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HAMMOND (WGNO)— Mark Haller, a glass artist at the Renaissance Fest wants to enlighten everyone with his glass creations.

“I have 200 pounds of glass at my disposal that I can play with in any way, shape, or form that I want to,” Haller said.

He says his glass blowing demonstrations are a collaboration with his audience.

“Not physically participate but mentally or emotionally they can participate and they can ask verbally for things to be changed,” he said.

In glass blowing you’ll need a furnace that heats up to two thousand degrees. The furnace basically contains hot glass, a mixture of silica and flux. The furnace shapes the glass and then you use what’s called a glory hole to re-shape the glass.

“To show people how this material is, how amazing it is,” he said.

With tools and equipment like the blow pipe, the furnace, and the glory hole it is all part of the glass blowing process. The final step the glass must go in the cooling oven and stay there for 12 hours. Once the cooling process is complete you are left with cool pieces of art.

“It is amazing material, glass blowing is a very old art form. There’s a great deal of craftmanship involved in it,” Haller said.

Haller went on to say, “I love working with glass and everyone here has the opportunity to watch how it is done.”

Haller says as a glass blower he remains versatile and empathetic in his craft.

“Understanding things from multiple perspectives is an artist’s job,” he said.

And like a small piece of glass, he hopes you’ll leave his demonstrations with a piece of inspiration.