Page 17 - PERIODIC Magazine Issue 6

rough sketches, utilising her broad scientific knowledge
and manual dexterity, Terri creates intricate, precisely-sized
and shaped glassware – turning constantly, blowing and
manipulating the molten glass in just the right fraction of a
second. It is a beautiful process to watch, and it is easy to
imagine that such a skill must take many years to master,
as well as patience, ingenuity and resourcefulness. Hot
manipulation is the major element in the remit of a scientific
glassblower but modern science also requires a degree of cold
glass engineering and some knowledge of chemistry to be
employed.
become smaller, often only employing one glassblower. Some
But scientific glassblowing is an endangered profession. industries and businesses do provide training, but employees
According to the Heritage Crafts Association, there are fewer working on an assembly line to produce a standard product
than 50 scientific glassblowers currently employed in the UK. will only ever perform a limited number of operations, and
Many of them are approaching retirement age, and there are do not come anywhere near to acquiring the skills needed to
fewer than ten student scientific glassblowers throughout support original scientific research.
the country. Terri says: ‘Training to the level of competence
a research scientific glassblower needs can take in excess For a number of years the BSSG has been trying to gain
of ten years, and really the only way to learn is to work formal recognition for its exams and syllabus, and a number
alongside someone who is already skilled. So the future of the of options have been pursued, but the process of gaining
profession is entirely dependent on taking on apprentices. government-endorsed accreditation is complex and
But currently, there are no accredited qualifications that reflect costly. One possibility may be to develop a ‘Trailblazer
the level of skill involved, and no educational establishments apprenticeship’ endorsed as a City and Guilds qualification.
in the UK offering teaching in scientific glassblowing. The Society is also trying to establish a college base to run
glassblowing courses and is hopeful that discussions with
The British Society of Scientific Glassblowers (BSSG), of which South Lanarkshire College may prove fruitful. If funding
Terri is board of examiners qualifications secretary and society can be found and administrative hurdles overcome, Terri is
librarian, has tried to address the problem by establishing a optimistic that the future of this crucial and beautiful trade
comprehensive training syllabus which is respected worldwide can be secured, enabling a new generation of glassblowers to
by the industry. But the cost of training an apprentice is high; continue supporting first-class scientific research. Glass has
both in terms of time and money, so it is a lot to ask from been vital to science in the past, as it is now and will be in
employers, and many university glassblowing workshops have the future.

17
Periodic
The Magazine of the Department of Chemistry