Father/Son Glassblowing Duo Fires Up Campus Glass Shop
Chase Amling joined his father, Charly, in the UA glass shop in 2004.
Torches used in the glass shop blaze as hot as 1,700 degrees Celsius. Watch Charly work in this video, http://uanews.org/glassblowers.
Not everyone could handle working side by side with a loved one day in and day out, but for one father and son duo at The University of Arizona, the on-the-job relationship is anything but fragile.
Of course, the same can't be said for the fruits of their labors.
Wielding flames that blaze as hot as 1,700 degrees Celsius (about 3,092 degrees Fahrenheit) father and son team Charly and Chase Amling run the UA's scientific glass shop, where they transform bottles, jars, flasks and other scientific glassware into custom pieces for University scientists and graduate students in 20 different departments.
With skilled hands, a powerful saw and some high heat, what starts as a few pieces of glass tubing might morph into an elaborate vacuum system in the Amlings' shop in the chemistry department. It's also the place where busted beakers go for repairs.
At the helm of glassblowing operations is research glassblower Charly Amling, who has worked in the shop for 25 years. By his side is his son, Chase, who began following in his father's footsteps at age 39, when he started a four-year apprenticeship in the glass shop in 2004.
Working primarily with Pyrex and quartz glass, the Amlings fabricate custom pieces that can't be found in a standard glassware catalog, according to researchers' requests. Scientists typically order stock pieces and take them to the glassware shop for modifications, or if an appropriate base for a piece doesn't exist, the Amlings will make it from scratch.
"Sometimes they bring in a sample, other times they come in with an idea and we draw it up ourselves, or sometimes we actually get a nice sketch of something, but that's not often," Charly said.
Occasionally, a trip to the lab in necessary to asses a researcher's specific needs, although an in-depth understanding of an experiment isn't usually necessary.
"We have a basic knowledge of vacuum systems and a little bit about chemistry," Charly said. "We have a working knowledge of research, but really it's all above me at that level."
Jobs can range from a simple 20-minute modification or glass repair job to a 40-hour fabrication of a 10- to 15-foot-long vacuum system for physics research.
Watch as Charly works at a lathe, the tool used to turn the glass, in this video.
Chase grew up watching his father – who worked in shops at the University Notre Dame and the University of Wisconsin before coming to the UA – melt and shape glass the way a skilled potter molds a lump of clay.
"It was always neat to watch," Chase said. But it wasn't until he tired of working in technical support for a wireless pager company that he applied for a position in his dad's shop.
Five years later, with his apprenticeship completed and an official position as a scientific glassblower, he's got no qualms about working for Pops. In fact, he even takes lunches with the boss and heads to the Student Recreation Center with Dad for noontime workouts three days a week and racquetball games twice a week. "It's not bad. We get along good, so it's all right," Chase says.
Charly got his start at glassblowing at a much earlier age, after his aunt directed him to an open house on glassblowing at Salem Community College, then Salem Tech, near his home in New Jersey when he was 17.
"I wasn't real good in high school, and my aunt actually saw something in the paper about an open house at a school where they had scientific glassblowing. I was very handy with my hands and she said I ought to go down and take a look at it, and I took a look at it and fell in love with it," Charly said. "It's just fascinating."
He went on to earn an associate's degree in scientific glassblowing from that very school, which is home of the country's only associate degree program in scientific glass technology.
Today, Charly and his son teach a scientific glassblowing class on campus, open to science students, primary chemistry majors and graduate students. Classes are limited to six students a semester and take place once a week for three hours. After completing the course, students are permitted to come into the glass shop to prepare their own glassware.