Artisans at Essex's Bubble Factory Turn Sand Into Glass

Glass is a fickle medium, as anyone who has watched the hit Netflix reality show Blown Away can attest. In an instant, even an expert artisan can lose a piece that was hours or days in the making. Too much heat—or too little—or a tap in the wrong spot, and a once-beautiful object shatters to the floor. “Whenever you think you have figured something out, glass has a way of reminding you that you are never 100 percent in control,” says James McLeod, who owns the Bubble Factory in Essex, a 6,000-square-foot converted barn devoted to glassblowing and metalwork. “When you challenge yourself to the point where you are not sure if somet

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Artisans at Essex’s Bubble Factory Turn Sand Into Glass

The Essex glass blowing studio holds classes and produces stunning, one-of-a-kind glass pieces by master craftspeople.

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