare have found their niche, too.

The Tulsa Glassblowing School offers pieces such as this intricately designed cowboy hat made by skilled glass artists. Image by Tom Adkinson