Don't be afraid to use your glass! Glass by nature has a delicate yet beautiful quality to it. But that shouldn't stop you from picking it up and putting it down without worry of it breaking. While some pieces may be reserved for "display only", the rest are meant to be used daily. Plus, worst-case-scenario, you can always get another one.

Glassblowing to me is pure joy. It's a time where I concentrate on one thing and one thing only- the piece at the end of the pipe. The outside world blurs away and the creative juices flow. *That being said, a good playlist is also a necessity. I had a teacher once say "Good music is key part to blowing glass. Gotta have the grooves."

Just when you feel like you are finished, the entire piece can fall and shatter on the floor. Hours of work are now literally in pieces. But you pick up another pipe and start again. There is always more to learn. No glassblower knows everything, it is a craft that can always be pushed further.

A friend and peer of mine in college once said that growing up wanting to be a glassblower is like growing up wanting to be a dinosaur. - You've heard of it, but it's probably not actually going to happen, right? - This has stuck with me for years and I love sharing that with other people.