A Short Story by J.F. Penn
Blood, Sweat, and Flame
Is victory worth blood, sweat, and flame?
Cass has blown glass for a lifetime, and now she is going blind.
One contest remains, one sculpture, a phoenix rising, and one impossible shade of crimson she cannot capture.
When her wealthy rival dumps his teenage son in her corner of the hot shop, she gains the willing apprentice she never had.
In the heat of the furnace, the price of art is about to be paid.
What price would you pay for your art?
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The research behind the book
Inside the hot shop
Glory holes, punties, annealers, and the tagliol knife: the real tools and choreography of a working glass studio, where artisans dance with a 2,000-degree furnace.
The search for true red
Red is the hardest color in glass. From gold-ruby cranberry glass to copper and cochineal, the centuries-old alchemy behind the crimson shades Cass cannot capture.
An art passed hand to hand
Glassblowing has moved from master to apprentice for two thousand years, from Roman workshops to Murano, where techniques were once protected on pain of death.
Gods of the flame
Every culture has its fire deity, and the furnace demands its sacrifice. Djinn born of smokeless fire, the phoenix rising from ash, and why humans see the divine in flame.
Blown Away
Jo discovered the intensity of the hot shop through the Netflix glass art competition show Blown Away during lockdown.
Audiobook available direct from the author and on Audible, Apple, Kobo, Spotify and more.
