Saturday morning, beneath the roasting early-May sun, head gaffer and owner of Wimberley Glassworks Tim de Jong labors with production manager Wes Sweetser in front of a red-hot furnace to produce an elegant Tiffany-style lampshade.
The pair work in tandem before a mesmerized audience, cracking what de Jong calls “historically-accurate bad jokes” about the ancient art of glass blowing. The audience, a mixture of out-of-town vacationers and locals, hold their breaths as de Jong and Sweetser hand off the glassblowing pipe between them, expertly shaping a glistening ball of molten glass into something resembling an elegantly speckled sea creature.
Tim de Jong effortlessly interacts with the crowd. This is not a big surprise. As of this month, Wimberley Glassworks will celebrate its 30th anniversary — an impressive landmark considering that most glass blowing studios average about four years in operation.
