Saturday, July 19, 2008

Well, since nobody in my family is really into facebooking (which is not really at all like scrapbooking, nor does it involve any faces), I'm posting the pictures of my recent glass mishap on the ol' blog. So, here is the story:
I was making a vase out of clear glass with copper foil encased between the layers. I successfully blew it to the desired size, then transferred it from the blow pipe to the punty, which allows me to work on the rim of the piece. I heated the piece up and began swinging it like a pendulum (this lengthens the vase, and is a totally normal and relatively safe glassblowing technique) when all the sudden, a metal table, called a marver, jumped in the path of the swinging vase...CRASH went the vase, pieces of it flying everywhere. A formidable chunk of the vase flew in the general vicinity of my right leg, striking it about 7 inches down from my knee. As I lamented with wailing and gnashing of teeth the demise of my soon-to-be artwork, I glanced down and noticed a large, growing red splotch on my sock and followed the oozing crimson trail up to a gaping laceration in my leg about 6 inches long and an inch wide. Horrified, i looked upon my innards trying to escape like prisoners from a fleshy prison. (Ok, so it was actually a cut a little less than an inch long and about an eighth of an inch deep, and you don't really have any innards in your shin regardless.) Anyway, I sat down on the bench and put my leg up to try and stop the bleeding. Lindsey, my blowing partner (for events like this, we always have a buddy) ran in to get some paper towels.
We decided that Lindsey would have to take me in her car to the emergency room. After sitting for several minutes stopping the bleeding, Lindsey asked "Do you want some water?"
"Yes" I replied, pitifully.
"Do you want a Pop-Tart?"
"No, just in case I ralph in your car. That wouldn't be nice to clean up."
Lindsey agreed, and soon we were on our way to the Student Health Center, where I promptly received six stitches and a pat on the back for being such a good sport about it all. Then Wally, my roommate, and I saw The Dark Knight, which was amazing. Then later that night, I was back in the hot shop, making more potentially explosive and razor-sharp things out of glass.
The End.
Photo Credits:
Top: The culprit vase. I think the largish chunk in the middle bottom part of the picture was the actual chunk that hit me.
Middle: The pool of blood that collected under me whilst waiting for towels with which to stop the bleeding.
Bottom: My leg with stitches in it.