As a child, I was absolutely fascinated with the process of making handmade glass ornaments. My parents used to take me to a market where they had these artisans creating all kinds of glass ornaments using different techniques like blowing, kiln-formed and sandblasting. I could stand watching them for hours, totally mesmerised by their skill.
For an art outing, I decided to take my daughter to Ngwenya Glass Village so she can experience how they make glass ornaments from recycled glass.
Ngwenya Glass started off in Swaziland in 1979 by Swedish Aid. They imported the equipment and trained some locals in the age-old art of glass blowing. They only use recycled glass and mainly old cold drink bottles.
Each piece is handmade and mouth blown with its own unique touch. On the following three photos you will see the artisan working on a rose which needs to go into a glass dome like the one in the “Beauty and the Beast” movie. He started off using a long tube forming a few petals first to build up the rose. Each petal got fused together one by one to form the rose.
It took him about 20 min to get the rose to this phase. He first had to warm the middle piece onto which he had to mount the petals. He then took a petal, heat it and fuse the two pieces together while holding both in the heat of the flame. He used a tweezer to manipulate the hot glass to the desired form. He repeated the process with each petal.
They create ornaments, light fittings and tableware for hotels, shops and private customers worldwide. Each piece is customised and unique.
They also love to create pieces of the local wildlife as you can see in these photos. They use clear glass then add the colour as they form the ornament.
Ngwenya produce all kinds of drinking glasses, candle holders, bowls, trophies, decanters, jugs, paper weights, lamps, tissue boxes and customised products. On this photo, you can see a customised and unique bedside lamp.
The Village is ideal for a Saterday outing with the entire family as they boast with an art gallery, shops with a variety of homemade products, a restaurant and entertainment for the children while the adult's shop.
I made a video but onfortunately it did not want to load so I decided to use this one for you to see the process:
Video Credit
Follow this link for more information on Ngwenya Glass:
https://ngwenyaglass.co.sz/